"In Google We Trust" - Case Study Analysis

The purpose of this case study was to determine how trustworthy users believed Google was in ranking their search results. Google was chosen for its popularity in modern culture as well as the subjects’ previous knowledge and experience in using it. The researchers of the study were interested in discovering whether the site’s success is due to the efficiency of its ranking as opposed to the users’ trust in the results provided to them. The intentions of the results were to provide information on designing better search engines as well as research the influence search engines have on society and culture today.

Twenty-two undergraduate students at Cornell University were asked to participate in the study. The participants were students from several different areas of study, admitted to using Google as a primary search engine, and all reported a tendency to trust the results that Google generates. By the end of the study, sixteen complete data sets were collected for analysis.

The students were given ten search tasks to conduct using Google. Half of the tasks were navigational in nature, requiring the participants to find specific websites. The other tasks were informational, asking the students to find a specific piece of information. The participants’ trust in Google’s results was then tested using two methods. First, researchers used eye tracking methods to evaluate the importance of the position of abstracts in the participants’ judgment of relevance. The eye-tracking device was able to measure eye movements and track which abstracts the subject seemed to give the most attention.

The second method required setting up a proxy server that manipulated the order of Google’s ranked results. One group of students was asked to complete the search tasks under normal conditions, while another group was unknowingly asked to conduct searches where the top ranked result was switched with the second in the list. Yet a third group completed the study under “reversed” conditions: the first result in the list was switched with the tenth abstract while the second result was switched with the ninth abstract.

Using eye-tracking, researchers found that students conducting searches under the “reversed” manipulation spent a greater amount of time checking each page, made more fixations on different abstracts and returned to previously viewed abstracts a greater amount of times. They also found that in the “reversed” manipulation, students still clicked on what appeared to be the first ranked abstract three times more often than they clicked on the abstract that was originally ranked first by Google algorithms. When students were unable to find the correct website or information, they most often blamed themselves and their search terms.

The researchers of this study concluded that their results suggest users put a high amount of trust in Google’s ability to rank relevance. This study and its results are important in the study of mass communication as it illustrates the dependency society has on the media to provide us with correct, relevant, and convenient information whenever we desire it.

The results of this study are extremely helpful in understanding cultural studies and theories in relation to mass communication. These cultural studies are often used in evaluating modern communication and examine how culture is produced and influenced through current ideologies. With new developments in technology we have evolved into a culture that has come to expect accurate and fast information through the use of search engines. This study helps us to understand how we often interact with these tools, and demonstrates the trust that we put into their ability to provide us with the results we need. Google has become a cultural tool of this dominant ideology experienced in our society.

I found this case study to be extremely relevant and academic. As mass media and communication continues to evolve and be discussed, it is important to understand how we are influenced by modern technology and the services it can provide. Recognizing our unquestioning confidence in the abilities of search engines can help society become more informed and critical consumers of the medium.

The authors conducted a thorough and convincing study in order to collect their results. The use of a control group that reinforced which abstracts were most relevant created validity in their findings, as did their use of scientific methods, such as eye-tracking. In analyzing the article however, I did question how accurate eye-tracking is and has been in past studies. I would have liked to further explore whether eye-tracking has been known to produce reliable results.

Throughout my analysis I also questioned the scope of the study. The researchers conducted the study in an artificial environment, which could have affected the behavior of the participants and caused inaccurate data. The participants were also all college students of the same age demographic, chosen from the same university. In my opinion this created too narrow of a scope for this particular study, as different generations have different cultures and habits on the internet. I believe the results of the study could have been altered if it had been conducted on other, more diverse age groups or on participants from different geographical locations. At the beginning of the study, participants also admitted already feeling a level of trust toward Google’s results, and I would be interested in knowing whether more cynical users would produce different findings.

Overall, I believe that the information gathered from this study can be used to produce additional studies on this topic. By expanding the scope of the study, researchers can utilize the methods from this project to obtain even greater and more extensive results. The study has clearly proven that there is a strong correlation between Google’s ability to rank the relevance of search abstracts and users’ trust in those results. Above all, the study has provided insight into social and cultural expectations of search engines on the internet and has given users a clearer look at how we use this technology.

References
Pan, B., Hembrooke, H., Joachims, T., Lorigo, L., Gay, G. & Granka, L. (2007). In Google we
trust: Users' decisions on rank, position, and relevance. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(3), article 3.

Status Update: Our Facebook World

These days, it is almost impossible to speak about global communication and media without social networking making its way into the conversation. Facebook especially has become a world-wide phenomenon, becoming a staple in the lives of a growing demographic.

Practically every time I use the internet (which, as a college student, is a large proportion of my day) I like to open a separate tab in my browser for my facebook page. Several times throughout my day I catch myself formulating new and interesting statuses to share with all my friends. Pathetically, I even recognize within myself a rather unhealthy appreciation for my social network, wondering how on earth anyone ever survived without this miraculous tool.

I even have friends who have forced themselves to temporarily disable their own accounts out of the necessity to become a productive and active member of society without the distraction of new notifications and friend requests.

How is it that Facebook has become such a significant part of our lives? The truth is, the site has revolutionized our social lives into a global network, where we can technically “befriend” people who we have met once, who live half-way across the world, or are a distant acquaintance of our distant acquaintance. With a mutual willingness by two people to simply click “send request” and “accept request,” the potential for our circle of friends becomes virtually limitless.

Perhaps the addictiveness of Facebook comes partially from the games that are now available on the site. I know many people who have virtual farms, constantly try to beat the top “Bejeweled” scores of their friends, and constantly send funny “Bumper Stickers” and “Flairs” to people they know. In a way, the interconnectedness of Facebook provides us with a new world that becomes a distraction from reality.

Yet Facebook can be used actively and positively in many ways. Not only does Facebook redefine our social lives, but it can help educate a wide audience about promoting social change. I often get invitations to attend events for causes that people care about; including rallies, marches, and community volunteer events. Facebook has provided an easy and accessible way for members to network to a global audience, revolutionizing social activism in our world today.

Social networking sites like Facebook allow its users to become personally and intimately connected to the world in a globally social context. The question is, do we use this tool to check-up on the lives of our friends, play Farmville and send funny bumper stickers? Or do we utilize the website in order to create positive change in our global world?

MTV - the World on Music

I grew up in a family that did not feel like cable or satellite was necessary, so practically my entire knowledge of the television industry was based on five solid channels. It wasn’t until I reached college that I realized I had, for eighteen whole years, been starved of the basic commodity central to almost every teenager’s existence. And it wasn’t food.

It was MTV.

 All of a sudden a whole new and exciting world of mindless entertainment blossomed in front of my eyes. Whether it’s Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory, Silent Library or a mix of my favorite music videos, MTV conveniently guarantees me hours of my time where I can check out of reality and dive into a world of random distraction – brain cells not required.

What astounds me is that when I’m watching MTV, I become one person in a mass audience of viewers across the world.  According to “Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders and Trends,” MTV is one of the world’s largest television networks, reaching more than 340 million viewers in 140 countries. The channel was the first network made available 24 hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week, and the website is one of the most popular music websites in the world (McPhail, 2010).

Because the channel gets such an enormous amount of airtime, it is also a prime spot for advertising. Not only do the broadcasted shows allow ample time for sponsors to advertise their products, but the shows and music videos advertise for certain products within the programs themselves. Actors and performers often will endorse certain products through their clothing or lyrics, allowing advertisers to appeal to a world-wide audience through one individual channel.

Although we often seem to watch MTV alone or in small groups, in reality we consume this media in a global context. The channel is a prominent example of how the world has become globalized through a television medium, as it has allowed the music and television industries to join together in a sweeping world-wide phenomenon. 

Skype Me In

This semester, my roommate’s older sister is studying abroad in Scotland. Her sister is also one of my good friends, so we were both worried about the prospect of not seeing her for four months. Luckily, it was around this time that the software Skype became reintroduced to me.

Skype had been installed on my computer for a few months, yet I had seldom ever had any cause to make use of it. The suggestion was made that we Skype with our friend while she was abroad, and the very first week she was away we did exactly that. Just a few clicks of my mouse and a video chat request later, my friend and my roommate’s sister miraculously appeared in front of our eyes, defying any distance and time barriers that would have separated us in the past.

With Skype, we were able to talk with my friend in real time through a small webcam and microphone built directly into my laptop, and the Skype software was available to me completely free of charge from the internet. Utilizing this concept made me fully realize how the development of new technology and media continues to change the face of human communication every day.

This revolutionized form of communication has been used in other settings as well. Skype has even been used to conduct business interviews. Applicants applying from long distances away no longer need to fly or drive to meet their appointments, but can simply Skype in and meet their potential employers through a video conference call.

Five years ago, my roommate probably would have reached her sister by telephone (yet only by paying additional cell phone fees) or even email (a medium which was once so fast but continues to seem slower every day). Now, despite being thousands of miles apart, they can literally have a face to face conversation in the same room. It is communication tools such as Skype that defy all previous conceptions of communication by globalizing our world and our relationships. 

More Skype news:

http://skype-news.tmcnet.com/

Skype has also become an application for the android cell phone, increasing its audience and accessibility:  

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/10/skype-comes-to-android-really-this-time-but-you-will-pay-in-other-ways/

Wondering what globalization is? Just Google it

Whether I have a big paper I need to research for, I need directions to a new restaurant or I want to find the lyrics to my new favorite song - all these important questions that define my everyday life lead me to the same place: Google.

It has become a common vocabulary word in our everyday lives.  We don’t “look up” information anymore; instead it’s become second nature to advise your friends and colleagues to simply “Google it.” With a mere click of the search bar the world’s seemingly hidden information is instantly at our fingertips. In sheer seconds we become global consumers of information.

According to Ken Auletta, author of “Googled: The End of the World as We Know It,” 70 percent of all searchers world-wide use Google. Google news provides 25,000 news sites daily to its audience, and the site is working on making almost every book ever published digitally available (1).

News sources come to us online from hundreds of countries. Advertisers compete for space on Google, which “revenues more than 20 billion dollars a year” (Auletta, 1).  Google applications are readily available for anyone with internet capabilities on their cell phones. As the search engine revolutionizes our world into a global one, it is also evident that huge impacts are being made on media as well.

Google is a prime example of how swiftly and subtly globalization has become prominent in our everyday lives.  I sometimes wonder how I could ever survive without the convenience and simplicity of the search engine (which happens to be my homepage on every browser installed on my computer). It’s a service that is taken for granted, yet essentially what it is doing is swiftly destroying the barriers that used to separate the individual from the world. Now, information is available to us from almost anywhere.

Recently, Google was in the news for its conflict with China pertaining to censored search results. Originally, the Chinese government and Google had an arrangement that searches made with the Chinese language would have limited results. However, for numerous reasons Google recently made the decision to stop censoring these results in order to “increase access to information for people in China.”

For more information about Google and its impacts on media and our globalized world, check out these sites:

Google talks about Google:

http://www.google.com/corporate/
Problems amongst Competition:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/07/29/google-the-search-party-is-over
More info on Google censorship:
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/21/google.transparency/index.html