For example, if I was looking for the book "The Alchemist," there are many different ways I could find it on the internet. The most conventional way would be to go to Amazon and type in the title. This seems that it might be the best way to find a book, but not necessarily. Another option would be to look up nearby bookstores and then use google maps to track your way on foot. This search would lead you to a store full of books, so instead of leaving with one, you leave with two others you could not leave without that were in the same section. A third way would be to use flicker's color search or the book pop to try to match the purple color on the book. This may lead you to books that are completely unrelated to your previous area of inquiry, and you may end up ordering some new knowledge you had previously never been turned on to. Over all, I wouldn't say that these later search methods are "bad." They just aren't as effective as the direct line. For some shoppers, however, this is ok. There are some people that want to peruse through the book stacks, and with Amazons latest marketing information, consumers are only shown a relatively narrow selection of books. By searching through some of the less conventional models, more creativity and variation can be found.
If we were to change the whole way of searching, for example by not clicking at all. How would this change the items we do choose? It was interesting to think of how computers may have evolved without the idea of clicking a mouse. They would probably look very different. The mouse itself is a form of actively choosing where to click. It is tactile and gives the user a sense of control. When it was taken away from me, I began to feel lost at first, but slowly over time I became much more comfortable with the new system. It was interesting to search through the different search engines to see what results would come my way.
