Social aspects of search engines

by Eszter Hargittai on May 18, 2007

For your weekend reading pleasure: the special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication I edited on The Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Dimensions of Search Engines is out. The Introduction gives you the motivation for this collection and a summary of the pieces. From the Abstract:

Search engines are some of the most popular destinations on the Web—understandably so, given the vast amounts of information available to users and the need for help in sifting through online content. While the results of significant technical achievements, search engines are also embedded in social processes and institutions that influence how they function and how they are used. This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication explores these non-technical aspects of search engines and their uses.

Enjoy!

{ 4 comments }

1

Henry (not the famous one) 05.19.07 at 5:59 am

Does the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication have a joke page? The computer magazine (“the magazine by computers for computers”) put out by the National Lampoon more than thirty years ago did,

2

John Quiggin 05.19.07 at 6:18 am

I was interested in the question asked by Howard and Massanari about search engines, along the lines “Could you not live without search engines or could you go back to other ways of finding info” to which 51 per cent of experienced users said “Could go back”.

There’s an interesting implicit presumption here that search engines are the most advanced method of finding information. The implied alternatives are portals, directories and so on. But most of the alternatives to search engines I use (RSS, trackbacks and going straight to Wikipedia) are newer than Google, and have allowed me to reduce my Googling over time.

As you’ve pointed out lots of times, Google users aren’t necessarily typical, and post-Google users are definitely atypical. But I suspect we are a growing minority, possibly worth some study.

3

Richard W. Crews 05.21.07 at 10:14 am

I’ve found that the results vary between Yahoo and Google for same input. If it’s pure fact or current story, I go to Google; but if I have a personal or subjective interest, or it’s more local, Yahoo is better.

4

Eszter 05.22.07 at 4:47 pm

John, interesting phrase “post-Google users”, and good point about the changing practices of people depending on skill level.

Richard, can you say more about why you do it that way? I’m assuming it’s based on experience with types of results, is that it?

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