Keep these questions in mind as you read chapter 4. For each question, write a short answer and post your answers on a paged called Blown to Bits, Chapter 4 on your portfolio. Don't worry if you think you don't know the right answer. Just give it your best shot:
1. How do web search tools make it more efficient to find information?
Web search tools make it much more efficient to find information on the internet because they are continuously storing prior information and building their index larger and larger.
2. When you type a word or phrase into the Google search engine, what is the search algorithm that is being used? Explain in your own words the process used by Google's search engine.
When you type a word into a Google search engine, causes Google to search the word in the index and give you pages that are relevant and correspond with the word.
3. What is a captcha? How has the collective efforts of Internet users contributed to analyzing images through captchas?
Captcha, standing for “completely automated public turing,” is a test to see if the computer is dealing with a human or another computer. Often, there are pictures or words that the human is required to describe to prove it isn't a robot.
4. "The architecture of human knowledge has changed as a result of search." Do you agree? Explain your reasoning.
I believe this is partially accurate because people are extremely reliant on google to search things up. Therefore, it changes the way we actually understand and accumulate knowledge.
5. What are the differences between Figures 4.10 and Figure 4.11 in the book? Why are there differences even though they are both a Google search results page?
The figures take a perspective from the U.S. and China. The U.S. describes the gong whereas China tries to condemn it and gives less factual information about it. The differences are that China tends to censor information way more often than the U.S.
6. How do you think mobile computing might have influenced web searches?
Mobile computing might have influenced web searches because it has made them much faster and much more convenient. Because of this, web searches have become much more popular because you have them at your fingertips.
7. Would you retain your search history or delete it? Why?
I would delete my search history because i can access the same pages as many times as i want so there is no point in keeping stored data.
8. Should a researcher place absolute trust in a search engine? Why or why not?
No, they should not place absolute trust in a search engine because people can hack, defile, censor, or change that information at any given time and for whatever purpose fits their needs.
9. The authors claim "search is a new form of control over information" (p. 111) and "search is power" (p. 145). Why might it be important to talk about the social implications of searching on the Internet?
It is significant to talk about the social implications of searching on the Internet because quite often people do not fully understand what they are reading. They judge what they see based off of a small portion of information that they actually have no knowledge on.
10. How have search trends been used to predict information? What are the positive and negative impacts of using trends to make predictions?
Search trends look at which pages have the most traffic and by pushing these pages to the top of a search results page, it allows the most popular information to reach the user first. This can be detrimental because information can be skewed in different ways to benefit different parties.
11. Find and read an article about web searches or algorithms. Write a 3-4 paragraph summary of the article. Include the author's name, the title of the article, the date it was published, and a link to the article.
Author: Steven Levy
Title: “How Google’s ALgorithm Rules the Web”
Date: 2-22-10
Link: https://www.wired.com/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm/
This article describes how google’s algorithm is developed, how it works, and what technological advancements have been made. The algorithm is developed by dozens or computer science engineers who work in the Google headquarters. They are constantly figuring out how to make their already vast and complicated algorithm even smarter. In 2010, google will have made more than 550 improvements to its search algorithm. It also talks about google’s biggest competitor, bing, who is stationed in a similar facility developing their algorithm in a similar way. Some of the advancements that have been made in the past years include personalized results, universal search, and backrub. Still today, google is making technological innovations that revolutionize the way its search engine works.
5.9 Impacts of CS: Web Searches Curriculum Page
Chapter 4 - Read the following parts of Chapter 4:
Before the reading consider the following questions and then complete the K-W-L chart.