Can you believe it’s been 10 years since we’ve been ‘Googling’? And longer that we’ve been using other, basically identical, search engines. For the most part these search engines have done just what we expect them to do… providing us with a virtual card catalog of the millions of websites out there. I mean really… what would we do without them?
It’s curious though, that while we hear so much about the ‘Search Wars’ they have all pretty much remained the same. Sure, there have been a few minor advancements such as location based search, but compare that to the evolution that we’ve seen in other areas. I mean think about it… 10 years ago we didn’t have iPods, there wasn’t an xbox (let alone a wii!), we didn’t all carry around cell phones (let alone have constant internet access on them!), we didn’t ‘post our status’ or join the ‘People who hate Cilantro’ group on facebook (which by the way, I didn’t since I actually love Cilantro). But we were surfing the ‘information superhighway’ and clicking on those blue links… those same blue links that we are still clicking on now.
A few months ago I worked on a project for Microsoft’s Strategic Prototyping Group. I worked on the design for a ‘Synoptic Learning’ demo centered on showing exploration of the human body in 3D. It was built to be shown by Craig Mundie to several universities to get students excited about being a part of the future of technology.
The demo starts off with a (simulation) of Craig taking a picture of his hand with a Tablet PC. The system then ‘recognizes’ his hand as ‘a human hand’ and displays it on the screen. Once recognized you can: switch between different views such as the skeletal system, the nervous system, the circulatory system, etc.. It reacts to multi-touch gestures for zooming and panning to explore other areas of the body at both a macro and micro level. For whatever part of the body is showing on the screen, it displays ‘markers’, placed at very specific locations, for example, the brain, the heart, of even a particular synapse if zoomed in really far. Upon clicking or touching one of these markers, a panel is displayed showing information. Information from the internet, hilightling particularly relevant sources such as friends, professors, classmates, etc. (in the demo scenario the simulation was to show how a student might use this for both school and lifelong learning). So why is that relevant? Well… it’s all really just about new ways to explore and search for more relevant information via an experience that’s more rich and compelling.
The Search experience is going to evolve dramatically in the next 10 years… much more so than it has in the last 10. This will happen because of several factors. First off, business… Advertisers want more value from their ad money and will demand that the ‘right people’ see their ads. Secondly, content overload… there is just so much more data out there (and so much more that is particularly relevant to each of us including social media), that Search providers will have to find new and better ways to filter out the junk and deliver the good stuff. Lastly, because we will finally be able to deliver a richer presentation of data through new technologies such as Silverlight.
The Hex project that we did for Microsoft is just one of many examples of innovations in this area. Worldwide Telescope, a project we worked on for Microsoft last year, is another example of a new way to explore information. We’ve also been working on other ‘Search’ projects that really rethink the experience… ones that offer you better and more personalized content by better understand your intent. Ones that let you explore beyond the obvious to discover new content that you are likely interested in. Really, I think we are going to see a large variety of solutions… different ways to explore and visualize this information from rich 3D interfaces to more traditional, each offering a solution uniquely appropriate for the task. Users will be able to choose the best search experience to address their particular need. One thing I know… they probably won’t choose those same old static blue links.