Internet for research collaboration

The Internet has piled massive amount of data and information about almost everything known in human history, only in the span of 5.000 days. Internet also has becoming ubiquitous, from mainframes, PCs, handhelds and RFIDs (Radio Frequency ID). In short, information is now within anybody’s reach and it will be getting closer.

The challenge people faced today is not getting access to information, thanks to Internet and devices, but in finding the right and relevant information that they really need. People are drowned in the flood of information; they are trapped in thick of thin things, information that is useless: garbage in, garbage out. People need data and information that serves as knowledge. It is like finding a needle in haystack.

Early search engines were “dumb”, only provided information as it is, without any context, just directories. Since Larry Page and Sergei Brin invented Google with its unique algorithm, search engines are much smarter. Google ranked information based on its context, which is calculated by the number of link to that source of information.

Nevertheless, many users under utilize Google’s capability. Most users used Google’s homepage to perform search by typing the desired keyword. Yes, the search results are superior compared to primitive search engines, but for Google, that is just the basics. There are many things users can do with Google’s advanced search, starting form making exclusion, narrowing down, to finding selected file formats.

Practice makes perfect. After sometime using the advanced search, users will adept to the Google’s algorithm. Finally, they can find relevant information in only a few queries. It is like finding a gem in pile of rocks.

Collaboration Research

However, while gem is finder’s keepers, information or knowledge is for share. Unlike gems, if two people trading knowledge, each of them will not get one, but two. That is the reason why collaboration of knowledge is important for empowerment in any context: education, business or research.

Internet has made collaboration easier than before; it is more than network of machines. Internet is the network of people. While Internet 1.0 emphasizes on access, Internet 2.0 underlines the collaboration. The enabler for collaboration is the RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Instead of visiting each site from the search engine queries to look for information, RSS bring the information to the users. This method saves user’s time and effort of getting the right information.

hat effort will be much more efficient by collaborating with others. After all, the best method of filtering and sorting relevant information from search queries is human intervention. No algorithm could beat human brain for this task (or perhaps not yet considering advances in artificial intelligence). Tools such as Google Reader enables group of users perform collaborative research, sorting search queries more efficiently to find the “gem” of knowledge.