Search Engines Lecture
Speaker(s): Daniel Russell, Google
Monday, September 17, 2007, 10:00am-12:00pm
155 Kroeber Hall

Abstract

We are in a new age of being able to understand what people are doing when trying to search. With internet search engines in common and constant use, we also have a new challenge to understand what people are really searching for, and what it is they want to do. Whatever people are doing, it's certainly not the same as the older models of search. How are people searching on Google? What are they thinking when they make certain queries? What is their intent? How can we discern what that intent really is?

In this lecture I'll describe some of the ways we're working to understand what people are really doing, and why they're doing it that way. The goal of this work is to vastly improve the searcher use-experience by understanding the minds of millions of searchers.

Bio

Daniel M. Russell is a senior research scientist at Google in the area of search quality and user experience. Most recently, Dan was a senior scientist and senior manager at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. He is best known for his work on IBM's Blueboard system (a large groupware display system) and for establishing the basis of sensemaking theory while at Xerox PARC with Card, Pirolli and Stefik. In addition to IBM and PARC, Dan has also worked in Apple's Advanced Technology Group, and taught at both Stanford and Santa Clara Universities. He enjoys word play, music, and long distance running, becoming disgruntled when all three can't be in one day.