We are on the threshold of an age where all information is digitalized and readily available on the Web. This is not news but it is exciting to those that consume knowledge. From education to research and beyond the full depth of available knowledge, even what we currently have available, is really unfathomable. With the integration of natural language search and perhaps even a much more semantic (by nature) Web, the possibilities and exciting new horizons are limitless. Image a Web where literally everything is not only available but more easily accessible!

I read a story today at BBC that talked about yet another digitalization of a fantastic print periodical. Nature (in print since 1869) has just digitalized their entire archive. This interesting and award winning scientific periodical has received a number of Nobel Prizes for papers and has also provided readers with some of the most interesting stories ever printed. From the theory of mechanical flight to astrophysics, Nature has a wealth and depth that is fascinating.

Nature has created a website where the history of the journal can be accessed in video and text as well as several viewpoints from which the magazine can be reviewed. I think we are just begging to see storehouses of knowledge like tbis being integrated in digital form onto the Web. Most notable u universities and colleges as well as libraries have already begun to pump massive data from their archives into the digital domain. It goes without saying that soon we will have almost too much data to deal with - this is where advanced search and indexing will come into play.

I have long been a proponent of semantic and other advanced search technologies and this year is going to be about search as I said before. Google already has trouble dealing with relevance over the scope of data available. If nothing else, search is going to have to be sectioned, partitioned or crunched in some more reliable fashion than we currently use. The bottom line is however, that people will soon have access to more information than ever before. The rub will be how we access and utilize it all.