The search for interoperability

Today's Internet search engines are not providing adequate digital-content search. With the growth in the quantity of online digital content and growing interest from users, search engines will need to provide better capabilities for finding relevant content. A significant part of the solution can come from increased use of standardized metadata. Unfortunately, limitations to the breadth and depth of search will remain as commercial competition among search engines is preventing the convergence on a single international standard for search services. The result is a highly fragmented and frustrating digital-content search experience. However, the narrow silos of content and constrained search can be improved through cooperation among search engines by building on a common interoperable search framework. While the general problem is being explored through applications and extensions of the Z39.50 standard, new focused efforts, such as JPSearch and MPEG MAFs, might provide the needed breakthroughs.