Digital hegemonies: The localness of search engine results
Every day, billions of Internet users rely on search engines to find information about places to make decisions about tourism, shopping, and countless other economic activities. In an opaque process, search engines assemble digital content produced in a variety of locations around the world and make...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Taylor and Francis
2017
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| _version_ | 1797064709503975424 |
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| author | Ballatore, A Graham, M Sen, S |
| author_facet | Ballatore, A Graham, M Sen, S |
| author_sort | Ballatore, A |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Every day, billions of Internet users rely on search engines to find information about places to make decisions about tourism, shopping, and countless other economic activities. In an opaque process, search engines assemble digital content produced in a variety of locations around the world and make it available to large cohorts of consumers. Although these representations of place are increasingly important and consequential, little is known about their characteristics and possible biases. Analysing a corpus of Google search results generated for 188 capital cities, this article investigates the geographic dimension of search results, focusing on searches such as "Lagos" and "Rome" on different localized versions of the engine. This study answers the questions: To what degree is this city-related information locally produced and diverse? Which countries are producing their own representations and which are represented by others? Through a new indicator of localness of search results, we identify the factors that contribute to shape this uneven digital geography, combining several development indicators. The development of the publishing industry and scientific production appears as a fairly strong predictor of localness of results. This empirical knowledge will support efforts to curb the digital divide, promoting a more inclusive, democratic information society. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T21:18:13Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:4085a83e-99b3-4960-b247-bf3e21dd0a70 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T21:18:13Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Taylor and Francis |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:4085a83e-99b3-4960-b247-bf3e21dd0a702022-03-26T14:38:27ZDigital hegemonies: The localness of search engine resultsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:4085a83e-99b3-4960-b247-bf3e21dd0a70Symplectic Elements at OxfordTaylor and Francis2017Ballatore, AGraham, MSen, SEvery day, billions of Internet users rely on search engines to find information about places to make decisions about tourism, shopping, and countless other economic activities. In an opaque process, search engines assemble digital content produced in a variety of locations around the world and make it available to large cohorts of consumers. Although these representations of place are increasingly important and consequential, little is known about their characteristics and possible biases. Analysing a corpus of Google search results generated for 188 capital cities, this article investigates the geographic dimension of search results, focusing on searches such as "Lagos" and "Rome" on different localized versions of the engine. This study answers the questions: To what degree is this city-related information locally produced and diverse? Which countries are producing their own representations and which are represented by others? Through a new indicator of localness of search results, we identify the factors that contribute to shape this uneven digital geography, combining several development indicators. The development of the publishing industry and scientific production appears as a fairly strong predictor of localness of results. This empirical knowledge will support efforts to curb the digital divide, promoting a more inclusive, democratic information society. |
| spellingShingle | Ballatore, A Graham, M Sen, S Digital hegemonies: The localness of search engine results |
| title | Digital hegemonies: The localness of search engine results |
| title_full | Digital hegemonies: The localness of search engine results |
| title_fullStr | Digital hegemonies: The localness of search engine results |
| title_full_unstemmed | Digital hegemonies: The localness of search engine results |
| title_short | Digital hegemonies: The localness of search engine results |
| title_sort | digital hegemonies the localness of search engine results |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ballatorea digitalhegemoniesthelocalnessofsearchengineresults AT grahamm digitalhegemoniesthelocalnessofsearchengineresults AT sens digitalhegemoniesthelocalnessofsearchengineresults |