Google And The Digital Divide: Bias Of Online Knowledge, The

Description:
Aimed at scholars and students in the fields of media and communication, politics and technology, this book outlines the significant role of search engines in general and Google in particular in widening the digital divide between individuals, organisations and states. It uses innovative methods and research approaches to assess and illustrate the digital divide by comparing the popular search queries in Google and Yahoo in different countries as well as analysing the various biases in Google News and Google Earth. The different studies developed and presented in this book provide various indications of the increasing customisation and popularisation mechanisms employed by popular search engines, which together with organising the world's information - inevitably also intensify information inequalities and reinforce commercial and US-centric priorities and agendas. This title develops an extensive historical investigation of information, power and the digital divide. It provides new social and political perspectives to understand search engines in general and Google in particular. Readership includes: interdisciplinary scholars and students in the fields of media and communication, information studies, politics, economics and technology. Moreover, its simple but informative style makes it a useful knowledgeable source for any person who wishes to learn more about the influential power of search engines and their social and political implications.

Table of Contents:
Introduction - digital divide of information uses; Americanisation and commercialisation online; on bias and monopoly of knowledge; Power, communication and the Internet; the emergence of the information society; the power of interfaces; The structure and power of search engines; a short history of information search; the challenge of the deep web; information protection and digital islandsA'; interest conflicts and informational commons; the European answer; the long tail of search engines; Google, Googling and the politics of online searching; Google's big idea; customised search; global control by local use; reinforcing allegiance; online manipulation and punishment; Users and uses of Google's Information; a cross-national comparison; dataset and classification systems, economic and political value index; variety of uses; specific search index; locality of information uses; Mass media channels and the world of Google News; online transformation of media and news; commercial motives and their implications; Google's world news; dominant online states; international concern; the language dimension; Google's global mapping; biases in scope; the national security dimension; Conclusion - the importance of information and communication; Googling and the politics of online search; popularisation and customisation mechanisms; the future of search engines: from personal advisers to global advertisers.

Author Biography:
Elad Segev is a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer of Media and Communications at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He dedicated his doctorate work at the Research Institute for Law, Politics and Justice at Keele University to study search engine biases. His research also deals with technology, primarily the Internet, and its social, political and cultural implications. Additionally, he serves as a visiting lecturer of new media and network theory at Ben Gurion University and Emek Yizrael Academic College in Israel.