s, translated) of the retrieved documents. On the left you will see what
language they are in: 'Sp' for Spanish, 'Id' for Indonesian, etc. Click on the
number at left of each line to see the document in the bottom window. Click on
'Summarize' to get a summary. Click on 'Translate' for a translation (but
beware: Arabic and Japanese are extremely slow! Try Indonesian for a quick
word-by-word 'translation' instead).

This is not a product (yet); we have lots of research to do in order to improve
the quality of each step. But it shows you the kind of direction we are heading
in."

"How do you see the future of Internet-related activities as regards languages?"

"The Internet is, as I see it, a fantastic gift to humanity. It is, as one of my
graduate students recently said, the next step in the evolution of information
access. A long time ago, information was transmitted orally only; you had to be
face-to-face with the speaker. With the invention of writing, the time barrier
broke down -- you can still read Seneca and Moses. With the invention of the
printing press, the access barrier was overcome -- now *anyone* with money to
buy a book can read Seneca and Moses. And today, information access becomes
almost instantaneous, globally; you can read Seneca and Moses from your
computer, without even knowing who they are or how to find out what they wrote;
simply open AltaVista and search for 'Seneca'. This is a phenomenal leap in the
development of connections between people and cultures. Look how today's
Internet kids are incorporating the Web in their lives.

The next step? -- I imagine it will be a combination of computer and cellular
phone, allowing you as an individual to be connected to the Web wherever you
are. All your diary, phone lists, grocery lists, homework, current reading,
bills, communications, etc., plus AltaVista and the others, all accessible (by
voice and small screen) via a small thing carried in your purse or on your belt.
That means that the barrier between personal information (your phone lists and
diary) and non-personal information (Seneca and Moses) will be overcome, so that
you can get to both types anytime. I would love to have something that tells me,
when next I am at a conference and someone steps up, smiling to say hello, who
this person is, where last I met him/her, and what we said then!

But that is the future. Today, the Web has made big changes in the way I shop (I
spent 20 minutes looking f