Is Google Diving Head First Into HCIR?

I’ve been at the Enterprise Search Summit all day, so I didn’t have the chance to pore through the buzz about Google’s Searchology announcements. But I did see a snippet that struck me as very unusual language for Google:

Our first announcement today is a new set of features that we call Search Options, which are a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier. Search Options helps solve a problem that can be vexing: what query should I ask?

Google, focusing on query refinement and elaboration? I’m all ears! In fact, eyes and ears–here is the video tour:

Well, on second thought, it’s a bit of a rehash of features they’d already rolled out, and that I personally didn’t find overwhelming (see here and here). Still, I’m pleased that their marketing language is embracing HCIR–that’s a big step for a company that has perhaps done more than anyone to emphasize the primacy of relevance ranking in the search interface. Even if they’re only taking baby steps at this point, I am cautiously optimistic that they will build on them.