Unstructured Information

While big business may be the first to benefit from the advances of unstructured information technology, the true potential of this technology may be to revolutionize the Internet itself.

What this means for the future is that information uploaded to the Internet may no longer be subject to the limitations inherent in traditional websites that are typically created to promote a common theme, subject or specific area of interest.

At present, to share content, documents and files are hand picked, one by one, for uploading to specific Internet sites that reflect the particular interests, objectives or business model of the site owner. Developing a website around a particular theme or concept necessarily restricts the nature of the content that will ultimately be uploaded to the site. As a result, the total content accessible online today represents only a fraction of the total content available for online archiving.

From file cabinets to storage lockers to boxes piled high in businesses, libraries, schools, warehouses, apartments, houses and garages around the world, a potential universe of untapped content exists in the form of hard copy files, documents, film, audio tape, video tape, photographs, etc. However, without a process for capturing and organizing this information, the great majority of this vast knowledge base will never see the digital light of day.

The ability to quickly convert and upload large quantities of data directly to the Internet without the requirement of first finding, joining or creating a content themed website is vital to such an undertaking.

Unrelated pieces of information will one day be analyzed, indexed and effortlessly uploaded to the Internet. Thereafter, rather than this information being organized and spoon-fed back to a site visitor in a predetermined website format, the visitor will make use of user friendly data mining tools that enable the visitor to search and assemble information from among billions of individually uploaded pieces of data.

User and third party generated data mining templates will be developed to organize and display search results in a style and format most beneficial to the user.

Whether a given template takes the form of a simple photo light box, mp3 music player or even a compilation page that provides a framework for social networking, each search query will provide highly relevant, meaningful data capable of further analysis and manipulation.

TARGET CONTENT:

Databases

Documents

Photos

Film

Audio

Video

Search engine/user-friendly interface includes fields for the following tags and selections:

1. Title

2. Copyright notice. Open or restricted content? Content provider could even choose not to release some or all the content until after some future date.

4. Keywords

5. Brief description

6. Whether content provider is in physical possession of original and whether original is available for sale, exhibit, inspection and/or research.

7. Option for content contributors to bulk upload content without completing any of the above, or in the alternative, content contributors could complete only one submission form for an entire bulk upload. Over time, users who access the material can fill in the rest.

AT THE CORE

This process must not rely on content contributors being web savvy or even possessing a computer. In its simplest form, the content contributor simply feeds content into an automated device that is programmed to scan, read, download or otherwise extract content as it is converted and uploaded to the Internet. Such a device could range from an all in one content up-loader intended for home use to much more sophisticated commercial and enterprise applications accessible through service bureaus, kiosks, libraries and schools.

BUSINESS SPIN-OFF: SCANNER SHREDDERS

More data. Less boxes.

Google can move the process along by allowing each one of us to play traffic cop in our respective information intersections while it concentrates on building the digital bridges that will both connect and encourage the unrestricted flow of unstructured information onto the Internet.

Although wildly successful, at some point, it must be acknowledged that Google, YouTube, MySpace and their progeny operate on linear paths in a decidedly non-linear world. While these online applications may share links and, at times, even overlap in form and function, it doesn't change the limitations inherent to their respective underlying structures.

September 19, 2009

Dear Google:

In the process of getting my house ready for sale, I shredded approx. 100 storage boxes of personal data (i.e., photos, letters, papers, reports, videotapes, cassette tapes, etc.) that covered a span of 53 years. From birth to law school to the present. With few exceptions, the great majority of my life's data footprint is gone.

So, while your company is on a mission to archive millions of books and various other publications that aren't going anywhere anytime soon, billions upon billions of irreplaceable pieces of information are vanishing from the face of the earth forever. It's NOT about me and my data. It's about the aggregate effect of losing so much information from so many people - day after day after day with no end in sight. Not taking an aggressive position to preserve the historical record of humanity on a personal, individual basis is a loss, the true dimensions of which may be recognized only in hindsight. In the absence of such a vast database, consider the research that will never be conducted - the questions left unanswered. Dots that if connected, would most certainly have revealed as yet undiscovered patterns leading to new information and insight.

I know that you provide for the upload of individual pieces of unrelated information, but in it's current form, it will not make a meaningful difference on the global scale I have described. Such an undertaking requires so much more.

Best regards,

Trendgineer