It's amazing what we expect from search engines. We enter a word or two and expect to find exactly what we're looking for. Imagine talking to a librarian this way. I can just picture the perplexed expression on a librarian's face if I were to walk up and just say "records." Would he point me to the music collection? Would he assume I was looking for the card catalog? He would probably have to ask some clarifying questions. "I'm sorry sir, what kind of records are you looking for - Jazz, Rock, Bluegrass?"

I'd restate my request, "making records."

Still puzzled he'd say, "Hum, well we have some accounting books that have good ideas about keeping your files in order..."

"How to set records,'" I interrupt.

Are you looking for the Guinness Book of World Records, or sports related records?" he might ask.

"How to set records in a database," I'd clarify.

"Oh, those kinds of records," he'd say with relief, "the computer books are over there but there are a lot of them. What kind of databases are you interested in?"

We would never presume that a librarian would understand vague ambiguous requests. Yet we often throw such words and phrases into search engines with little clarification. All a search engine has to go on is the words we give it. And it doesn't even have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions. No matter how abstract or unclear our request, the search engine has to respond with something.

But if the engine had a little more information to go on, beyond just the words we give it, it might be able to provide better results. For example, if, while I approached our bewildered librarian to ask for "records," I was wearing a U2 T-shirt, and was listening to music on an MP3 player he might glean that I'm looking for record albums. Likewise, if I were whacking a paddle ball game while balancing a chair on my nose he might conclude that I was interested in setting a word record. Or, if I had thick black glasses, a pocket protector, and a laptop under my arm he might guess I was looking for information about database records.

Unfortunately, search engines don't have any of this auxiliary information available to them. That is, unless we give it to them.   next >