I Chunked a Page and I Liked it!
T.I.G.E.R. Logic by Katherine in ChunkIt!
By all outward appearances, I have a perfectly respectable grown-up job this summer. Every day from 9 to 5 (okay, 9:30 to 5:30) I sit in a cubicle and, as part of a team of interns, brainstorm ways to market ChunkIt! to college students. We have weekly objectives to accomplish, payrolls to be filled out, and status reports to be written. But once in a while, we all get to go out of the office and do something wild and crazy. And that’s when we transform from square-minded Clark Kents into marketing Supermen (and -women).
This week, we took a field trip to stage a protest in (where else?) Berkeley. We marched under the auspices of T.I.G.E.R. (The Innovative Group for Effective Research). Our topic of protest? Slow search times on the Internet. Our mission? To enlighten the good people of Berkeley about the birth of a solution. Armed with classic hand-painted protest signs adorned with biting witticisms such as “URL Sinners” and “Practice Safe Search”, we stormed through historic Sather Gate and up the steps of Sproul Hall. No longer would we stand by and watch as millions toiled through the daunting labyrinth of the Interwebs. As the 300 Spartans before us, we stood bravely on the steps of Sproul Hall and shouted, “This is CHUNKIT!”
Well, not really, but close. My fellow intern and cubiclemate Joli unleashed her talent as a singer/songwriter/choreographer with catchy protest anthems such as “ChunkIt Like It’s Hot” and “I Chunked a Page and I Liked It”. JJ and Rob raged against the machine, leading the crowd in chanting “Orange Power” and “What do we want? (Faster searches!) When do we want ‘em? (Now!) How we goin’ to get ‘em? (ChunkIt!)” Meanwhile, cameraman Brian and aspiring reporter Steven recorded the day’s events with stunning cinematography and journalistic integrity.A few bystanders tentatively approached us see what the commotion was about. Other onlookers, mostly unsuspecting tourists, chattered excitedly amongst themselves. Some, possibly under the impression that they were witnessing the rebirth of the free speech movement, took photographs and home videos to show their friends and family why the town has earned the nickname “Berzerkeley”. Our protest gained a touch of symbolism with a computer-shaped piñata labeled “Slow Search”. Hungry college students and small children partook in the festivities, wielding a ChunkIt! bat to bring slow search to its demise. One Berkeley native approached me to say, “I really approve of what you guys are doing here. I’d totally jump in and help you protest, but I’m so high at the moment, I don’t even know what I’m saying.” I thanked him politely anyway.After exhausting our supply of business cards, losing our voices, and leaving the town plastered with “I Got Chunked” stickers, we trudged back to Shattuck Avenue for the long BART journey home. Just as Superman returns to his phone booth, we returned to our cubicles at the office and became Clark Kents once more…until our next mission.
What is ChunkIt!? ChunkIt! is a safe and innovative add-on to your Internet browser that searches and extracts the valuable “chunks” of information often hidden within the countless hyperlinks that comprise the Web.
What do we mean by a “chunk”? Think of a chunk as a compact block of content, text, or data that contains enough descriptive information pertaining to your search terms to convey an idea.After a quick install, you’ll see the new ChunkIt! search box appear in your browser. By entering keywords in the ChunkIt! search box, valuable information from the Web will become much easier to find. This revolutionary approach to search will save you hours of time and frustration because you can avoid aimless browsing and endless clicking from one link to another. It’s the perfect application for researching consumer products, gathering important information, sifting through discussion groups and blogs, and finding answers to all your home and technical problems.
Key Features:
Give Your Favorite Search Engine Super Strength. Transform your favorite search engine into an information powerhouse. ChunkIt! searches within the pages of your engine’s results to find your search terms in context. You can then preview the resulting multicolored “chunks” for relevance without clicking on the actual page.
Use X-Ray Vision to See More Beyond the Links. Search Web pages and discover information conventional search tools may have never revealed. ChunkIt! digs deep inside a Webpage and all of the webpages it contains links to, leaving no stone unturned as it searches for information relevant to your search.Be in Two Places At Once. Click the ChunkIt! icon next to a chunk in the left side of your browser, and ChunkIt! highlights that information in the context of its original Web page on the right side of your browser. There’s no need to bounce between multiple windows.
