Hi,

I'm the Lead Program Manager on the team building the next generation of research.microsoft.com and related services.  We decided months ago [long before I arrived] to re-think what a web presence should be for Microsoft Research.  Building a web 'site' isn't necessarily difficult.  In contrast, developing a conversational platform to distribute assets across web and other end points is an exciting journey.  I use the word conversational to suggest there is dialog between people interested with Microsoft Research - they use the web to maintain this interest - and the platform which feeds their appetite for more information. 

There are other terms [or phrases] to suggest what we're up to: semantic, read/write, 2.0, service oriented.  Yet none of these terms suit the problem we're faced with - distributing information as it's desired in the context for which it will have the most meaning and relevance.  With the next generation of research.microsoft.com we intend to explore new ways to match the intent of 'people interested with Microsoft Research' with a response [from the platform] to complete [or perhaps get started] the conversation.

con paz,

frank