Web-scale discovery: Utopian dream or dystopian nightmare (or maybe something in between)?

William Breitbach​
The earliest depiction of the ideal discovery platform was imagined by Vannevar Bush in 1945.  Eighty years later, information professionals are still struggling with the challenge of creating a single search interface. The most recent rendition of the dream, web-scale discovery, arrived on the scene in 2009 with much promise and exuberance. The apex of excitement peaked around 2012 but the value of such systems remain unclear. After six years of continued development, are these systems delivering the promised value?