SearchResearch (07/31/26): Mental models of data needed as well

What do you believe about the data? In the previous post I wrote about mental models of systems—that is, how you believe an information retrieval tool or web search system operates. Is it okay that you think it's all hamsters all the way down? But the other side of the coin is your mental model of what data the system is operating with. Tool operation is important, but tools operate on something,…