As the growth of the Internet has outpaced the evolution of search technology, users no longer have enough time to sift through the huge haystack of information looking for their needle.

Search Engines are only designed to do the "heavy lifting"; they are essentially large database indexes, and have no semantic understanding of the users' needs. In fact, the best that the search engines can promise is "relevant" links (imagine response to an airline that does not deliver you to your intended destination, but instead, to one that is sort of similar, in many respects). Also, relevancy has its limitations; it is determined by someone else's criteria, not yours.

Over 100 million searches are performed on the Internet daily, even though they are increasingly becoming more unproductive. Internet search is no longer a novelty, but is instead a necessity for business, academia, Government, and household problem research and resolution. The needed information revolution must optimize the roles of humans and technology in solving the user's information needs.

iFind represents such a revolution in information search technology. It leverages R&D concepts explored under the Government's information superiority initiative to layer a problem-centric methodology on top of information infrastructure. It assists the user in resolving his information need by:

• Discovery - Helping the user to become aware of his problem domain
• Transformation - Helping the user to identify relevant themes
• Convergence - Helping the user to isolate information relating to desired themes

iFind defines a new niche for information awareness on the Internet with visual and algorithmic breakthroughs. Visually, iFind presents Internet information in a manner that lets humans view the potentially vast thematic space of their problem while having the option to selectively drill into desirable themes chosen on the fly. The weighted "horizontal" information view presented by iFind is unique and effective in visualizing and isolating the user's desired themes.

Algorithmically, iFind performs much like a chess program in finding the best information branches and nodes in response to interactions with the user. Pruning the thematic tree isolates meaningful branches while preserving the infinite content of the information space. iFind leverages the compute power of the human brain optimally in bounding, then isolating information of value, as only the user can determine.

iFind greatly simplifies the effort and increases the effectiveness for a wide range of users (especially novices and serious researchers) in visualizing the desired Internet information space and maneuvering efficiently to meaningful results. The screen dump below illustrates the iFind thematic presentation and information isolation. The compact iFind presentation of information is ideal for mobile small screen presentation.

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