Tying representation to the retrieval tool

Basically what we mean is this: when you create a representation, you decide what to include

In deciding what to include, you are determining what your retrieval system (database, web site, help manual, memo, etc.) will be able to do later.

• If you don't include phone numbers in the representation, your retrieval system will never be able to retrieve by phone number, or for phone number.
• If you don't include the name of the creator of a web page in the representation (metadata) for every web page, then later, you will never be able to use your retrieval system to aggregate documents by the author.
 
Many people when they think about retrieval systems think about speed, or how many hits it can get ... but not about the representation of the items that went in.

A. Think about all of the attributes that are missing (or may be missing) from the representations that google uses for its search, because the representations for what goes in haven't been the focus of the design. (and an important question: how does google rank results – that is, what HAS BEEN the focus of the design of that search engine?)

B. Think about a retrieval system that you use … and ways that it does not work for you. In what ways would changing the information representation standard for that system (that is, the standard guide for what’s included in each surrogate in the system) make it do what you want it to do? What does it does that’s superfluous? How would you change the information representation standard to fix that?

C. Write carefully a few sentences about how knowing what you have learned in UNIT 1 (from surrogation through this week) applies to your area of interest in information studies. (“does not apply” is not an answer, because I can guarantee up front, it’s not true :-).