Gauging the Google gaze
This study explores the visual representation of Great Yarmouth, a British coastal town caught between the urban and the rural, as seen through the quasi-monopolistic image search engine Google Images. The research examines levels of pluralistic or biased place representations to consider how ranki...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Linköping University Electronic Press
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/4303 |
| _version_ | 1797260147827933184 |
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| author | Cornelia Brantner Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat Judith Stewart |
| author_facet | Cornelia Brantner Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat Judith Stewart |
| author_sort | Cornelia Brantner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This study explores the visual representation of Great Yarmouth, a British coastal town caught between the urban and the rural, as seen through the quasi-monopolistic image search engine Google Images. The research examines levels of pluralistic or biased place representations to consider how rankings employed by Google Images algorithms represent Great Yarmouth’s identity. The study adopts a visual culture perspective that recognises the role of images in place making and combines digital methods with an image type analysis to investigate how online representations reflect and create the town’s identities. The data shows that Google Images’ preference for representing Yarmouth as a sunny seaside town indicates that the search engine prioritises marketable assets above its connections with its hinterland, its diversity of people, and the cultural activities it has to offer. This, the authors state, is a place far away from Tuan’s (1979) idea of a place that is given meaning and identity from the perspective of people. Instead, Google Images’ representations of Great Yarmouth are an example of a created form of place making as commodification. The article concludes that the inscribed bias and unbalanced search priority criteria employed by the search engine impact upon the diversity of the semi-peripheral town.
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| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T23:20:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-92a1cbda85d045b98d396a743b419d43 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2000-1525 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T23:20:42Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Linköping University Electronic Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-92a1cbda85d045b98d396a743b419d432024-03-16T10:11:39ZengLinköping University Electronic PressCulture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research2000-15252024-03-0116110.3384/cu.4303Gauging the Google gazeCornelia Brantner0Joan Ramon Rodriguez-AmatJudith StewartKarlstad University This study explores the visual representation of Great Yarmouth, a British coastal town caught between the urban and the rural, as seen through the quasi-monopolistic image search engine Google Images. The research examines levels of pluralistic or biased place representations to consider how rankings employed by Google Images algorithms represent Great Yarmouth’s identity. The study adopts a visual culture perspective that recognises the role of images in place making and combines digital methods with an image type analysis to investigate how online representations reflect and create the town’s identities. The data shows that Google Images’ preference for representing Yarmouth as a sunny seaside town indicates that the search engine prioritises marketable assets above its connections with its hinterland, its diversity of people, and the cultural activities it has to offer. This, the authors state, is a place far away from Tuan’s (1979) idea of a place that is given meaning and identity from the perspective of people. Instead, Google Images’ representations of Great Yarmouth are an example of a created form of place making as commodification. The article concludes that the inscribed bias and unbalanced search priority criteria employed by the search engine impact upon the diversity of the semi-peripheral town. https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/4303place makingGoogle Imagesplace representationimage type analysisvisual culture |
| spellingShingle | Cornelia Brantner Joan Ramon Rodriguez-Amat Judith Stewart Gauging the Google gaze Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research place making Google Images place representation image type analysis visual culture |
| title | Gauging the Google gaze |
| title_full | Gauging the Google gaze |
| title_fullStr | Gauging the Google gaze |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gauging the Google gaze |
| title_short | Gauging the Google gaze |
| title_sort | gauging the google gaze |
| topic | place making Google Images place representation image type analysis visual culture |
| url | https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/4303 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT corneliabrantner gaugingthegooglegaze AT joanramonrodriguezamat gaugingthegooglegaze AT judithstewart gaugingthegooglegaze |