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1. History
Who knew? I think the history of search engines is a lot like toothpicks. We use them all the time, and expect them to work for us, but don't really question where they come from or whose hard work went into this genius convenience. But week's reading, the futuristic and draft draft draft version of Halavais' Search Engine Society: Search Engines, Search Divides, Social Search takes us on a journey allllll the way back to those flannel wearing 1990's when the world wide web became to big to remain unsearchable. Why is it important to know about the history of cyber search? To understand how they work, of course, but also to better find what we are looking for, improve upon the current systems, and predict future trends.


2. Academics
Vertical search is discussed in this weeks reading, specifically Google Scholar. I became aware of Google Scholar a short time ago while starting the research process with my partner James. Between now and then I have used the engine about 4 or 5 times, and I would say that I am simultaneously impressed and disappointed. I'm impressed that Google has taken there grade A ease and familiarity into the academic sphere, and the overall user experience I had was good, however I feel the results left something to be desired. This could be because I'm still new to Scholar, however Halavais expresses the importance of search engines' ability to meet the expectations of the user, and in that area I feel there is still much room for improvement.


3. Democracy
We hear it all the time. The rich are getting richer, the busiest blogs are getting busier, and the best way to be popular is....well, to be popular. It makes sense that the higher you are on a search results page, the more visitors you'll get to click on your site, but as we learned earlier in this course, a phenomenon coined The Long Tail has impacted how we thing about diversity and importance. Do current search engines fuel the huge spike at the top of the curve, limiting our exposure to less popular sites? I don't know about you, but if a site isn't on the first 3 pages of Google's results page, I'm not going to see it. Does that bias affect the democratic process? Is it fair? Or is it simply a necessary byproduct of the Internets explosion of popularity?


4. One radio station
I don't drive to much, but whenever I do I listen to the radio. I have 5 presets that I switch between, and I'm never on one more that 15 or 20 minutes. The way I see it, as I'm sure many others do, diversity is good, different genres keep things interesting, and you never know what you'll you hear if you keep an open mind (and ears). Could this also be true of search engines? I use Google as a general search engine exclusively, and most of the time I am pleased with my results. But could the argument be made that I am putting blinders on to other websites and results queries by sticking to Google? Am I essentially listening to one radio station everyday?


5. Spell check
To me, Google is more than just a search engine, its a top notch spell check. Part of my job involves writing and displaying names which are often times nearly impossible to spell right on the first try, and countless times I have opened up a browser, typed those all too familiar 10 characters, and made certain the V comes before the R in Favre or the proper spelling of Bengals' WR Houshmandzadeh.


6. Fact check
Along with spell check, I use search engines as a quick fact check. But that brings up the question, what is truth? For example, you have a hunch that orange juice promotes healthy fingernails, and your Google search reviles websites you find credible which confirm this assumption, does that make it true? In this way it could be argued we have the power to distribute existing knowledge, but also to promote false knowledge. This is a phenomenon we need to be aware of as communication scholars, and as members of society.


7. Speed is King
If you could chose between a search engine that was fast and a search engine that was slow, but provided better results, which would you chose? The Internet age is one of impatience, and if a site is slow to load, often times its as good as not being there at all. Has the demand for speed compromised search engine's quality of results? Will this ever be changed?


8. Speed is not King, Google is King
This week's readings mention Google as the premiere general purpose search engine, will they/could they/should they be trumped? No I'm not suggesting The Donnald get into the search engine game, rather I ask if you can imagine an Internet without the familiar blue, red, yellow, green and white monster? Indeed it would take an Enron style catastrophe to put a dent in Google's empire, but as we all know nothing lasts forever, so I wonder who will be the next king of the search mountain?


9. What about me?
A search is comprised of entering keywords, and hitting enter. So what happens when you enter the most intimate and private keywords (your name) into arguably the most public sphere ever created? Self-googling. <---- Ironic, this link is the first result on Google when you search for "self googling", and is centered around this week's author, social architect Alex Halavais. Is this an invasion of privacy, or a liberating forum for self promotion and expression? My next post will focus more on the idea of self-googling, but any examination of public search tools should at least acknowledge this interesting and possibly controversial subject.

10. Future
What's next? How will search improve? Geographically specific searches are being developed, as well as the expansion over vertical search functions for specific fields, how will these affect our day to day lives? How will the addition of an ever-increasing number of photos and videos on the net be searchable? Could there be an algorithm which systematically scans or crawls frames of video or pixels in a photo, determining their potential relevance to a curious and inquiring user? With more and more of our life being centered around the web and sharing, will we want to limit the power of search, or grow it?


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A Thaumaturgical Compendium
Things Alex finds to be magical;
many in fairly superficial ways
http://alex.halavais.net/