IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jinfst/v75y2024i5p613-624.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The elusive search engine: How search engine use is reflected in survey reports

Author

Listed:
  • Cecilia Andersson
  • Olof Sundin

Abstract

The overall aim of this article is to contribute to a research‐based understanding of the increasing invisibility of web search engines in society and to discussions about the potential impact of this invisibility. It examines how search engine use and online search activities are represented in national and regional reports on internet habits and experience published by public foundations and policy institutes. The elusiveness of search engines is understood through a theoretical perspective from infrastructure theory. National survey reports on internet habits and experience from the United States, UK, and Sweden from 2015 to 2021 are analyzed. The article shows how difficult it is to gain insights into how people search online and the role search engines play in everyday life. The nature of the survey report, which is often used to inform national policy, risks exacerbating the invisibility of search engines: what cannot be measured cannot be discussed at the policy level. This invisibility can lead to insufficient attention being paid to search engines, including their uses and effects, in legislation, in school education, and in the general formation of public knowledge about search engines in society.

Suggested Citation

  • Cecilia Andersson & Olof Sundin, 2024. "The elusive search engine: How search engine use is reflected in survey reports," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 75(5), pages 613-624, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:75:y:2024:i:5:p:613-624
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.24819
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24819
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/asi.24819?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Olof Sundin & Dirk Lewandowski & Jutta Haider, 2022. "Whose relevance? Web search engines as multisided relevance machines," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(5), pages 637-642, May.
    2. Simeon Yates & John Kirby & Eleanor Lockley, 2015. "Digital Media Use: Differences and Inequalities in Relation to Class and Age," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 20(4), pages 71-91, November.
    3. Dirk Lewandowski & Friederike Kerkmann & Sandra Rümmele & Sebastian Sünkler, 2018. "An empirical investigation on search engine ad disclosure," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 69(3), pages 420-437, March.
    4. Carmi, Elinor & Yates, Simeon J. & Lockley, Eleanor & Pawluczuk, Alicja, 2020. "Data citizenship: Rethinking data literacy in the age of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 9(2), pages 1-22.
    5. A. Daly & A. Scardamaglia, 2017. "Profiling the Australian Google Consumer: Implications of Search Engine Practices for Consumer Law and Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 299-320, September.
    6. Susan Leigh Star & Karen Ruhleder, 1996. "Steps Toward an Ecology of Infrastructure: Design and Access for Large Information Spaces," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 7(1), pages 111-134, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dirk Lewandowski & Jutta Haider & Olof Sundin, 2024. "JASIST Special Issue Editorial: Re‐orienting search engine research in information science," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 75(5), pages 503-511, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. David Tilson & Kalle Lyytinen & Carsten Sørensen, 2010. "Research Commentary ---Digital Infrastructures: The Missing IS Research Agenda," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 21(4), pages 748-759, December.
    2. Emmanuelle Vaast & Geoff Walsham, 2009. "Trans-Situated Learning: Supporting a Network of Practice with an Information Infrastructure," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 20(4), pages 547-564, December.
    3. Pradeep Racherla & Munir Mandviwalla, 2013. "Moving from Access to Use of the Information Infrastructure: A Multilevel Sociotechnical Framework," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 709-730, September.
    4. Cass, Noel & Schwanen, Tim & Shove, Elizabeth, 2018. "Infrastructures, intersections and societal transformations," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 160-167.
    5. Sotiria Grek, 2022. "The education Sustainable Development Goal and the generative power of failing metrics [The Learning Metrics Task Force 2.0: Taking the Global Dialogues on Measuring Learning to the Country Level]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(4), pages 445-457.
    6. Ashley Carse & Joshua A Lewis, 2017. "Toward a political ecology of infrastructure standards: Or, how to think about ships, waterways, sediment, and communities together," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(1), pages 9-28, January.
    7. Sara Rubinelli & Alexander Ort & Claudia Zanini & Maddalena Fiordelli & Nicola Diviani, 2021. "Strengthening Critical Health Literacy for Health Information Appraisal: An Approach from Argumentation Theory," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-10, June.
    8. Csordás, Adrián & Füzesi, István, 2023. "An Empirical Evaluation of Information Sharing's Impact on Profitability; Evidence from the Solar Sector," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 15(3), September.
    9. Azwar Azwar & Sarwititi Sarwoprasodjo & Endriatmo Soetarto & Djuara Lubis, 2023. "The disinformation in virtual communities: a systematic literature review," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 44(1), pages 656-672, June.
    10. Ulf Stein & Benedict Bueb & Gabrielle Bouleau & Gaële Rouillé-Kielo, 2023. "Making Urban Water Management Tangible for the Public by Means of Digital Solutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, January.
    11. Berg, Sebastian & Thiel, Thorsten, 2019. "Widerstand und die Formierung von Ordnung in der digitalen Konstellation," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 67-86.
    12. Ellen Balka & Sandra Whitehouse & Shannon T. Coates & Dug Andrusiek, 2012. "Ski hill injuries and ghost charts: Socio-technical issues in achieving e-Health interoperability across jurisdictions," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 19-42, March.
    13. Malcolm Wolski & Joanna Richardson, 2014. "A Model for Institutional Infrastructure to Support Digital Scholarship," Publications, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-17, September.
    14. Young, Meg & Katell, Michael & Krafft, P. M., 2019. "Municipal Surveillance Regulation and Algorithmic Accountability," SocArXiv zx2sw, Center for Open Science.
    15. Carolin Stein & Timm Teubner & Stefan Morana, 2024. "Designing a conversational agent for supporting data exploration in citizen science," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 34(1), pages 1-18, December.
    16. Teubner, Alexander & Stockhinger, Jan, 2020. "IT/IS strategy research and digitalization: An extensive literature review," ERCIS Working Papers 34, University of Münster, European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS).
    17. Canay Özden-Schilling, 2016. "The infrastructure of markets: From electric power to electronic data," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(1), pages 68-80, January.
    18. Jamalzadeh, Saeed & Mettenbrink, Lily & Barker, Kash & González, Andrés D. & Radhakrishnan, Sridhar & Johansson, Jonas & Bessarabova, Elena, 2024. "Weaponized disinformation spread and its impact on multi-commodity critical infrastructure networks," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    19. Scott, Susan V. & Zachariadis, Markos, 2012. "Origins and development of SWIFT, 1973–2009," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 46490, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Khalid Alzadjali & Amany Elbanna, 0. "Smart Institutional Intervention in the Adoption of Digital Infrastructure: The Case of Government Cloud Computing in Oman," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-16.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:75:y:2024:i:5:p:613-624. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.asis.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.