In the Renaissance, poets drew parallels between geographical maps of newly discovered lands and the landscapes of the human body and soul. Today, the newly discovered lands are virtual places where users may seek themselves. A spiritual pilgrimage used to mean having to leave the house, but with the Web getting more metaphysical, seekers can pursue truth right at their desks. Surfers began asking the major questions online five years ago, when visionaries noticed the Web was a city built without a map and launched Web directories like Yahoo and search engines like Lycos, Infoseek and Altavista. The spider feeds data into an index.
Software then sorts and ranks indexed information.
Yahoo uses human indexing rather than mechanical indexing, with individuals mapping out the territories of cyberspace. Meanwhile, they approximate intelligence and sometimes end up sounding like a maddening cocktail party guest or an idiot savant. But that wasn't enough. This spring, the folks behind the curtain decided that Altavista should speak English. The Queen's English.