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COPYRIGHT 2003 Information Today, Inc.
When I first started writing for ONLINE in May 1985, the main topic of discussion among online professionals was end-user searching. The amount of digital content on the professional services at that time was immense; most significantly, large amounts of full text were coming online, complementing and, in many instances, supplanting abstracts. Many in the profession wanted to place these electronic riches into the hands of their clients, rather than using mediated searching alone. The online industry was on the same track, with innovative products like Knowledge Index, In-Search, and the gloriously ambitious EasyNet. (In fact, my second article for ONLINE was an analysis of EasyNet, published in July 1985.)
The debate over end-user searching (the phrase seems quaint now) continues to this day, albeit in quite different forms. The full text-revolution of the mid-1980s was followed by other miraculous technical innovations, as well as by equally significant developments in business and distribution models. Overall, these have contributed to the spread of end-user access in ways that were completely unanticipated 20 years ago. These innovations have also altered the definition of the profession and the ways in which it sees itself.
THE TOP ONLINE TECHNOLOGIES
Several technical innovations have contributed to the spread of' online information, but I'll highlight the two most profound: full text and relevance searching. Now we all take both for granted, but their importance can hardly be overestimated.
We are now nearing a point where every major information medium and format--journals, newspapers, research publications, broadcasts, and books ... print, graphics, images, audio, and video--is online. Remember that during the first dozen...
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