A fortnight ago, I commented that ‘Google deserves to enjoy a brief whiff of schadenfreud’ before Stephen Wolfram launches his computational knowledge engine in May. Well, Google appear to have pipped him to the post in the first round of Search 2.0, although the actual finishing line in the web search race is still nowhere in sight. Of course, it might not exist at all.
Google have unveiled this week, a smarter search which, according to the BBC News item ‘uses semantic web technology’. Smarter search uses any embedded metadata in a web page – metadata in RDF mark-up as well as conventional META tags – to seek and gather information related to the search query, and to display it with each hit in what they call a ‘rich snippet’. Not a Wolfram-blaster on its own. But there’s more.
Google also unveiled Google Squared, which collates information – text-based, numerical, graphical – and displays it in summary form, e.g. a table. Showing a command of smoke-and-mirrors communication rivalling that of politicians, Google spokesperson Marissa Mayer explained:
“What they are basically doing is looking for structures on the web that seem to imply facts. Like something ‘is’ something.”
“Different tables, different structures, and then corroborating the evidence around whether or not something is a fact by looking at whether that fact occurs across pages.”
That’s clear then.
Before you think the balance of schadenfreud might just have tipped back in favour of Stephen Wolfram, Google also announced Google Search Options, a feature which allows users to manipulate search results to refine them, filter them and view them in different ways until they make sense (presumably).
I’m sure these Google enhancements will prove hugely popular, and I sincerely hope Google will continue with its highly innovative approach to squeezing ever more value out of web search. But when the phrase ‘lipstick on a pig’ keeps flashing up in my mind’s eye, I need to remind myself that my benchmark is enterprise search – or deep search – a different animal altogether.
But let’s look on the bright side. At least Google is at last acknowledging the value of metadata.
May 14, 2009 at 1:03 pm |
[...] UK’s KOnnect blog notes that at least Google is taking metadata [...]
May 15, 2009 at 6:15 am |
[...] Google Ups its Stakes in the Search 2.0 Race [...]
May 20, 2009 at 10:17 am |
well, these things need real tests and real matters so I’ll run a series of tests on two actions I’m engaged in at the moment – the first problem is turning them into words in my mind.
That is the earliest significant step, unless people have other methods?
We might report this process at the ISKO meeting?
May 21, 2009 at 10:05 am |
I’ve now got my tests sorted. Explanation will need personal communication, but those who have attended my seminars over the last twenty years will be able to work them out.
VDG WHY
Hex
Wandelen
Alternmodern
August 4, 2009 at 11:06 pm |
[...] down real roots, was Google Squared. I posted briefly in May 2009 about this and also Google’s Smarter Search, suggesting that these enhancements to the regular Google experience might prove attractive to the [...]