(2002-05-09) i

Les Orchard on DisEnchanted's references to Xanadu re BackLinks. With another idea: we propose a new breed of tracking software that could be plugged-in, or built-in to the next generation of web browsers: when a surfer finds a page of interest they could summon their personal browsing history, check-off the pages they think are related to it, and then go on their merry way. The voluntary electronic scent trail left behind could be exploited by a third party - maybe a Search Engine - that builds a new navigation layer on top of the existing web. Any other Web citizen who follows the same path will reinforce it anonymously. This sounds a bit like Alexa. Les talks about more automated ideas to add more context to BackLinks (visiting the linking page to grab its title, etc.). Some other good things to grab might be (a) the first sentence (or x chars) of the linking page, and (b) some chunk of text surrounding the actual link to you. This wouldn't require depending on the work of the author you link to (to insert Meta Data using RDF or Dublin Core).