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...
| Published in: | Annals of the American Association of Geographers Vol. 107; no. 5; pp. 1194 - 1216 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2017
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=124025740&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 124025740 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 24694452 JRMH jtl: Annals of the American Association of Geographers issn: 24694452 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2017 vid: 107 iid: 5 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 124025740 10.1080/24694452.2017.1308240 ppf: 1194 ppct: 22 formats: tig: atl: Digital Hegemonies: The Localness of Search Engine Results. aug: au: Ballatore, Andrea Graham, Mark Sen, Shilad affil: Department of Geography, Birbeck, University of London Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science, Macalester College su: Google (Web resource) Hegemony Geography Search engines Search engine optimization sug: subj: Hegemony Geography Search engines Search engine optimization Google (Web resource) keyword: digital place Internet geography localness search engines el carácter de lo local el carácter de lo local geografía del Internet geografía del Internet lugar digital motores de búsqueda motores de búsqueda digital place Internet geography localness search engines el carácter de lo local el carácter de lo local geografía del Internet geografía del Internet lugar digital motores de búsqueda motores de búsqueda ab: 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. Analyzing 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 these 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. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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