I found this article very interesting due to the fact that it touches upon and digs into something that every internet user utilizes on a regular basis. Something as ordinary and simple as a search engine is revealed to be more than just a search engine. The article exposes the biases and politics that go into the way a search engine works.
First of all, the article begins by explaining how and why traditional media is in many ways inferior to the newly integrated internet media source. It does not come to a surprise that mainstream media, traditional and internet, is simply controlled by a number of people. For example, the authors of “Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matter,” Lucas Introna and Helen Nissenbaum state that “the gains, the powers, and the access were consolidated in the hands of a few dominant individuals and institutions” (pg 2). Sadly, traditional mainstream media has become a very much centralized system where merely a few super power individuals battle over the power to control the media system for monetary gain. It is often difficult to realize that everything we watch and listen to may heavily and sometimes completely based on how much money they are earning.
This is where the internet comes into play. It has been shown that the internet, through search engines, is a broad global way for people to experience all sorts of different perspectives. The internet enables people to search for all kinds of websites. Unfortunately, Introna and Nissenbaum expresses a concerning twist to this relief. The article reveals the gradual growth of corporate and centralizing development.
<blockquote> The general position we defend, and illustrate in this one case, is that although the Internet and the Web offer exciting prospects for furthering the public good, the benefits are conditional, resting precariously on a number of political, economic, and technical factors (pg 3) </blockquote>
This reveals that when using a search engine, even though what is shown to us may seem like the complete unbiased list of what we need and seek, in the end the listed factors alter everything that we see. The article reveals that a study of search engines conducted by CL Giles and S. Lawrence in 1999 estimates that search engines merely 16% of the Web. While 16% of the Web seems like a very small percentage, the statistics consists of 800 million pages. It is truly mind boggling to see that 16% is composed of already 800 million pages. So the next question to ask is, where is the 84% of the remaining World wide web going? The article states that there are several factors that go into a way a search engine works.
First of all, the way the Web is indexed is one of the biggest factors. This falls into two main categories of how a search engine indexes the Web. One includes directory-based search engines such as Yahoo while the other is a system like Alta Vista which utilizes “spiders” and “robots” which search through previously visited URL’s. Basically, a directory based search engine is set up so that people submit their sites and are then filtered and decided by “human gatekeepers.” Even though we would all like to believe that these human filters are non-biased, and in the case of Yahoo, filtered by relevance, it is evident that the criteria is often not consistant and human-biases come into effect.
In another case, a system which uses “spiders” often skips some of the most important information and sites due to the fact that this system is solely based on what these computerized spiders have visited in the past. So really, both categories of indexing has both its pros and cons. It is then left in the users’ decision to utilize which ones they want to trust and use.
So the next problem we encounter past indexing is ranking which sites should be shown as #1 and on. This may seem discouraging, however, according to the article, many search engines may elevate a site’s ranking by monetary gains. Similar to a way advertisements work, companies and individuals will simply pay a search engine on a highest-bid system to get the #1 position in a search.
But there is hope! According to Introna and Nissenbaum, for a search engine to succeed, they must “establish a reputation for satisfying seekers’ desires and needs; this way they will attract seekers in the first place, and then will keep them coming back” (pg 19). This shows that if a search engine desires to maintain its popularity, it cannot base its entire engine on how much money someone is willing to give them. It is also heavily dependent on what the people want and how effectively the search engine finds the keyword.
The question that is soon followed is, how is this problematic then? According to market enthusiasts, it is completely normal. It acts simiarly to a typical market with a supply and demand system. What people want, individuals and institutions will pay to provide it, and the search engine will serve to reveal these sites. So a problem that begs to be answered is, is it really a problem if the people are getting what they want? Some would say that as long as everyone gets what they want, it is not a problem. But, some would argue that the Web should be a public good and should not be altered and should be controlled by the public, not some centralized system.
In conclusion, the answer is not a clearcut answer. There seems to be no right or wrong in the way the internet and search engines should be run. I think we will see gradual but evident changes as the internet develops in the future. Hopefully, no matter which way the internet takes, as long as it is effective and useful, I am happy with what the internet can provide for me.
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Introna, L & Nissenbaum, H. 2000. Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matters. The Information Society. 16(3):1-17.
