Of camels, cud & content

By: Sorab Ghaswalla

Reading up on how “clever” search engines have become because of artificial intelligence I realized our lives have become much more easier because of such progress. Search engines are now coded to understand our intent even.

But this post is not about the sophistication of search engines. Or, is it? I call attention to one of the confusions that persists in the world of content because of search engines - over search and research. The muddle exists at either end of the supply chain - the client as well as the content provider.

If you really gave it a thought, you would understand that it`s not so complicated. It can, in fact, be explained by this oft-used, rather simplistic explanation (you will soon know why I say “simplistic”) - search is when you are looking for something; research is when you are examining something. Search was a real world activity, like finding lost car keys, or some such till the World Wide Web and the Internet came along.

Before search went online, the meaning and context of research was fairly well understood. It meant an investigation. It meant you had to probe, examine, conclude. When search engines came, things got mixed up.

Let me pause here to say, this post is not an advisory on the best way to conduct search or even research online.

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