Tekijä: | Machill, M. (et al.) |
Otsikko: | Navigating the Internet: A study of German-language search engines |
Lehti: | European Journal of Communication
2004 : SEP, VOL. 19:3, p. 321-347 |
Asiasana: | Markets Communication Information retrieval Internet Languages |
Kieli: | eng |
Tiivistelmä: | The use of search engines (henceforth as: s-e.) is a common Internet activity. 91 percent of Internet users employ s-e. As s-e. play the role of gatekeepers in the information jungle of the Internet, a monopoly like Google's (76 percent market share) is problematic in several respects. To analyze the problems, this study comprised three steps: a comparison of s-e. performance, a representative poll among German Internet users and a laboratory experiment. It was found that users have only the basic skills required to use s-e.; this is exacerbated by s-e.' lack of transparency. Manipulations (spamming) of results and a poor separation of neutral and sponsored hits add to a deficiency in user friendliness. |
SCIMA