[Sigia-l] References for search quotes

[Donna M. Fritzsche]

>
>
>nice one mags...
>http://www.currybet.net/articles/day_in_the_life/5.shtml
>"I found that 36% of searches consisted of just one word and 35% of searches
>used just two words. This is a vital point. Given the opportunity of
>searching over the whole of the BBC site, or indeed the whole of the web,
>the user's understanding or trust of search technology is such that they
>believe that a limited one or two word search term will achieve their goals.
>When we consider that the quantity of documents indexed for websearch is
>counted in the thousands of millions, this is a formidable task. "

  I wonder if its also an issue of presentation and suggestion.
What if the size of the average search box was actually large enough 
to handle several words well.
The size of the box suggests expected behavior.

Also, what if it actually was suggested to users to try more than two words?
Has anyone tried this?  It doesn't look as clean, but it might drive 
user behavior.

Donna