ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to familiarise readers with important currents in earlier research and to highlight positions and findings to build on. The chapter surveys information retrieval and information behaviour research with the purpose of presenting a basic understanding and deepening some of the concepts introduced in Chapter One. The authors also bring in selected research on search and search engines from other fields such as media and communication studies, internet studies, or science technology studies (STS). The chapter concludes by providing the basis for understanding search as a social, cultural and material/technological phenomenon, which is then expanded on in Chapters Three and Four.
