Accessing Digital MemoryYahoo! Search Pad

Vivian Lin Dufour1 Oct 2009

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Yahoo’s New Search Page

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What is “memory”?

memory – Wikipedia

the retrieval of information about past experiences

computer memory, storage – Dictionary.com

a. the capacity of a computer to store information subject to recall

b. the components of the computer in which such information is stored.

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/386355098/in/set-72157594200490122/

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Human & Digital Memory

• 76% people distrust relying on memory alone

• 78% use some form of electronic aid to help them remember things

Source: Yahoo! Europe Research

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sidkid/2908468343/

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Search Pad helps…

• Remember sites automatically

• Easily save / edit notes

• Access today, tomorrow, or later

• Share information

• Plan and decide

• Examples from Search Pad users

• Effects of Prematurity on Child Behavior• Learning Kanji and Hiragana• Control de Motores Eletricos• Tenor Saxophone Sheet Music• Kinds of Poetry• Visiting Lake Tahoe• Building Strong Brands

• Getting a Pell Grant• Buying a Mountain Bike• Retail Shop for Rent in Singapore• MIT/Harvard Campus Trip• Effects of Lighting Strike on Aeroplane• Use of Religion in Lord of the Flies• Spring Gardening

Demo Time!

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Thinking of going camping…

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Yahoo! Search Pad learns you’re researching …

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Search Pad records the sites you clicked!

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Remembers searches you did to find those sites

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Take notes easily while searching

Mmm…Useful tip. Let me copy

it…

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Save your notes, Print or Email them!

Save notes to view / change

later via Yahoo! sign-in

Print notes to take with you

Email or Share your notes

with friends, family

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Manage the digital memory of your online journey

Yahoo! Search Pad

• Intelligent and dynamic technology helps you take notes as you search

• No need to remember / re-find which sites were useful. Search Pad stores a digital copy of your session.

• Be confident and productive in searching on the web

• Helps people complete tasks and make important decisions in their everyday life

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On SRP integrated and interactive note-taking application.

Automatically filled with behavior from the current search session, simplifying the collection process.

Search Pad System Overview

Behind the Scenes:Session behavior beaconed to a lightweight “Session RAM” which listens to user activity and makes decisions based on session science.

Search FE SessionRAM

Science BEData

Queries, Clicks

[TQ1 : TC11, TC12, TC13 ]…[TQN : TCN1, TCN2… ]

Timestamps

[Q1 : C11, C12, C13 ]…[QN : CN1, CN2… ]

What is stored?

Science System:The same signals which help to create the document are also monitored and used to compute science features. The science features are checked on each query to see whether particular cases have triggered.

Client Storage

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What does this technology bring?

• Stateful search engine

• Better digital memory management

– Synchronous

– Asynchronous

• Bespoke search experiences

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Thank You!

Vivian Lin Dufour

Director, Product Management

Yahoo!

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/samjudson/126872437/

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