Resumen
A group of database researchers, architects, users, and pundits met in May 2008 at the Claremont Resort in Berkeley, CA, to discuss the state of database it search and its effects on practice. This was the seventh meeting of this sort over the past 20 years and was distinguished by a broad consensus that the database community is at a turning point in its history, due to both an explosion of data and usage scenarios and major shifts in computing hardware and platforms. This article explores the conclusions of this self-assessment. The theme of the Claremont meeting was that database research and the data-management industry are at a turning point, with unusually rich opportunities for technical advances, intellectual achievement, entrepreneurship, and benefits for science and society. Given the large number of opportunities, it is important for the database research community to address issues that maximize relevance within the field, across computing, and in external fields as well.

Resumen
Introduces a magazine section that focuses on three aspects of Web search that affect consumers. User interface and how to avoid information overload; Power and challenges of personalization; Issue of bias in search engines as information source.