The New Gatekeepers

Lamb, M. Gregory. (2004). The new gatekeepers. In In P. De Palma (Ed.), Computers in society (pp. 24-26). Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill.
Unit 2, Article 6

Review by Kim Doyle

In this article Gregory Lamb provides a brief analysis of the major Internet search engines, or Web “gatekeepers” as he refers to them, and what users should know. Our access to the vast amount of information available on the World Wide Web is controlled by Internet search engines, the three largest of these being Google, Yahoo and MSN (just emerging at the time this article was written). Steve Jones, a communications professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago and founder of the Association of Internet Researchers is quoted in this article stating, “Search engines represent information gatekeepers unlike any we’ve had before”. Jones points out that in the past, people, for instance librarians and newspaper editors, used to provide a service of helping others access information. Now Internet search engines make information far more accessible, literally at our fingertips.

As Lamb suggests, this access to information via Internet search engines is not necessarily a bad thing. Users should know, however, that information available is largely influenced by companies and advertisers that are willing to pay billions of dollars for space on search engines to ensure their companies are appearing at the top of search rankings. This has indeed become a multi-billion dollar industry. By 2008, Random Secrecy, a market intelligence firm predicts that search engines will generate purchases of up to $92 billion. Despite this, however, users have three primary complaints about Internet searches. They can’t find what they need. When they do they don’t know how to interpret the data they find, and they worry about the quality.

The Web is so big it’s hard to wade through all the information that searches produce says Duncan Witte, chief operating officer for BrightPlanet, a specialty Internet-search company in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Internet search companies are trying to make improvements that will make it easier for searchers to find what they need. Some companies are trying to specialize, some may be able to know where users are and localize a search and others will get to know a user’s searching habits and attempt to anticipate interests. These ideas are still in the future, so for now the millions of Americans searching the Internet each month must rely on the search engines to help them find the information they are looking for.

Reaction

I’ve been curious why someone would use one search engine over another. The comparison Lamb makes between search engines and telephone books helps me understand how search engines work and what influences search rankings. To test this out I conducted the same search on Google, Yahoo and MSN. My search was for information on “children and computers”. Google produced fairly generic information, i.e. articles about the pros and cons of extensive computer use by children, and other analyses conducted by professional early childhood organizations. Yahoo produced some of the same, but more sites providing information about computer games and other computer “learning” activities available for children were ranked near the top. The top rankings on MSN were exclusively about computer games and activities and the developmental benefits for children of computer usage. Hmmmm…