Peter Morville, author of Ambient Findability, stirred up the web4lib email list with a message about Authority and Findability. His message is about how services like Wikipedia and Google are changing our global information architecture and the meaning of “authority.”
The reaction was quick, and largely critical, but good argument tests our thinking and weeds the gardens of our mind. Argument is good. Here’s my side.
It’s important that we understand how modern search engines work. On the web, each link is a citation, and citation analysis is an important component among the many algorithms used to rank search results. Highly ranked content appears at the top because it is frequently cited (linked). This is obvious to many, but what is harder to fathom is that we (those who publish web content, anyway), not the search engines are responsible for identifying value on the web. Each link is a value statement about the resource we link to.
Think about that in the context of this comment:
Just because a document is findable, this does not mean that its contents are *better* or more truthful than a document that is not findable.
My point is that findability is in fact a measure of value. A perhaps incomplete and indirect measure, but one that has shown a remarkable ability to deliver valuable and useful information on demand.
Unfortunately, not all content is available online, and not all online content is linkable. Sadly, many web OPAC pages are not linkable, as is true of most every A&I and full-text database (or the content is linkable but inaccessible behind an authwall).
So now this quote:
As librarians, we are supposed to be experts on helping people find and retrieve quality information.
And I have to follow this with the following question: How better to help our patrons find high quality, accurate, and authoritative information than to take advantage of the search engines that already answer hundreds of millions of questions each day?
As stewards of knowledge, we need to understand the Google Economy. We need to build applications that embrace it. We need to invest the value that librarians bring to the search for knowledge in our online services.
Feh, libraries are full of people smarter than me. Hopefully they’ll forgive me for speaking out of turn.
tags: authority, citation analysis, findability, google, google economy, libraries, library, library systems, quality data, research methods, search, search engine, search engines, web opac, wikipedia
Related:
Posted October 12, 2005 by Casey
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Politics & Controversy, Technology. Tags: authority, citation analysis, findability, google, google economy, libraries, library, library systems, quality data, research methods, search, search engine, search engines, web opac, wikipedia.
2 Comments
Comments RSS
TrackBack Identifier URI
Leave a comment
User contributed tags for this post:
google eart (821) - google heart it (657) - google heart (405) - GOO LE (355) - google hearth (168) - google hert (150) - Goo le Earth (147) - google earth co (124) - heart satelite (110) - Google Earth com (96) - google eart crack (85) - google hearts (83) - scarica google heart (78) - google eart online (71) - crack google heart (65) - Google Hearth dowload (62) - google heart download (56) - gogle hert (54) - goo le com (49) - google eart 2006 (47) - scarica googleheart (39) - google heart crack (39) - eart satelite (36) - eart satellite (36) - google eart 4 (34) - google hert it (33) - google eart full download (30) - gogle heart (30) - google heart satellite (30) - google erth (29) - dowload google hearth (29) - google eart satellite (29) - download google heart (28) - maissonbisson (27) - gogle hear (26) - tim treadwell audio tape online (25) - scaricare googleheart (24) - download google eart (23) - google heart on line (23) - google earth dowland (23) - dowload google heart (22) - google eart full (21) - scarica google eart (21) - tim treadwell autopsy report (20) - hearth satellite (20) - google eart 2006 download (20) - dowload google eart (20) - google heart demo (19) - google heart scarica (18) - goo le eart (18) - definition gogle (18) - google eart satelite (17) - eart 2006 (16) - google earth scarica (16) - GOOGLE EART DONWLOAD (16) - google heart online (16) - google eart 5 (15) - google eart download (15) - WWW GOOGLE HEART IT (14) - satellite eart (14) - Hearts satellite (14) - heart satellite (14) - google hearth satelite search (13) - definition sex com (13) - heart satellite download (13) - google eart 3 download (12) - satelite hert (12) - scarica google hert (12) - donwload google eart (12) - google heart satelite (12) - www.???? ???.com (12) - scaricare google heart (12) - dowland google heart (12) - gogle hearth (11) - gogle eart (11) - crack google hearth (11) - dowland google earth (11) - heart download satellite (10) - google eart dowland (10) - all (10) - scarica google heaRTH (10) - goo eart (10) - satelite gogle (10) - scarica google (10) - google hert com (9) - scarica google earth (9) - satelite GOOGLE HEART (9) - satelite google (9) - google eart download full (8) - google eart donload (8) - Google Earth 4 dowlands (8) - google hearts dowland (8) - google hearth on line (8) - crack google eart (8) - ONLINE GOOGLE EART (8) - google eart 4 dowland (8) - googleheart (8) - DOWNLOAD GOOGLE HEARTH (8) - hearth google (8) - satellite google heart (8) - google hert download (8) - satelite heart (8) - WWW GOOGLE EART (8) - google eart on line (8) - google erth dowload (7) - earth com satellite (7) - WWW GOOGLE HEART (7) - scarica google hearts (7) - Download Google Eart 2006 (7) - google heart donwload (7) - WWW goo le (7) - google eart 3 (7) - crack googleheart (7) - download google hearts (7) - down load google eart (7) - google map donwload (6) - Google Earth donwload (6) - scarica google maps (6) - satellite hearth (6) - google heart download satellite (6) - scaricare google hearth (6) - download google hert (6) - satelite heart google (6) - gogle heart download (6) - donwload google hearth (6) - google eart 2007 download (6) - Google heart 3 (6) - crack google heart download (6) - google heart cracked (6) - hear satelite (6) - hert satelite (6) - heart sat lite (5) - google eart 9 (5) - WWW GooGle Hert (5) - goo le video (5) - feh sex com (5) - google eart 3 donwload (5) - findability google (5) - about (5) - google scholar What is the Knowledge Economy (5) - google heart scaricare (4) - dowland google (4) - Gogle scholar (4) - dowloading google heart (4) - download satellite google heart (4) - download Google Eart full (4) - scarica satellite googleheart (4) - hearth satelite (4) - opac (4) - donwload the google earth (4) -
[...] Findability, The Google Economy, and Libraries [...]
This Week in LibraryBlogland (16 October 05)
[...] Discussion on LISNews re Wikipedia founder admits some quality-control problems. Alec (Librarians at the Gate) and MaisonBisson point to a web4lib discussion about the nature of truth and the definition of “Authority.”[...]