Why can’t Google create lists?
I want to create a list of Seattle tech blogs. Well, actually, I don’t. What I really want is to have access to a list of Seattle tech blogs. I don’t really want to have to do the work to get one. What I want is to type the words “seattle tech blog” or “seattle startups” or “famous clowns of the 50s” into my favorite search engine and have it return a fairly definitive list to me. But even though Google will find lists of blogs that other people have put together, Google doesn’t really understand how to create a list for me within a category. (Google Directory is an interesting attempt to pull assemble lists automatically, but typing “seattle tech blog” into GD brings back the Seattle Times website and Techcrunch on the first page. Not exactly what I’m looking for.)
So, Google is good at parsing enormous amounts of data, but pathetically inept at deriving meaning from them. I suppose that’s why things like microformats and the semantic web are all the rage.
Have you ever tried Google Sets? It’s not exactly what you’re looking for, and it works much better for some things than for others. But if you type in a few examples of the thing you’re looking for, it’ll try to predict other things in the set.
For example, if you give it Dorothy, Tin Man, and Scarecrow, it’ll predict that Cowardly Lion, Toto, Flower Munchkin, etc., are part of the same set.
Try it here:
http://labs.google.com/sets
Note that unlike a search engine, typing in more terms can provide better results (obvious when you think for a moment about what it’s doing).
Not exactly what you’re after, I know, but maybe it would fill the bill sometimes.