[Search-l] NPOV for Search?

[Jimmy Wales]

John McCormac wrote:
> I think that relevance is the most important aspect of search. The Barak Obama results from Google 
> are quite relevant for the user. In this capacity, the search engine is very far from neutral (which 
> would in effect mean giving each occurrence of the search term equal weighting). It is in an 
> editorial position, filtering the results so that the most relevant results get to the top. From 
> what I can see, neutrality (and NPOV) is fatal for a search engine. To this end it is the algorithm 
> that controls the editorial process. That's the critical thing to get right.

Relevance and neutrality are not opposed goals at all.  The problem with 
the Google results in this case is that they fail to cover the wide 
range of what the user might be looking for.  That is to say, their lack 
of neutrality gives rise to a lack of relevance.

"Relevance" is not a concept that can stand alone.  Relevant to whom, 
and for what?  Once we scratch the surface, we understand that relevance 
asks for balance, for neutrality, for quality.

--Jimbo