2-26-07, Week 8

Tags!

As a late adopter of the Internet one of the most frustrating things for me as a user was not being able to get back to where I was. I remember going online and thinking cool, what should I search for today, and would just follow links, reading, but when I wanted to get back to a site, I couldn’t quite remember how I got there. I would try to use yahoo and type the same search I did before, but I would get a different list! It was so frustrating to me that I couldn’t figure out how to get back to a page I knew existed. I searched and searched, and couldn’t find it.

Now, favorites wouldn’t help me then, as I was in a library and didn’t have my own computer. I didn’t use email then either. So I figured it out, when I came to a page I liked, I printed the page, so I could retype the address and get back. I was so proud… until I lost my printed pages.

I’m glad search engines have improved so much, I don’t really worry about not being able to find pages anymore. If I was able to find a page before, most likely I can muddle my way back. What is more frustrating for me now is that they go away! Some huge student project will go up on a school page and it will be a great resource I like. The students graduate, and suddenly all that knowledge and work is lost. Even though I could get back there, it’s gone.

Searching online is much more dynamic that in a library, where users can have input and tag items, instead of using tree structure, but… in a way, information is dynamic, but the stability of the information is also dynamic. I almost prefer a library, where unless it burns down, I can always get my book. I learn how to find it, and I don’t have to worry about my library closing and “deleting” everything. Online, there isn’t such stability. Even though I can now find information way easier that I can with physical books, I also cannot trust that it will still exist. With wiki’s they can save old versions, so I can get back before the changes, but eventually they will probably start deleting that information.

I am glad searching has improved so much, but I hope the stability follows soon.