"increase your searchability"
u/ BarfoBaggins recently asked this on r/whatisthisthing (a subreddit "For the identification of mysterious objects"):
My many-years-old rain jacket has a smooth, somewhat flexible, seemingly plastic object sewn into the upper arm of the right sleeve only. What is it?
u/BooleansearchXORdie answered the question, now marked solved:
Radar reflector for avalanche rescue purposes
Edit: like this
The link provided is to a line of products from RECCO, a company that makes technology and products for search & rescue. The blurb at the top of the page says:
Not all your outdoor apparel and gear comes equipped with integrated RECCO® reflectors. We offer additional reflectors that you can attach to helmets, backpacks and belts. Wearing more RECCO® reflectors does increase your searchability. [emphasis added]
The company's tagline is: Be Searchable.
I've long mused on connections between search & rescue and searching. Now here is a connection between search & rescue and search engine optimization (SEO).
Assorted Asides
It may be more appropriate to call this _findability_ (ability to be found; ability to be successfully searched-for) rather than _searchability_ (ability to be searched; ability to find out about), though the distinction is not at all consistent.
See: [“What is the equivalent of SEO, but for navigating the physical built environment?”](/weblinks/2023/10/31/what-is-the-equivalent-of-seo-but-for-navigating-the-physical-built-environment/)
Here is [Wikipedia: RECCO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RECCO)
There is follow-on discussion about the actual use of the devices in emergency situations, with some commentators asserting it is more a body recovery tool than a rescue tool. These particular devices are passive, meant to reflect radar. These are distinct from [avalanche transceivers (or avalanche beacons)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche_transceiver), which send and receive radio signals.
The comments on Reddit include assertions that the passive reflectors can interfere with avalanche beacons (this makes me think of **interference in web search: search noise or search pollution**, where some topics are particularly difficult to disambiguate in web search).
Avalanche search & recovery is an instance where energy is also focused on **avoiding the need for a particular search in the first place**. This energy may be exerted by various parties, and includes: public education to increase awareness of risks and resources, searching in advance of venturing out in order to avoid areas of heightened danger, techniques to reduce the danger through [avalanche blasting](https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/npsg/explosives/Chapter11.pdf) or barriers, and [avalanche airbags](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalanche_rescue#Avalanche_airbags).
The passive radar reflectors can be grouped alongside **similar tools or practices for finding or identifying things and people in physical environments** (including for avoidance). Here is an incomplete list, for example: [Emergency locator beacons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_locator_beacon) (inclusive of the avalanche beacons); tools in warfare for avoiding "friendly fire" (like an [IR flag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IR_flag)); a bright safety flag I attach to my running stroller; reflectors on bicycles ([u/a-nonie-muz: "They allow vehicle drivers to track the presence and movements of cyclists in their immediate surroundings."](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/17jh067/comment/k71ko28/?context=3)) and cars; ["location monitoring devices"](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/technology/airtags-gps-surveillance) (including Apple AirTags, Tile trackers, Lojack systems, and GPS trackers; along with user interfaces like Find My Phone & Find My Friends[^1]); whistles; signalling mirrors; flares ["used for distress signaling, illumination, or defensive countermeasures in civilian and military applications"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flare); [blazes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail_blazing), including the dragons used in trail running (and [urine marks](/2015/06/11/orange-ribbons/)); [QR codes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code); safety color coding; social searching [like on r/whatisthisthing](https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/wiki/otherreddits/); and making noise for ["keeping the mountain lions away"](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/ab438513-c037-48d4-a996-473332233a2f). (Other techniques for deconfliction or finding include conveying information prior to a search or search-for-not—verify the absence—(["defining areas of operation" or meeting points](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identification_friend_or_foe#Submarines)) or changing the built environment for signalling or friction (signage and sidewalks).)