i202 Fall 2010 School of Information, UC Berkeley

In the age of information huge datasets aren't hard to come by. Everyone is trying to make sense of the rampant information made available to them. One of the largest (at least in terms of potential size) datasets to be analyzed is — somewhat ironically — the universe. It's big. 

NPR recently featured a story on religiously-specific search engines. These search engines filter all results based on specific religious beliefs. There are currently separate search engines for Muslims, Christians and Jews. Besides the controversy over it being considered censorship, these search engines raise questions on how the returned results are being selected; particularly who is doing the filtering and what criteria is being used.

This blog would like to explore two different Identification / Organization approaches to explore value in their retrieval results.

This essay from NYTimes.com poses an interesting question regarding how in the wake of Caster Semenya's gold medal victory at the world track and field chapionships, the International Assoc. of Athletics Federations is struggling to set clear rules for sex typing.

Proving identity in India can sometime result in frustrating experience. If you go to Bank for opening an account, they will ask for Permanent Account Number (PAN) card issued by finance ministry of India. If you hail from low income group and want to take advantage of subsidized food provided by the government then they will ask for ration card. If you want to exercise your right as a citizen of India during various elections then they will ask for voter ID card. Furthermore, all these proof documents are not linked with each other.

Most of us have heard of service dogs — but what about service horses, chimpanzees, or parrots? Should they be treated the same way under the Americans with Disabilities Act that more "typical" or "expected" service animals are? Or should there be different categories within the designation of "service animal" to determine which companions are allowed in which public places? That's the subject of this December 31, 2008 New York Times Magazine story.

Wall Street Journal, 4 November 2009

"In Tax Case, 4 Days Save Robertson $27 Million"

This article might not be available to you if you aren't a subscriber (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125729222815826639.html#mod=todays_us_mo...) so I'll summarize it.