Show Notes

In this bonus episode of For Tech’s Sake you get to hear our complete interview with Prof Gareth Jones because we simply couldn’t fit all his knowledge on search technologies and information retrieval into the main episode.

In this extended interview, you’ll learn how search engine optimisation (SEO) can be used responsibly but also deployed like a dark art to manipulate search results. You’ll also find out why effective information retrieval is getting harder, and how our search queries can actually help to predict disease outbreaks.

It’s fascinating stuff and if you want to just jump in to the bits we left out of the main episode:

— At 6 minutes in, there’s more on the cat and mouse game behind the systems that give you search results and recommendations

— At 17.17 we talk about SEO: how it works and can be manipulated

— There’s more on how search is evolving for formats such as audio from 23.30

— And from 32.10 we have Gareth’s thoughts on whether Google is as good as it used to be, why effective information retrieval is so important for society, search as a skill and what we can learn from medical searches

You can find out more about Gareth’s research at adaptcentre.ie and you can find us @fortechssakepod on your platform of choice, or let us know what you think via fortechssakepod@gmail.com.

For Tech’s Sake is a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network, hosted by Elaine Burke and Jenny Darmody. Thank you to Hilary Barry for production, Matt Mahon and Dall-E for our graphics, Claudia Grandez for her social media support, and all at the HeadStuff team.

As a HeadStuff+ Community member, you get access to bonus content from across the network, so do check out some of our sister shows and give them your support.

We hope you enjoy this discussion with Prof Gareth Jones as much as we did, and be sure to come back next week for an all-new episode.