Search Engine Companies Research Articles

Who Searches the Searchers? Community Privacy in the Age of Monolithic Search Engines

Privacy has largely been equated with every individual's right to privacy. Accordingly, current efforts to protect privacy on the Internet have sought anonymity by breaking, where possible, links with personally identifiable information (PII)—all uses of aggregated data stripped of PII are considered legitimate. This article argues that we need to use a broader concept, general or group identifying information (GII), because even aggregated data stripped of PII violate privacy at the community level. The search engine companies, or anyone else with access to their log files, can use these data to generate a moment-by-moment view of what is on the collective mind. Such a view can be used in a variety of ways, some with deep economic and even political impact. In order to frame this discussion, it is necessary to examine some of the realities of the search engine-mediated associative interface to the World Wide Web. While this interface has enormous benefits for the networked world, it also fundamentally changes a number of issues underlying various current debates about Internet governance.

Google's Hidden Wealth

SOCIAL SCIENCEGoogle's data are a potential social science gold mine, but the search-engine company has been cautious about scientific collaboration. ([Read more][1].) [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/314/5801/915

The value implications of the practice of paid search

La pratique croissante de la recherche payee au sein de l'industrie des moteurs de recherche du Web remet en cause des valeurs ethiques tenues pour vitales dans une societe democratique : la liberte par rapport aux partis pris, la vie privee et la confiance. La protection de ces valeurs n'est pas incompatible avec les objectifs de la recherche payee et doit etre integree des la conception.

Google’s Privacy Responsibilities at Home and Abroad

The Bush administration’s subpoena to the major Internet search engine companies, Google, America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo! came to the attention of the general public in January of this year. The reason it came to light is that while America Online, Microsoft and Yahoo! had complied with the subpoena to provide lists of indexed URLs and search query terms of their users, Google had resisted. In a subsequent District Court hearing in March 2006 Google was compelled to provide a list of 50,000 randomly selected URLs from its indexes, but the Bush administration’s request for user search queries was denied. During the same week that the headlines were full of the Bush versus Google case, Google China was launched amidst a maelstrom of controversy over their acquiescence to heavy censorship regulations. It seemed that Google’s ‘Don’t be evil’ mission statement was being put under considerable strain. The two news stories during that week in January raise important questions about how the Internet is being governed and what the appropriate interventions should be in order to maintain its integrity as an open, safe and democratic public space. This article is about the values, beliefs and expectations that people have about the Internet and how they are currently under threat.

Search: the new application platform

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to track the uses of humans for document search and retrieval into the now increasing problem of accessing electronic information.Design/methodology/approachSearch has evolved into a top priority for internet users and will continue to expand as the new application platform. In the last year, Google has become the superstar of finding and accessing digital information. Information fracture, the multiplying effect of information processing, continues to send shock waves across computing environments.FindingsComputing has shifted to distributed systems delivering from the network, not the local storage device. Locating a particular digital item is difficult. Google and other search engine companies are becoming application platforms. Google provides applications on different devices at different price points, including free of charge, with a variety of technology infrastructure. Innovations will be driven by user behavior.Research limitations/implicationsElectronic information is doubling every 12 to 18 months. Search will drive the future of next‐generation applications. Publishing is already feeling the impact of this new shock wave. What is next may not be known yet, but Google already has 60 products and services out.Originality/valueThis paper shows the evolution of information in search and retrieval methods, and how search will drive next‐generation applications. Google is the primary market maker, with more patents applied for in the first six months of 2005 than all of its previous history, going back to 1998.

Networked Control: Search Engines and the Symmetry of Confidence

Search engines have become an integral part of our Internet use. They shape the way we look at the world, they provide orientation where there is none; but the maps they draw are too often hijacked by commercial interest. Search engines are less black box than black foam; functional decoupling, parasite technologies, and the embedding in the greater context of culture and society render the search act subject to overdetermination. Control is thus diluted into a dense network of human and non-human “actants” and the power of the search engine is located in a control zone rather than a control center. In order to shift power back to the public, this paper proposes the concept of “symmetry of confidence”, a new relationship between search engine companies and their users.

How are we searching the World Wide Web? A comparison of nine search engine transaction logs

The Web and especially major Web search engines are essential tools in the quest to locate online information for many people. This paper reports results from research that examines characteristics and changes in Web searching from nine studies of five Web search engines based in the US and Europe. We compare interactions occurring between users and Web search engines from the perspectives of session length, query length, query complexity, and content viewed among the Web search engines. The results of our research shows (1) users are viewing fewer result pages, (2) searchers on US-based Web search engines use more query operators than searchers on European-based search engines, (3) there are statistically significant differences in the use of Boolean operators and result pages viewed, and (4) one cannot necessary apply results from studies of one particular Web search engine to another Web search engine. The wide spread use of Web search engines, employment of simple queries, and decreased viewing of result pages may have resulted from algorithmic enhancements by Web search engine companies. We discuss the implications of the findings for the development of Web search engines and design of online content.

Internet usage transaction log studies: The next generation

Internet usage transaction log studies: The next generation

The Present and Future of Internet Search

Search engines were crucial in the development of the World Wide Web. Web-based information retrieval progressed from simple word matching to sophisticated algorithms for maximizing the relevance of search results. Statistical and graph-based approaches for indexing and ranking pages, natural language processing techniques for improving query results, and intelligent agents for personalizing the search process all show great promise for enhanced performance. The evolution in search technology was accompanied by growing economic pressures on search engine companies. Unable to sustain long-term viability from advertising revenues, many of the original search engines diversified into portals that farm out their search and directory operations. Vertical portals that serve focused user communities also outsource their search services, and even directory providers began to integrate search engine technologies from outside vendors. This article brings order to the chaos resulting from the variety of search tools being offered under various marketing guises. While growing reliance on a small set of search providers is leading to less diversity among search services, users can expect individualized searching experiences that factor in personal information. The convergence of technology and business models also results in more narrowly defined search spaces, which will lessen the quantity of search results while improving their quality.