Plato, one of the early information technology analysts, said that text, made possible by the newly invented phonetic alphabet, was a better means to convey information than the oral tradition. The burden for storage of data and ideas was taken off the human brain and placed on text, freeing the mind for other things, like generating more information and new ideas. Besides, the mind tends to get the details mixed up anyway and text does not change on its own. This new invention made possible many breakthroughs such as modern science and the document management software industry. But Plato also said that true knowledge and understanding only comes through the dialog of viewpoints. This understanding can be as simple as getting an information provider to “understand” what you are looking for. Traditional search engines that rely on text matching miss out on this dialog and offer no ability to understand what you are looking for, putting all the responsibility on you and only offering, at best, guidelines on how you must refine your search if you get too much, too little or the wrong results.
Some of the newest search engines, such as EasyAsk, add linguistic processing to the search process, enabling a dialog between the person asking the question and the search engine offering the answer. I had a chance to see EasyAsk first hand this week with Tim Deren, their Director of Alliances. If you ask a stock brokerage site, for example “what is the charge for a stock trade?” you do not get a series of hits that have that combination of words, like you might on Google, but rather several clarifying questions like, “are you asking about commissions and fees?” which, while they have none of your words, are more like the reply a knowledgeable person might offer. This puts a true dialog, between two parties that comprehend each other, into the search process making it more meaningful and more likely to be successful. EasyAsk had some of its initial successes with eCommerce sites like Land’s End. At eCommerce sites, poor searches cost sales so there is a clear value from improving the search process. Their next generation search process recorded significant imrpovement in business metrics for such sites as the Gap, Talbots, Old Navy, and Ann Taylor. EasyAsk is now providing this capability within the enterprise, extending the capabilities and effectiveness of knowledge management and portal initiatives.
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