What Is Your Name, Bob?

 

One of my kid's favorite games is something that they've come to call "what's your name?" We started playing when my son was about 4 and my daughter just 18 months. The game involves them standing on our king-size bed, me asking them a question, and then when they answer the question correctly they get to run and take a flying leap into my arms, after which I spin them around over my head and plop them down on the pillows.

I've used the game to help them learn a lot of different things; everything from their full given names (hence the name of the game--most evenings after bath time my daughter will hug me and say "Daddy, let's play 'What's your name?'") to our phone numbers and address. I now use the game to help my son, who is in first grade, practice his math and spelling words.

One night last week, after a particularly back-wrenching game (my son now weighs more than 50 pounds and really hits me with a wallop when he jumps off the bed), I got to thinking--dangerous, I know, but I am a trained professional. What do user's of a portal (internet, intranet, knowledge management, etc.) really want when they type a query into a search box? They want answers (duh). They don't want a long list of documents or Web pages that they have to browse, then refine their query based on the information they got from those hits, then browse again, refine again, etc., etc. They want …

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