Faculty Support

Our Search Never Ends

Published on October 4, 2017

It seems like Google can find everything – right up until it can't find what you need.

It seems like Google can find everything – right up until it can't find what you need.

It seems like Google can find everything – right up until it can’t find what you need. This is especially true when it comes to researching complex subjects and issues, which involve data that generally aren’t shown on the first few pages of search results, if at all.

With funding from the National Science Foundation, School of Information and Library Science (SILS) faculty members Jaime Arguello and Rob Capra are working to improve searches on intricate subject matters. This includes investigating how users interact with aggregated search results to develop solutions informed by how people actually search, and enabling people to capture and share the knowledge they acquire during a search in a way that will support collaboration and re-use.

Instead of starting from scratch, people will be able to benefit from information saved by others who have completed similar searches. These systems aren’t just meant to help researchers, but to make search engines such as Google and Bing more efficient tools to retrieve information. It’s just one more way we are working to create a more informed world.

UNC School of Information and Library Science

Faculty Support

Talking Digital with Helen Tibbo

Alumni Distinguished Professor Helen Tibbo discusses her career, research and teaching

McMillan Cottom
Faculty Support

Recognizing Transformative Work

Carolina faculty member awarded “genius grant”

Humanities

A New Look at a Carolina Legend

"It brings more texture to the portrait of one of the most esteemed leaders the University has known..."

Faculty Support

A Matter of Facts

Health information and data can often be dense and hard to understand, meaning that it runs the risk of misinterpretation.

Faculty Support

Better Living Through Information

When communities don’t have access to accurate information about preventing and treating disease, the void tends to be filled by rumors and websites

Faculty Support

A Life Preserver for the Digital Deluge

The digital age is producing more data and information than ever, with both positive and negative effects. We are working to ensure the positive outweighs the negative by educating future keepers and disseminators of information, developing tools and processes to assist current professionals, and conducting research on the impact of data and algorithmic-driven systems.

    Explore More Stories