In Search of a Search Engine

The objective of this episode is to examine what search engines actually are, and possibilities of what will come next in the future of search. This episode is not about knocking down search engines but rather determining if we can we draw on history for some ideas. Are the issues we are seeing because of bias? Or, is the issue privacy? Or censorship? Possibly speed or accuracy? Or, is the real the issue money? The short answer is – all of these and more. Perhaps we should start by thinking about a library and the established discipline of library science. What makes libraries work? Three things, fundamentally: The Dewey Decimal System (or Library of Congress Classification), the consistent state of facts in the library, and finally the librarian. We will look at these 3 elements and compare and contrast what we see today with search engines. Perhaps the future state of “search” will become clearer after doing this.