Are search engines changing to reflect the sort of information we want. Are searchers interested in non web content within their results.
Just because a search engine is on the web, this doesn't necessarily mean all the information is going to be on the net. As search engines improve they need to look further for their information. Google is a good example of this by providing many different options for the users. Using Google users can retrieve information from the web, books, news, maps and many more resources. The search engines now need to work out systems that allow them to deliver the best result regardless of where it comes from. This is especially true for users carrying out searches related to research.
Google has come under fire in recent years for the sorts of content it is making available. For example Google found its self in hot water of the scanning and indexing of books. Many authors found this to taking copyright law just a little bit to far. In Goggle's defence the search engine would only allow users to read small sections of a work, but would make the entire collection searchable. This in theory allowed users to search for books that may be of interest to them. They could then chose a book seller to purchase the book from.
The Google print service may have actually been of benefit to authors and may have lead to an increase in book sales. Internet shopping giant Amazon have also tried something similar although their book indexing project was based on an opt in policy. Google where pushing it by offering opt out as opposed to requiring opt in.
In the long term it would make sense for search engines to merge results in a smart way to enable users to have access to the best results regardless of where the information was obtained from. Search engines have gone far beyond the scope of simply searching the web, they are information engines. Gathering information from many sources and combing them into one result set. Google have been testing this method on and off for several months now. Typically Google will show the main web results, with maps at the top and possible a photograph. They will also show local results. This is just a start. As more sources of data and information become available to search engines they will need to find new ways of integrating this information into their result sets.
