1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intriguing, informative, and at times scary - not just about search, but self-reflection., August 24, 2011
This review is from: Search Engine Society (DMS - Digital Media and Society) (Paperback)
Several times while reading this book I found myself wishing it was in electronic form so that I could search it... This brought home to me the frightening speed at which we have become used to search - to the extent that we cannot imagine an internet without it.
Imagine if you had to type a specific web address each time you wanted some information? Or worse, if you knew the information was there, but didn't have a way to find it.
Like another reviewer, I am also a former student of Alex Halavais at Quinnipiac University. I bought the book as I was intrigued by his theories and discussions, which range from the wacky, thought-provoking and experimental to the highly insightful, thoroughly researched and lucidly argued. This book exemplifies all three of the latter qualities.
I recommend it to anyone who really wants to think about how and why the internet works, how search developed and where it is going, how it is changing us as a society and as individuals. And about how search is taking the internet from an infant culture of free exchange of information to a heavily commercialized space controlled by giant for-profit corporations and reliant upon advertising for its life-blood.
Particularly compelling, for me, are the arguments around how the economy of the internet is measured in attention - eyeballs - and how search engines have become kingmakers that subvert both the democracy of the web and the traditional authorities of our off-line world.
Don't read this, however, read the book. Halavais explains it all so much more eloquently than me. And don't think you can get away with searching through a few reviews to get the gist of the arguments. As he says in his parting shot, "if we wish to understand the contours of social power in the information age, we need to do little more than Google it."
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Made Me Think A Great Deal, January 29, 2011
This review is from: Search Engine Society (DMS - Digital Media and Society) (Paperback)
The Internet has become vital in the world we live in today and the search engine is how we find the information we are looking for. Before I begin this review a disclosure is in order. I am an ex-student of Alex Halavais at Quinnipiac University in the Interactive Communication Masters program. My undergraduate degree is in Management Information Systems. I use the Internet and search engines a great deal. I found the book to be a very informative read.
The book is split up into 8 Chapters:
1. The Engines
2. Searching
3. Attention
4. Knowledge and Democracy
5. Censorship
6. Privacy
7. Sociable Search
8. Future Finding
Alex Halavais' book Search Engine Society has had an impact on me. This is due to the recent news of Wikileaks and the current uprisings in Tunisia, Yemen, and Egypt. I personally find the most interesting aspect of these risings have been Government responses to the Internet. Egypt has cut off the internet access and cell phone service in order to quell communication between protesters who use the internet as a place to organize their efforts. The United States is going after the leader of Wikileaks and the volunteers that help run the organization. The chapter in the book that corresponds with this current event is Chapter 5: Censorship.
Instead of writing a short blurb for each chapter, I will instead take a snippet from the Introduction(I don't know why it isn't viewable in the preview)and present it here.
"The first and second chapters introduce the basic mechanics of search engines and how users employ them. At a very basic level, understanding how to effectively search using a search engine requires that we know how the system collects information and how it is best accessed. But understanding this raises further questions. In the third chapter, we visit the trenches of search engine optimization and agonistic attempts to rise in search engine rankings. While the average searcher may not recognize what goes into the collection and ranking of pages on the web, industries that thrive on attention pay closer attention. In chapter four, it becomes clear that structure of the web, and its representation through search engines, represents a threat to visions of a platform that encourages democratic discussion.
During the early years of the search engine, governments were nearly as blind to their role as most users. Particularly in the last few years, search engines have become embroiled in substantial policy dilemmas. In particular, interactions with national governments have resulted in search engine censorship of various forms (as discussed in chapter 5), and intrusions on personal privacy (in chapter 6). Each of these hints at deeper questions of interactions between the traditional authority of governments and the new power of search engines. In the latter case, they may also mark a shift in how we identify as individuals within our own communities.
Given these challenges, what hope is there for more accountability in search? Chapter 7 addresses the new forms of "sociable search," search systems that incorporate not only collective searching, but searching that leads to community. The oft-remarked shift on the web from static publishing to user-created media and collaborative sites, including collaborative filters and collaborative tagging, provides new, more inclusive avenues for searching and finding. The final chapter ventures to suggest some areas in which search technology is expanding, and some of the ways in which those changes may relate to social changes in the next decade and beyond."
The above covers all of the Chapters in the book.
-What I got from the Book-
The book is pretty thorough. I feel that I've gained a great deal of knowledge about search engines and society through reading this book. This book actually got me to think a great deal. It left me with questions which there are no easy answers to. Of personal interest to me were Chapters 5, 6, and 8.
Chapter 5 covered Censorship. In Chapter 5, Halavais lays out how governments have a tenuous outlook on the internet. The internet is global and there are bound to be viewpoints that a Government does not agree with. So, how does a Government go about making sure that the Internet is not used against them by their people? The answer is Censorship. Halavais mentions Singapore, China, and other countries that have gone and pressured search engines(Google is the specific example) to return search results that are to their liking. For example, China does not want any search results about the Falun Gong movement that aren't the official Chinese Government's view on them. Another example is hate speech in countries related their their own ethnic make-up. Current events taking place has brought the issue of Governments and the Internet to a rather interesting point in history. How will Governments react to the Internet as a means of communication between those that may oppose who are in power? How will people be able to search for such content? Will Governments demand greater and greater power to censor our searches? Most recently: Wikileaks. An Internet Kill Switch has been in the news recently. Net-neutrality has also been in the news. We are living in a time where the Internet is having a global effect. Will Governments limit the search of news sites and to possible subversive websites?
Chapter 6 covered Privacy. This should be of interest to all. With the rise of Facebook and other social networking sites your privacy should matter. Any information you put on the Internet may stay there forever. I look forward to the day when a future President will have their Facebook photos leaked showing they did something stupid during college. Googling yourself is always an adventure. What do you want other people, especially future employers, to uncover when they search for you? There are companies in existence that claim that they can take care of your online presence by deleting unflattering information. What about the news about an expiring image file? It may catch on.
Since Chapter 8 is about the Future of Search Engines it was the most interesting to me. Since the book has been published some rather interesting search advancements have taken place. Google now has "instant search". It's very cool. Also, Google has taken into account your location and has provided more local search within results. For example, type in 'Chinese Restaurant' and local restaurants will pop up. Not a Chinese restaurant in a different state. A futuristic take on the search engine is Halavais mention of the 1995 movie Strange Days. In the movie there is a device that records your memories. This allows people to relieve their must cherished memories. This opens up a future where a search engine is used to search through memories. Imagine a repository of memories. This sounds like Sci-Fi, but in the same section there is a man named Kevin Lim who has taken it upon himself to record his interactions with a camera. Perhaps one day we will have a complete life-- from birth til death-- recorded and searchable. This person will live on for as long as the data exists. Life is more than just events, it is also the mundane parts that make up your existence.
Search engines are used by nearly all who use the Internet. It is valuable piece of technology that helps index countless files on the Internet. What use would the Internet be if you had no way of knowing what was out there. Alex Halavais' book gives a great overview of what a search engine is and how Society is being shaped by search engines. I end with more from the Introduction, which sums it up rather nicely.
"People who use search engines--and that is slowly approaching "everyone"--should know how they work, and what they mean to society. Once they know this, they will recognize the need to take collective action and participate in the management of these technologies. The appropriate search engine does not promote authoritarian dominion over knowledge, but invites communal finding and search sociability. "
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
