Online Search @ Moving Toward Post-Verbal Queries
What if you could pull up a website just by thinking about it? Or have a smart speaker prepared with the five best pizza joints in your area just because it heard you and your friends talking about how much you could “go for a pizza” right now?
We’re not quite at that level yet, but we’re probably closer than you think. There are actually a few different technologies contending for the possibility to transition search to a post-verbal era.
By that, I’m not referring to voice-only search. In fact, I’ve argued previously that we’re already in the midst of a voice search revolution; voice queries are certainly going to grow further from here, and influence search norms for years to come, but in the distant future, even spoken queries may fade away in favor of nonverbal options.
The Possibilities
At this point, I imagine you’re skeptical, so let me list a few of the ways post-verbal queries could become a reality:
- Emoji. Have you ever tried using an emoji as a search query? It works. Back in 2016, Google introduced a function to allow users to search using emojis. The function works as you might expect, with most icons taken fairly literally. For example, if you search with a dog emoji, you’ll get articles about dogs, and images of dogs. If you search for pizza or ice cream, you might get some restaurants that serve those particular foods. Admittedly, this functionality was likely added as a novelty, rather than an intention to be a new form of mainstream search. However, it's worth noting as one potential path for future search development, especially as emoji become more universally accepted.
- Gestures. We’re already using gestures for more than we realize. Most modern smartphones have few, if any buttons, forcing users to rely on swipes, taps, and similar nonverbal inputs to call up various functions on the phone. Scientists are also researching wearable rings and wristbands, which track users’ movements, and could feasibly be used to convey a practically unlimited number of commands. If taken to its next logical step, gestures could evolve into their own kind of high-tech sign language, giving users practically unlimited input potential using movements rather than words.
- Predictive, automated searches. There’s also the chance that our devices could run searches for us, without us ever making the request. Google’s personalized search is already incredibly in-depth, taking a user’s location, search history, and account preferences into account when formulating search results. Digital assistants like Siri and Alexa are also adept at finding exactly what you’re looking for—even with limited prompts. In the future, these personalized and predictive search capabilities could merge to run searches on your behalf without any inputs; for example, your smart refrigerator could notify you when you’re out of milk and direct you to the nearest store, or your smart speaker could pull up information on a movie you’re watching to show you reviews and cast information.
- Brain-computer interfaces. Though the technology is still in its infancy, brain-computer interfaces (like those proposed by Neuralink) could one day forgo gestures and symbolic inputs altogether. Instead, your brain could be directly wired to your device, and you could search using only your thoughts. It may take years, or even decades before we see a prototype of this technology, but it has the power to tear down and rebuild all our technological user interfaces from the ground up.
Source | https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2018/05/17/is-online-search-moving-toward-post-verbal-queries/#4aefad9824c8
Regards
Mr. Pralhad Jadhav
Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified)
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository
Khaitan & Co
Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978
Mobile @ 9665911593
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