Search/Retrieval perspective

[wallace koehler <wkoehle@ibm.net>]

The advent of "new" search engines and other techniques allows new
search/retrieval techniques based on the structure of domain names and
subsequent directory and file structure of the URL. Most useful are the
ISO 3166 terms (.za for South Africa, .fr for France, etc) followed by
second-level functional domain names (.ac.uk for academic UK servers,
.mil.br for Brazilian military, etc).
	The revision, update, addition of new or amended domain names
undertaken by the IAHC offers a significant opportunity to expand the
search capabilities based upon domain name/file structure
characteristics. I suggest, I urge that IAHC expand both the geographic
as well as functional characteristics of top-level domain names, and if
possible extend the naming conventions to the second-level and even
third-level to facilitate the search/retrieval operation.
	As you know, obituaries of the Internet have been published. One cause
of death, it is suggested, is congestion. I suppose technology fixes
will overcome that problem.
		The second proposed cause of death is the inability of searchers to
rerieve material in a relevant and pertinent fashion. Noise and false
drops are symptoms. Any mechanism, including naming conventions, can
significantly contribute to reducing these difficulties. We have already
achieved some success (paper citation if you wish) in using domain
structure to search. New standards could futher facilitate that.
Wallace Koehler, willing@usit.net