RIP Jeeves: Convergence Claims Latest Victim

In Memoriam

Jeeves

1996 - 2010

I'd like to begin this post by requesting a moment of silence in observation of the passing of Ask.com formerly known as AskJeeves. 

Today marks the tragic yet some would say timely passing of Ask.com, that venerable and erudite search engine that intelligently answered even the most inane and archaic of inquiries.  Jeeves came of age in the Dot.com boom. Striding with elegance and panache onto a a nubile web1.0 scene, Jeeves brought an air of much needed decorum to veritable wild wild west of talking sock puppets and Napster file sharing. Prior to the global collapse of the "old" internet Jeeves served as a sage advisor and trusted guide on the information superhighway.

This week's assignment has us exploring the concepts of "Convergence" and "Remix".  One of the definitions of convergence offered by Jenkins in "Convergence Culture" is: an old concept taking on new meanings. (p. 6)  I think the concept of the search engine fits that description quite nicely.  In the beginning the search engine was the "Oracle" one went to to research well just about anything.  Jeeves ushered in an era of digital knowledge seeking that replaced analog methods of seeking information.  Gone were the days of poring through the pages of dusty encyclopedias and paper archives. Unfortunately in the beginning the information superhighway was more often than not the misinformation superhighway. I believe first generation search engines, like Jeeves, Dogpile, et al may have undeservedly received blame when the links they served up were less accurate than they should have been. However one of the things I find most interesting is how the search engine tool itself evolved within it's own generation.

Again in the beginning the search engine was a tool to at least begin one's quest to find information. That information was often in the vein of a concept, idea, or subject to which the searcher was unfamiliar.  However it wasn't long into Jeeves tragically short life that he took on an unexpected role in addition to his info gathering duties.  Jeeves and indeed search engines in general became sort of a global phone book. As the internet evolved, died, was reborn, and evolved some more, more and more businesses co-opted the internet successfully this time to launch online storefronts.  Hence it became Jeeves' job to direct coffee drinkers to the nearest Starbucks as well as seek out information on the mating habits of wombats. Witness the convergence of old media to new media and from new media to newer media.

As in the course of any career Jeeves soon found his experience and wisdom challenged by upstart whippersnappers like Google. Next to Google's search term algorithms and clean design Sir Jeeves began to show his age.  Turns out natural language queries aren't where it's at. Why type in an entire question when one can just toss out a few key words? Suddenly the sage advisor was starting to resemble a fusty old codger.

So today we mourn the passing of a dear friend whose links and pages helped the world to transform the way it sought information.  He leaves in his wake a host of innovators and maybe a few imitators. So it's only fitting that we all take a moment to reflect on the nature of digital search while we bid a fond adieu to one of it's pioneers. Well goodbye, old chap. Say hello to Encyclopedia Britannica for me.

Note: Early reports of Bing and Google attending Jeeves' memorial solely for the purpose of gleefully dancing on his grave are completely unfounded.

Doctor, I Think I Fractured My Attention Span!

It took me over four hours to complete the Linda Stone video. That's right four hours. Now you may be asking yourself how it is that it took an otherwise intelligent person more than four hours to complete a video that is exactly twenty-one minutes and fifty-two seconds long? Well, I'm kinda guilty of Stone's thesis. I think I have Continuous Partial Attention.  Although when one says it like that it sort of sounds like a diagnosis of a life threatening illness. What I mean to say is that it took me four hours to complete a twenty-two minute video because I paused it a gazillion times. Well maybe not an actual gazillion but several times anyway. Several times.

Now one may be wondering why it might be necessary to pause a twenty-two minute video more than once? An excellent question indeed. Well while watching the video I find myself surfing the web for interesting blog post ideas, monitoring CNN for nationwide election results, jotting notes for said blog posts, tweeting interesting and funny anecdotes from my day, checking my email for client inquiries, and generally fretting about my final class project. That's rather a lot to do, huh? I think Stone is certainly on to something in her analysis of the contemporary definition of multi-tasking as compared with the traditional definition.  All of the tasks that I described above require cognition. None of them are automated. Hence at some point it becomes necessary to pause one or two just to have the necessary brain capacity to focus, still partially, on the others. Hence four hours after I started the video I finally finished it.

I've seen several studies recently that conclude that those who hyper multi-task actually decrease their efficiency at completing the tasks they undertake successfully.  This NPR article details a French study that concluded that the human brain is ultimately set up to do no more than two tasks at a time. That's right, our frontal lobes max out at two. When the participants in the study were given a third task to complete researchers found that their accuracy suffered greatly over their initial performance when only two tasks had been assigned. So what does this mean for time starved, harried, multi-taskers like me. Well if I had time to write by hand it would be on the wall - slow down and focus.  As Stone so eloquently illustrates in her examination of our social evolution from a data economy to a wisdom economy society has sort of come full circle.  The information overload which currently faces today's workers and individuals begs for at least a partial return to simpler times.  Value added today means time added, as in how will this particular good or service make my life easier and give me more time?  Ok so maybe instead of hitting pause on the DVR I should force myself to hit the power button. Lesson learned. In fact I will no longer allow myself to hit any pause buttons anywhere any more for any reason. Hmm, I think that one may be a little harder. I'll keep working on it, anyway. Well, that's all for now, I must rush off as I have a million other things I need to get...

Just kidding! I am actually done with this particular post.