ABSTRACT
Chapter Four is dedicated to discussing some specific ways in which search is part of everyday life and its practices. This is a largely empirical chapter bringing in results from the authors’ own research that is expanded on by drawing on previous research. It is structured along the lines of thematic areas working to highlight some areas of significance of how search is embedded in everyday life. The ubiquity and routinisation of search is elucidated. This is further deepened by discussing the avoidance of search or situations where or when search is seen as being impossible for different reasons. The authors try further to understand some often overlooked meanings of search by relating it to ways in which general purpose search engines (Google) are used as a tool for confirmation bias. Two ways of understanding online searching – a focus on finding epistemic content and a focus on searching as part of social practices – are considered in relation to each other.
