by Frederick Rustam
Part One, A SCHOOL OF INTERNET SORCERY
_____________________________________________________________________
Author's Note
Readers are invited to interact with this
series by searching
the
Web for the infotrieval examples offered in the episodes, and
by
solving any of the student problems assigned, as a celebration
of
the wonder and pleasure of the world's largest online information
resource.
If you do, you may not retrieve exactly what my characters
and
I did because of the evanescent nature of the People's Database.
I've
not given the names of the general search engines which we used;
let
me merely say that we used our two favorite ones. We hope that
you
are enjoying the good luck, the bad luck, and the ultimately-
satisfying
recreation that we have experienced while searching
for
information on the World Wide Web and Usenet.
The parts of this serial are titled:
1 "A School of Internet
Sorcery" [the philosophy of
Questor Inst.]
2 "The Delight of Being
Together" [the AND search
operator]
3 "The Nearness of You" [proximity searching]
4 "Ordinary Citizens as
Scholars" [the wonder of the
citizen Web]
5 "What Does Information Want?" [info-reliability and "-freedom"]
6 "Hacking The Benefactor, Turning a
Bus" [a man and a problem]
May the People's Medium expand to the
limit of its usefulness;
may
it never be controlled by any but those who contribute to it;
and
may its resources continue to nourish that greatest of all
information
systems, the human mind.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Cogitation
On
the table between them, the tester dumped twenty-five wooden
blocks.
They resembled the alphabet blocks given to small children,
but
without the letters. Each was a different color. The colors were
variations
of five primary colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue.
There
were only five different sizes among the twenty-five---five
blocks
of each size.
"Organize
these blocks."
Kevin
stared at the man for a moment as he mulled this problem.
He
guessed that he'd receive a lower score if he asked the question,
"What
do you mean by 'organize'?" He began arranging the blocks
without
delay.
He
set them into five rows. Each row contained blocks of the same
color
type. He considered arraying the blocks within each color row
by
size, but he decided to leave them in random order within their
color
rows. However, the size question lingered in his mind after
he
had finished. Had he proceeded far enough? Should he have also
organized
them by size?
"Thank
you," said the tester. "Proceed to the main test room for
your
pencil-and-paper tests, and send in the next student, please."
"I'm
the last one, sir."
"Okay.
That's it, then." The man swept the blocks into a box.
Kevin
wanted him to explain the wooden-block test, but he guessed
that
this information would be kept confidential to prevent future
testees
from having an unfair advantage. He knew how hot information
like
that could spread at the speed of light. He left the small office
and
followed the temporary signs in the hallway to a classroom filled
with
computer workstations instead of the conventional desk-chairs.
Because
he was the last to arrive, he was directed to the last
unoccupied
one of these at the rear of the room. On its screen were
displayed
the instructions for his "pencil-and-paper" aptitude tests.
At
the workstation next to him was a plain-faced girl, her dark hair
cut
in pageboy style. She wore jeans and a wine-dark pullover. He was
sizing
her up when she suddenly turned, fixed her gray eyes on him,
and
asked, "Did you arrange the blocks by size in each color row?"
Kevin
smiled at her boldness. "Nope."
"Why
not? I did." Her expression reflected her concern that she might
have
over-organized the blocks, and in doing so, had lost points
because
of the extra time her size-arranging had consumed.
He
took a deep breath and replied, "I figure those blocks are symbols
for
files, documents, or books. Each color group represents a subject
area---like
a Dewey Decimal hundred---and each variation of a basic
color
represents a different-but-related subject. I figured the sizes
were
irrelevant. Books aren't usually shelved by their size, or
computer
files grouped that way on disk drives."
"If
you're right, then I may have seemed to the tester like an
old-maid
librarian in development." She smiled wanly. "But on the
other
hand, that could be one of the student types they want here."
"Maybe
I looked to him like the typical schoolboy who rarely finishes
what
he starts. He may think I'm a disorganized computer-hacker type."
"Would
he be right about the hacking?"
"I've
done some, but I'm too careful to get caught at it," he said,
unrealistically.
He did appreciate, though, that this was the Age
of
the hacker hunter, and that he was lucky to have evaded these.
"Cool.
How about hacking the school's faculty server so we can get
the
skinny on the block test? I want to know."
<i>We've
only just met, and already she's talking about 'us,'</i>
he
thought. But Kevin found himself attracted to her. She wasn't
good-looking
in a pop-culture way, but she was apparently bright.
He
liked smart girls. Especially if they had an air of concealed
sensuality
like this one seemed to have.
"Sure.
I can do that.... I'm Kevin, by the way."
"Hi.
I'm Marie-Louise."
"I'll
call you Marylou." With that provocative remark, he sought
to
test her personality.
"Okay,"
she replied, cheerfully. She knew she was being tested.
Welcome
In
their first Assembly, the students were addressed by the Rector,
the
head of the school. He was a silver-haired gentleman who had
worked
with the researchers who created the Internet, although his
name
was almost unknown to history. He hoped to reproduce here the
enthusiasm
of the Internet's early days.
"I
welcome you to Questor Institute. You're our small pioneer
class,
the first of more to come. You'll experience the world's
first
computerized information retrieval training curriculum.
You're
a select group: bright, but from North American families
which
can't afford college. We've taken note of your information
retrieval
progress while you were in high-school, and we believe
that
if any student body has the talent and the motivation to
prove
our assumptions and reach our educational goals, that'll
be
you. My congratulations to you on having reached your current
plateau
of Internet savvy. From this plateau, you'll begin your
climb
to a pre-professional level.
"We've
named this school 'Questor.' A quaestor was a treasurer in
the
Roman empire; the dictionary says that 'questor' is a variant
spelling
of 'quaestor.' You'll become treasurers of the People's
Treasure,
the Internet.... We also choose to view a Questor as
someone
on a continual quest for a holy grail---not the biblical
one
but the holy grail of computerized textual information. Unlike
the
invisible, elusive Holy Grail of the Bible, useful information
in
the form of natural-language text is visible and omnipresent---
yet,
by its nature, often elusive and difficult to navigate.
"While
you're boarding at Questor, most of your expenses will be
borne
by the Questor Foundation. The Foundation and its Institute
are
the dream of a wealthy man who prefers to remain anonymous.
Questor
is an educational experiment to see if specialized
'infotrieval'
training will produce graduates who prove valuable
to
employers. You've agreed to allow us to follow your vocational
progress
by being queried after you leave Questor. This will serve
to
validate our unique curriculum---or it may not---time will tell.
If
our early graduates obtain good jobs and perform very well as
infotrievalists,
then our students will begin to pay for their
education
here, and the Institute will become self-supporting."
Marylou
whispered to Kevin, "There's something else we should hack
from
the faculty server." He was on the same wavelength. "You bet.
I
want to know who our benefactor is, too."
"You're
wondering why Questor isn't organized as a college; I'm sure
you'd
rather receive an associate degree than a simple diploma upon
your
graduation. But because Questor's infotrieval curriculum is
specialized
and experimental, we can't qualify for certification
as
a college. In any case, we prefer to be free of conventional
academic
constraints so we can center our studies on one area, the
organization
and retrieval of textual information. We believe that
we
can convince potential employers that you've completed a rigorous
and
relevant program of study.
"Our
information-hungry world needs those who are trained, not just
in
the technology of computing, but in what graduate schools refer
grandiosely
to as 'information science'---the intellectual art of
organizing
and retrieving information. To graduate from one of those
schools,
however, you must spend an expensive six or seven years in
college.
We believe that educated high school graduates with good
academic
records and a maturity beyond their years can learn in a
two-year
tech school like Questor what they need to perform better
in
the specialty of information retrieval than either library school
graduates
or 'software engineers,' who have other things to learn
during
their four or six years.
"Of
course, you may chose to go on from Questor Institute to college
if
you feel that you need more education to begin or to advance your
careers.
However, Questor isn't a prep school for college. It's
preparatory
to a vocation, that of computer information retrieval
specialist.
While you're here, you'll all study some information
technology
as well as information retrieval, but we're not going to
pump
your heads full of computer programming, commercial software,
networking,
or complex website design like the technical colleges
do.
Our educational objectives are different.
"I'm
already a good programmer. I taught myself," proclaimed Kevin
to
Marylou.
"Lucky
you," she kidded. "I'll have to learn the hard way."
"We'll
teach you to work, not competitively but cooperatively, with
information
technologists whose skills you don't possess to achieve a
high
level of retrieval success from textual info systems. We hope to
give
you sufficient training to communicate and interact positively
with
those whose information concerns lie mostly within the complex
realms
of hardware and software.
"You'll
study the organization of information and the history of
computerized
information systems, especially the foremost of them,
the
Internet. You'll learn about public reference sources on the Web
and
about retrieval from non-HTML textual and nontextual databases,
including
commercial online services and networked office systems.
You'll
improve your communication skills so you can write literate,
readable
memos and reports. We'll even teach you how to teach your
infotrieval
skills to others, a valuable ability in any organization
with
untrained employees and a need for information retrieval.
"In
effect, we've compressed a four-year college information systems
curriculum
into a two-year infotrieval curriculum by a process of
selective
inclusion and elimination. Since all of you are experienced
in
the operation of the misnamed 'personal computer,' we don't offer
an
introductory course in this appliance. But you will study computer
operating
systems and commonly-used types of application programs.
Instead
of certifying you in several programs of a type, we'll teach
you
a typical one of them in such a manner that you can more-easily
learn
others later, on the job. Instead of requiring proficiency in
several
programming languages, we train you to program in <i>Visual
Basic,</i>
and we show you how other languages differ from it. You
can
learn other languages as it becomes necessary for you to do so.
"How
many college computer science graduates can remember all the
difficult
things they've studied during their college years? Don't
they
have to relearn much of it on the job, as required?... Sure,
relearning
is easier than learning from scratch, but we believe
that
you can meet that challenge when and if the time comes.
"We
skip such ponderous academic offerings as computer mathematics,
business
management practices, and organizational psychology. As
those
aspects of management information systems operation arise
naturally
in your training, we'll deal with them succinctly and
in
context, not separately. Thus, we give you a quasi-collegiate
education,
carefully selected to contribute to a central goal:
information
organization and retrieval skills.
The
Rector then waxed philosophical.
"We at Questor dare believe that we can
teach you to think better.
We're
certain we can do a better job of that than your high-school
teachers
did. By using your minds with greater effectiveness, you'll
perform
better at infotrieval, regardless of your subject strengths
and
weaknesses.... Some of you have probably read Frank Herbert's
science
fiction novel, <i>Dune.</i> We don't guarantee to transform
you
into Herbertian 'mentats,' but we will send you out into the
world
with your minds strongly attuned to the science, technology,
philosophy,
and ethics of real-world information.
"I
read <i>Dune</i>, said Kevin. "I wanted to be a mentat like
Paul
Atreides, but I figured I was born centuries too early. Now,
maybe
I can become something like one." Marylou replied slyly,
"Just
don't turn into a Piter Devries."
"The
advent of the Internet, especially the World Wide Web, has
made
a vast amount of online information available to all who can
retrieve
it. But the Usenet and the Web are not highly-structured
databases---although
many such non-HTML databases are available
for
searching via Web gateway pages, and these ancillary databases
have
been estimated to contain 500 times more actual data than
indexed
webpages do.
"The
Web's HTMLed information is contained in an amazingly diverse
collection
of documents, primarily textual. Most webpage 'data' is
in
the form of paragraphed prose, but some is arranged in tables
or
other HTML-allowed formats. From the textwords of all formats of
HTML
text, though, index words are derived. Selected page textwords,
such
as those in picture captions, are also copied by the search
engine
crawlers to index the graphics which accompany text.
"Retrieving
information from this universe of text and graphics can
be
a daunting task. Storing information as text is a lot easier than
later
extracting information from that text. At Questor, you'll meet
the
retrieval challenges presented by information in textual form,
and
you'll become text retrieval wizards. We know that if you can
become
skilled at the retrieval of text from a humongous database
like
the Web, you should become very good at searching for info
in
smaller textual databases, such as those stored on CD-ROMs
or
on intranet servers.
The
Rector paused before invoking history. His enthusiasm had his
audience
whispering among themselves.
"In
the days before computers, textual information was cataloged
with
subject headings printed on file cards or in bookform indexes.
This
is still so, even in libraries with computerized catalogs.
But
today, much public information is digitized then textword-
indexed
by computer programs. There's far too much computerized
text
for it to be manually concept-indexed by humans. Society's
textual
indexing and retrieval methods have radically changed.
"In
libraries, subject-retrieval of information succeeds when we
correctly
guess the subject headings that librarians and indexers
employ
to catalog text. These catalogers do some of our retrieval
work
for us by their subject analysis. On the Internet, however,
we
retrieve subjects only when we correctly guess the actual words
used
by the authors of text. That's the newer, greater reality of
subject
retrieval. Documents are now deeply indexed, not leisurely
and
lovingly by humans, but rapidly and starkly by their own words,
which
are collected and stored by computer programs. Our task as
infotrievalists
is to anticipate those textwords and to use them
as
searchwords in various logical ways to retrieve their texts.
"Most
of you have watched TV science fiction shows where someone
on
a spaceship retrieves information by querying an artificially-
intelligent
computer. I'll bet most of you believe that our future
will
indeed have such computers in service: mind-machines which will
listen
to our requests, interpret them as well or better than humans,
and
retrieve without serious error the requested information, where
such
info is available.
"The
science fiction television shows make artificial intelligence
sound
natural and inevitable. And how can we doubt that it's in our
immediate
future when commercial firms claim, in our own time, that
they've
solved our textual retrieval problems with their great new
'AI'
software?---to be released soon. And when computer pundits
assure
us that, any day now, we'll be using 'intelligent agents'
to
more-easily retrieve textual information?
"Well,
don't hold your breath waiting for magical software that'll
make
the retrieval of natural-language text easy and minimize human
infotrieval
skills. Even where such software has proven dependable
in
its autonomous operations, it requires good human input for it to
retrieve
properly.... No, until we have true artificial intelligence,
you'll
have to act as human agents for your end-users and use your
own
'brainware' and experience to formulate retrieval strategies,
type
relevant words into search engines, and then comb anxiously
through
the results for useful material. It ain't easy, but we
gotta
do it that way. Those of you who can do it well will have
a
valuable skill to offer employers. It's our dream that our name,
'Questor,'
will also come to mean a top-notch infotrievalist.
We
can make that happen if we work hard and think hard.
"At
Questor Institute, you'll learn to appreciate the beauty of
textword
indexing and the romance of textword retrieval. Those two
processes
form a sorcery of information handling. You'll become
infotrieval
wizards by developing the mental skills necessary to
practice
the retrieval half of this sorcery. All of you here are
familiar
with the fundamentals of textual retrieval because you've
taught
yourselves how to exploit the Internet. At Questor Institute,
you'll
relearn what you've informally taught yourselves, and then
learn
more. In this new learning, your retrieval skills will be
shaped
and sharpened to the appropriate level of sophistication
required
by today's world---and tomorrow's, as well.
The
Rector seemed to return to earth after these hopeful claims.
"In
your dormitory rooms, you've each found a state-of-the-art
laptop
computer. They're for your homework and recreational use.
They
have wireless connections to the school's local network and
to
its high-speed Internet service. You may also use your classroom
workstations
after class hours; our classroom doors are always open.
You'll
never be without a computer to use when you have homework
to
do or just a idea you want to investigate.
"One
thing we can't offer you is a vocational placement service.
We
can't persuade employers to hire our graduates until our early
graduates
fan out into the 'real world' and make their reputations
there,
based on their Questor training and their personal initiative.
What
employment your pioneer class finds, and your success in it,
will
determine the employment opportunities of subsequent classes.
Eventually,
we'll be able to offer some placement for our graduates.
I
don't want to raise your hopes too high, but we've already had
some
investment from industry and government outfits who've heard
about
our innovative program. The word about us is slowly spreading,
and
it's not all skeptical.
"Later
this year, and every year thereafter, we'll stage a voluntary
Internet
retrieval contest to see which ones of you have best learned
infotrieval
techniques and want to show it. We want you to both study
and
live information retrieval during your waking hours. And if you
dream
about it too, that's okay. We also want you to have fun during
your
time here. But be careful about recreation. Don't disappoint us
at
Questor or your parents. Make the most of your two years here,
then
go forth and make 'Questor' a name to be respected and feared."
As
the audience applauded the Rector's speech, Kevin felt the need
to
boast. He was the typical self-educated, overconfident 'computer
geek.'
"I'm pretty sharp already. How much sharper can I get here?"
His
boasting also aimed to test the tolerance of his new friend.
Marylou
handled his braggadocio with the irony of easy familiarity.
"Who
knows. Questor may even be able to get nerdy guys like you
up
to the customary feminine infotrieval skill level."
"And
you gals closer to our tech level," he retorted, goodnaturedly.
Thus,
an info-partnership was formed before the school could even
consider
assigning it. Kevin would be the master of computers and
software.
Marylou would be the intellectual infotrievalist. Both
would
assist each other to achieve what Questor Institute sought
from
its wizards-to-be.
Unseen
by the Assembly audience, the benefactor of Questor Institute
zoomed
the lens of his concealed CCTV camera to the faces of the new
students
to view their reactions to what they were hearing.
He
alone knew something about the school's pioneer class: by special
arrangement
with him, one of its students was reporting to a secretive
government
agency which had contributed to the funding of Questor
Institute.
The Institute had also received contributions from other
government
agencies and from big corporations with their fingers
firmly
on the nation's pulse. The Benefactor suspected that some
of
these other outfits had also contacted students and had offered
them
money and summer jobs to report on their progress at the new,
experimental
school.
In
that surmise, he was correct.
THE END OF PART ONE
Next: Part Two, "The Delight
of Being Together"
______________________________________________________________________
©
2002 by Frederick Rustam. Frederick
Rustam is a retired civil
servant.
He formerly indexed technical reports for the Department of
Defense.
He writes science fiction for Web ezines as a hobby. He
studies
and enjoys the Internet as a hobby.