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Search Engine with a Friendly Face

posted by John on 04:37 PM October 14th, 2006
from the ms.-dui-if-you're-nasty dept. Introducing Ms. Dewey, a marginal quality search engine with a sultry guide, played by Janina Gavankar. Are AI and this "Naked News" approach to information services the wave of the future? Trackbacks:

Peak Libraries: Are We At The Top Now? 6 comments Here's An Interesting LISWiki Article on the "peak libraries" idea. Peak libraries is a concept named after the (contested) theory of peak oil. According to the peak oil theory, as the world's oil supply becomes depleted, its supply will diminish along a mathematical curve, causing large economic shifts and forcing alternative power supplies to be explored.
The peak libraries theory states that traditional libraries and librarians, such as those that have existed since the Library of Alexandria, are similarly doomed due to the advent of information technology.

Just as the unskilled assembly line worker was replaced by machines or the elevator operator was eliminated because the general public can use modern elevators directly, librarianship will cease to exist (or be radically altered) by the automation of library work. Lillian, the Virtual Librarian 4 comments Kelly writes "Meet Lillian, the Virtual Librarian, online. According to her creator:

I was unable to get her to "understand" the name of various major towns in England, or even the suggested town of Bury; perhaps others will have better luck. My exchange fared little better -- it reminded me of that old Interview with the Search Engine. We're a long way from Vox. Spending time with Ms. Dewey 5 comments Microsoft's trying to generate buzz for its new search engine with a live-action sexy librarian character with an attitude. Ms. Dewey is her name. Sean Cole paid her a visit and found her hard to leave. Story here More on Miss Dewey...from NPR Did you happen to check out the Ms. Dewey website yet? If you can't get enough of the charming librarian...here, from WBUR, Boston's NPR Station is an interview with Sean Cole who once again comments on the new Microsoft search-engine bot and reveals the name of the actress who does her voice-over. News Flash: Ms. Dewey Has A Revealing Past 1 comment Anonymous Patron writes "Ms. Dewey Has A Revealing Past...

I'm sure many of you have heard about and experimented with MSN's Live.com interactive search engine Ms. Dewey, featuring the incredibly attractive Janina Gavankar in the role of Ms. Dewey who acts as a commentator concerning the search queries being entered. Well, thanks to a post from Matt Cutts, we now know a little bit about the background of the Ms. Gavankar and I can tell you being a search guide was not her first gig.

Comedy Central more Educational than Fox News? 5 comments Another study has been released showing that viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are more knowledgeable about current events than viewers of the Fox News Channel.*

There's lots of other findings in the full report. I wonder where LISNews readers fall along the curve? This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted. Search Engine with a Friendly Face | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 2 comments | Search Discussion Threshold: The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Kind of Annoying
(Score:2) by exlibriscat (2445) on Monday October 16, @11:03AM (#27108) Apart from the quality of the search results from Ms. Dewey, she's kind of annoying. She gets bored and pouty if you don't ask a question for a minute or two. It's sort of amusing though, in very small doses.
Aesthetics needs to be reviewed
(Score:1) by smconline (5807) on Monday October 16, @04:56PM (#27121) The user interface needs to be revisited as it makes it dificult to clearly see the search box. It doesn't offer much of navigational features. The search results are not refined and could use more tweaking.The dark background prevents the search feature from standing out. Also, the directives and navigation are hard to read and leave much to be desired.Overall, they get an "A" for effort but definately offers new possibilities in the way search engines will interact with users in the future.

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Kind of Annoying

Aesthetics needs to be reviewed