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Search Trails Technology Unveiled

At WWW2006, the 15th International World Wide Web Conference held in Edinburgh 22-26 May, Trexy.com unveiled a new search technology inspired by scientist and visionary, Dr. Vannevar Bush, who in the 1940s shared his vision of creating a collective memory by recording peoples' trails through information...

At WWW2006, the 15th International World Wide Web Conference held in Edinburgh 22-26 May, Trexy.com unveiled a new search technology inspired by scientist and visionary, Dr. Vannevar Bush, who in the 1940s shared his vision of creating a collective memory by recording peoples' trails through information...

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Despite the rudimentary computers of the day, Bush dreamt of a device called a “Memex” – an enhanced supplement to personal and community memory created by trailblazers: "those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record."

Bush's seminal paper, “As We May Think,” (http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/194507/bush) has influenced generations of computer scientists since.

London based Trexy.com aims to fulfill the trailblazing aspects of Bush’s vision by enabling users to create search trails. Search trails are the pathways users create while searching on their favourite engines like Google, MSN and Ask Jeeves.

Recording and sharing useful trails

Trexy’s CEO and Inventor, Nigel Hamilton said, “trailblazing needs three things to work. First we need to navigate the 'common record.' Thanks to Ted Nelson's idea of hypertext, and Berners-Lee's implementation, the WWW provides an interlinked common record. Second, we need a way to remember useful trails of association through the common record. Third, the system should enable us to share our trails with others.”

Trexy.com remembers the search terms and the web pages visited on over 3000 engines. Trexy also enables users to follow the anonymous search trails of other searchers (trailblazers).

“Every day we all make personal discoveries and traverse trails from what we're looking for, to what we find - but sometimes we forget. What did I search on again? What was I looking for? How did I find that?” former Computer Science Lecturer, Nigel Hamilton said.

Beyond the repetitive loop of search

“We're all in an endless loop of searching, finding, sometimes forgetting and the procedure repeats. Wouldn't it be good if you could harness all this effort? Wouldn’t it be good if you could remember your personal search trails and also follow the search trails of others?” he said.

“Instead of searching for the same thing twice, Trexy helps you to pinpoint information you’ve already found. So you’ll never have to ask yourself, “Where did I find that again?” he said.

Search trails can be created at Trexy.com or by downloading a free toolbar called the Trexy TrailBar (http://trexy.com/trailbar.html). Trexy is free to use.

Explore the future of search @ Content 2.0 - June 6 2006
New directions in search - both social search and recording search or "attention" metadata - are among the topics to debate and explore with global experts at NMK's conference Content 2.0 on 6th June in London. Book now!