All of today's press about Universal Search is overshadowing a very important launch -- timeline and map visualizations of search results. This product really demonstrates the power of digging into the structured information that lives on the web. The best thing about it is, the information that goes into these visualizations was not designed for this use. Whereas the Semantic Web folks have always envisioned getting the entire world to author RDF repositories, the Google Views product shows just how much you can do by reverse-engineering from the information that's already published.
If I sound a little enthusiastic about this, it's because I worked on similar projects for a long time at Google. The entire team over there has worked through an immense number of technical challenges to get to this launch. The technology stack they've built for understanding information published on the web is really very impressive.
My favorite use of Views is to explore historical topics. Want to understand the history of Iraq, or al Qaeda? It's too damn easy.
Congratulations to everyone involved in this launch. What's next? :)
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Google culture
One of the great things about Google culture is that anyone can fix any problem.
Sure, it's a big place, and some people get set in their ways, and you might have to convince a lot of people that your solution is the right one. Still, no one ever makes the argument, "that's not your area" or "I don't need to listen to a peon like you." Every time I've mailed one of our senior managers with a suggestion or request, they've responded more promptly than I would have, and with detailed feedback or comments.
In short, many of the best things at Google happen because someone in the trenches had a great idea, they made it work, and they convinced a lot of people to change how things are done.
And of course, that is great.
What's bugging me these days is that a lot of people are trying to describe Google culture as "bottoms up," when they actually mean "bottom up." Bottoms up means a whole different thing.
So, to all you Googlers throwing around the phrase "bottoms up" like it's a good thing: please stop. It hurts my ears when you say it.
Sure, it's a big place, and some people get set in their ways, and you might have to convince a lot of people that your solution is the right one. Still, no one ever makes the argument, "that's not your area" or "I don't need to listen to a peon like you." Every time I've mailed one of our senior managers with a suggestion or request, they've responded more promptly than I would have, and with detailed feedback or comments.
In short, many of the best things at Google happen because someone in the trenches had a great idea, they made it work, and they convinced a lot of people to change how things are done.
And of course, that is great.
What's bugging me these days is that a lot of people are trying to describe Google culture as "bottoms up," when they actually mean "bottom up." Bottoms up means a whole different thing.
So, to all you Googlers throwing around the phrase "bottoms up" like it's a good thing: please stop. It hurts my ears when you say it.
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