Having a sophisticated understanding of the workings of search engines could be helpful as an end user as well as web creator.
By mastering the workings of a search engine a teacher librarian would be able to explain to the students and colleagues the ranking of web pages in their search lists. We would be better able to assist students in understanding how the data can be manipulated and essentially forced upon the information seeker. I don't believe any of the students really think about why a particular web page shows up at the top of their list. In fact, I believed it was only based on previous number of visitors to the site. That is how I justified why Wikipedia sites seem to always end up a the top of the list. I am still not sure if I completely understand the ranking system, however it is worth more exploring.
Students or colleagues who are potential site creators could also benefit from understanding the workings of search engines. It is the ultimate desire for a web page designer to have their site visited even if it is not for profit. By understanding how sites are ranked could help them be more likely to gets hits on their site.
The 'anatomy of a search engine' sounds like a very dry topic. I am wondering how I would approach this topic with my students and I am wondering how other teacher librarians would approach this topic with students.
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