https://www.harlan.harris.name/tags/history/ Recent content in history on Harlan D. Harris Hugo -- gohugo.io en harlan@harris.name (Harlan Harris) harlan@harris.name (Harlan Harris) Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/03/ize-meets-ai-semantic-agentic-search/ Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 harlan@harris.name (Harlan Harris) https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/03/ize-meets-ai-semantic-agentic-search/ This is the last post in the IZE series. In the previous installment, I looked at two ways to generalize the IZE algorithm itself: preferring consistent facets and searching for trees with better goodness scores. Here I want to ask a different question: what does the AI revolution of the last few years actually change about what could be built here? I see three distinct opportunities, at different layers of the system. https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/03/could-we-build-ize-again/ Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 harlan@harris.name (Harlan Harris) https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/03/could-we-build-ize-again/ In the previous installment of this series, I looked at what came after IZE -- faceted search, clustering algorithms, and the various ways web search, personal information management, and e-commerce tried to solve similar problems to what IZE was attacking. None of them ended up doing what IZE did. The question I want to take up here is: could we build something like IZE today? I think the answer is yes, for at least one domain. https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/03/what-came-after-ize-three-domains-three-answers/ Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 harlan@harris.name (Harlan Harris) https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/03/what-came-after-ize-three-domains-three-answers/ In the previous post in this series, I discussed the technical details of IZE and its reception. Here I want to look at what came after — and where IZE-like ideas might still have potential. The short version: IZE was forgotten, but the ideas it embodied — hierarchical clustering, single-word splits, dynamic navigation — were re-invented independently in several different domains. Each domain found a different answer, for reasons that are worth understanding. https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/02/how-ize-really-worked-patents-limits-esther-dyson/ Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 harlan@harris.name (Harlan Harris) https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/02/how-ize-really-worked-patents-limits-esther-dyson/ In the first post in this series, I introduced IZE -- a DOS-era personal information manager with a novel approach to search and navigation. Here I want to go deeper into how it actually worked, what its limits were, and how it was received at the time. The algorithm The core of IZE was patented by Paul Kleinberger (US5062074A, "Information retrieval system and method"). The basic algorithm is easy enough to describe: https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/02/ize-revisiting-hierarchical-search-technology-pc-era/ Fri, 27 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 harlan@harris.name (Harlan Harris) https://www.harlan.harris.name/2026/02/ize-revisiting-hierarchical-search-technology-pc-era/ Sometimes revisiting old technology is the best way to understand how we got where we are -- and to see what alternative paths might have looked like. This is the first in a series of posts about IZE, a DOS-era personal information manager that I think has some interesting lessons for modern search and discovery. I'll admit my interest in IZE isn't purely academic. My father was a co-founder of the company that published it, and a cousin of his was the inventor of the underlying technology, which the company acquired.