"Recent Innovations in Search" Revisited

A capacity crowd filled the hilltop auditorium up at PARC on Coyote Hill Road, overlooking the verdant sprawl of Palo Alto and Silicon Valley. The spring evening was a clear and brilliant blue, and the BayCHI event was free and open to the public. People packed the rows, spilling into the aisles. Latecomers watched the presentation from TV sets quickly deployed in the lobby.

We were there to hear from a handful of industry thought leaders about Recent Innovations in Search and Other Ways of Finding Information. In speaking order, the panel consisted of: Peter Norvig (Google), Ken Norton (Yahoo!) , Mark Fletcher (Bloglines/Ask Jeeves), Udi Manber (A9), and Jakob Nielsen (Nielsen Norman Group), the "guru of usability." Rashmi Sinha (Uzanto Consulting) moderated.

Bay CHI is the local branch of a professional organization for computer-human interaction professionals. Not surprisingly, the crowd was weighted with designers, developers, information architects, students, consultants, and entrepreneurs. Like me, many were employees of the companies represented. Were we expecting a sermonette? A shouting match? New insights tactical or strategic?

What we got was the articulate and intelligent conversation of peers, some anecdotes that resonated and rippled outward. Each panel member had five minutes for show and tell. These presentations have been summarized and posted by better note-takers than I. Jonathan Boutelle's piece hones in on the exuberance and recaps some common themes. (Via Yahoo! Search blog)