Who else but the searcher can we really be thinking of? The whole
point is to facilitate discovery on the part of searchers.
To focus on the short term behavior of this indexing system or that
indexing system is not productive in the long term.
To the extent that the indexing community has useful insights about
discovery (and they do), we should listen carefully. That doesn't make
them our audience, it makes them our partners.
If we are doing something useful, then some or another indexing system
will use this information to good effect, and the advantage derived
from higher quality description will accrue to both the searchers and
the services that provide it.
If we indulge in excessive complexity that renders our vision
undeployable, then we will be relegated to the scrap heap. We are
trying to find the right balance, and that means that the experimental
work such as Jon and his cohorts are doing is enormously valuable. So
too, the reflections of Sigfrid, informed as they are by real world
expectations of actual patrons.
Now, Sigfrid... what's this about rocking the boat? I thought we were
still laying the keel?
stu
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