When the Internet was in its infancy, browsing was like blindly stumbling from one link to another, until search engines like Google came along and allowed us to find whatever popped into our heads.
Now, another evolution in Internet navigation is on its way, one that will that turn massive amounts of information into cool-looking maps and infographics we can browse through in new and improved ways.
According to U of C researcher Marian Dörk, within five years we’ll be able to navigate our e-mail, Twitter and Facebook accounts through map-like interpretations of abstract information. For example, using Dörk’s searching software, which he calls Edgemaps, you could see the connections between philosophers, painters and musicians by looking at a spiderweb-like graphic that outlines their influences on one another.