Esther Dyson is a bit of an online legend. She wrote the newsletter Release 1.0, and has since helped start many ventures by investing and advising. You can also catch where she swims in a regularly updated Flickr photo stream.

In a recent keynote Q&A at the Search Insider Summit in Bonita Springs, Fl., Esther made some very cool statements.

As for the future of search, Dyson said, “I don’t see the quality of search improving very much. Search is like telling a dog, ‘Go Fetch,’ I want something to ‘Go Fetch and Reserve’ [as in the right hotel room.] “Search is a task half-done.”

What’s needed, she said, is switching from a “search and fetch” mentality to a “deliver, act and transact” perspective based on personalization.

I met Esther at ETech 2006. Interestingly she introduced me to Michael Goldhaber, who many consider the father of attention. Scouta’s genesis has a lot to do with attention, and we certainly believe that it’s “deliver, act and transact” perspective based on personalization.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 12:30 pm by Richard and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.