foundlings on the cathedral steps

liis and internet-wide search engines

thomas r. brucedirector, LII (original recipe)

lii-world & google-world

different operating philosophies

self-description•objects should (and do)

describe themselves

•many objects don’t (especially nontextual and acontextual objects)

trust and user-generated data

•user-generated metadata is unreliable

•high-quality metadata is something we do well

<meta>

importance

•popularity is importance

•domain-specific criteria can be more significant

privacy•information wants to be

discovered

•individuals bear the burden of protecting their privacy

•other policy concerns apply, and some are in tension

•publishers can and should act pre-emptively

shared problems, different remedies

context-smashing

•search engines are teleportation devices

•drilling down to detail is easier than jumping up to an overview

ontological mismatch

•mismatch between the way things are searched for and the way they are organized.

•in law, fact patterns vs. legal abstractions and categories

presentation of results

•we still assume the teletype

•we need different presentation for different stages of information-finding

•we want more interactivity, please

illusory completeness

•search engines promise everything , but index much less

unifying worlds: practical tips

improve google-facing data

•end unnecessary dynamic pages

•use <title> fully

•enrich cross-linkage

improve internal search

•restore adjacencies

•break down stovepipes

•expand and improve metadata

•present results in better, richer ways

conclusion: smoothing transitions