On the relation of search and engines

The Information Retrieval course can focus its teaching on the data structures and algorithms of the systems or on understanding the user interactions and the social contexts of IR, depending on the target audience. This paper explores the relation between the core subjects of Information Seeking Behaviour and Search Engines (the retrieval technology) and, with regards to curriculum development, examines the extent to which the teaching of one can help understand the crux of the issues in the other. The notion developed is that teaching IR technology in the interpretative context of understanding search puts search on the curriculum and provides a depth to understanding the challenge for search in modern information environments.