Many smaller merchants in specialized niches rely on their sites turning up in Google's free search results. [Requires free nytimes.com registration to view.]
Elizabeth Stone writes about world of search engines and how web designers are looking to Danny Sullivan for the answers on how to get traffic from them.
Brief article describing large volunteer web collaborations: Mindpixel, Open Mind; Open Directory, NASA Clickworkers study (crater identification). Free registration required.
Susan Stellin's article: "Being able to search archived postings online raises questions about the implications of increasingly sophisticated search technology."