Search Engine Interfaces

They avoid books, libraries, and librarians. They love Google. (We love Google.) Why? Maybe it’s the speed of getting thousands of potential answers in a split second (Fig. 11). Maybe it’s the seeming simplicity of the list, or the delight in the reduction of a complex question to a series of puzzle pieces to be (apparently) easily assembled into something new. Maybe it’s the appearance of neutrality in the list, its lack of point of view. Or maybe, hatred of reading, hatred of learning, fear of librarians, fear of looking stupid, the absence of a teacher’s or a librarian’s interference. Or, a recognition of the limits of print sources; hurriedness; desire for anonymity or for “interactivity.” Or maybe it’s the joy of accumulation, the reassurance of hoarding. In the end, probably, the glut of information itself is a reward. —Donny Smith —Search Engine Interfaces (Kairos)