Thanks to computers and software, the world today is awash in oceans
of information -- seas of tiny ones and zeroes that bulge databanks by
the gigabyte. So much information that a simple internet search turns
up so many websites that the user sits baffled as to which one to click
first. Scientists and engineers, armed with super-quick technology, can
now collect -- in a matter of minutes -- data that a few years ago would
have taken years to amass.
So how do we make this staggering amount of information both easily
accessible and usable?
That is a daunting challenge for computer scientists the world over.
But the people in OSU's Information Usability research cluster are helping
humanity get a handle on all those little ones and zeroes. Computer science
faculty Cherri Pancake, Jon Herlocker, and Ron Metoyer are doing this
by analyzing the computer habits of millions of users, then building
software that draws on this collective history to help future users find
and use the information they're after. Their work is impacting everything
from the spread of SARS and e-commerce to libraries and lichens. |
