Designing the Search Experience

Chapter 4

Modes of Search and Discovery

Often the search proves more profitable than the goal.

—E. L. Konigsburg

Ask a colleague to define the word “search,” and the chances are good that sooner or later he or she will mention words such as “find” or “locate,” as if the act of finding were the logical conclusion to the act of searching. Even popular dictionaries would seem to share this view, with definitions such as the following (from dictionary.com):

search

–verb (used with object)

to go or look through (a place, area, etc.) carefully in order to find something missing or lost

But search involves so much more than just finding. Search, in the holistic sense, is a complex cognitive activity involving a broad range of goals and activities. In ...