Search Engines and Information Overload

  Think about this for a second, what is your home-page? What is the first page that opens on your browser? I'm pretty sure it may be Google or another search engine. It may not, but most people reading this will have it set.

Ok, think about this; how do you actually get to a website that isn't in your favourites? You wont memorise the URL, well I hope not, instead you will type into a search engine the name and from there you will gain access.

  With the internet's primary use to share information, we navigate its entirety via search engines (Google, Yahoo!, Ask.com and Bing), but do these give websites a fair share in the availability to be seen by the public?

  Search engines use rankings when you type certain key words into its search bar. The rankings are based on how popular the site is, how accurately matched it is to your query and now, how much they have been paid to be higher in the list that you see making it more likely for it to be clicked on. Once you click 'search' the engine goes through 3 stages:

1) Web Crawling

2) Indexing

3) Searching

(NOTE: This is quite complicated so bare with me..)

  In the Web Crawling stage the engine uses a bit of AI (see my Are We Able To Create AI post for more information), sometimes known as a spider - a designed program that searches through web links, to gather the initial stages of the search. Next is the Indexing stage, here the program organises the web pages in order  matching the words or phrases that was entered in the search box. The words or phrases that are looked through on the sites are call Meta-Tags. These tags are specific or key words set by the site creator allowing search engines to pick them up, an example would be this blog post. This week's topic is on search engines, information, internet etc. these will all be used as tags that will make it easier for it to be noticed. Once that has been done the final Searching stage begins, this is when all of the sites and the result of your search is displayed. Remember this all takes seconds, sometimes less. Here I'll show you, I'll do a search on Google now on the word 'pizza': lets see how long it takes...

...wow, 0.21 seconds! This just proves that search engines are the most helpful tool on the internet, look at all the results I recieved, '197,000,000', I don't even know what that is...I think 197 million? Anyway, that's allot of information right? I would say, more than enough, which is why this blog post is partly named 'Information Overload', its almost like Google is boasting the amount of results it gives - arrogant search engine!

  With this large amount of information, there should be a fair chance that smaller more independent businesses, but there isn't. When I searched 'pizza' the top three pages were:

This is most probably because Dominos and Pizza Hut have paid Google to be a higher rank in it's servers. This is wrong in my opinion because it means that an independent place is stuck on page 10 of the search, the 10th 'O' in Google's interface or number 100, 000 in the list - and let's face it, your not going to sieve through every link to the 10th page.

  There have been experiments done to compare how users interact with the screen (the positioning of the data from web searches), the experiments were conducted by Gord Hotchkiss:

  

Notice the following:

- how tightly Google keeps attention focused on the upper left corner of the search results

- how attention drops off the further down you go on the page

- ads in the right column generally do not get much attention

(www.training.seobook.com/google-ranking-value)

  Notice on this picture, it shows how long each link is looked at along with the amount of clicks it receives. It shows that links at the top (mainly 1-6) are most likely to be seen, as it gets further down the page some aren't even looked at - see the eye test above.

  Staying on the idea about Google rankings, in a post on ramzws.com it talks about how much you spend on getting a website created but then not even making it onto Google. I think this quote, "If you can't find your website in Google then just how much of a bargain was that $495 website?" is a great one to focus on. Because search engines are the encapsulating tool when it comes to browsing the web, if your website doesn't appear then it is almost lost in cyberspace, hardly anyone will come across your site unless they enter in very specific key words. In the blog post on 'ramzws' it says that a site costing $5000 with more pages will probably be seen on search engines more than one with a couple of pages worth $400. I reckon this is wrong, it completely isolates the more independent companies wanting to be seen on the internet although I would agree that it is some what a competitive area, companies battling it out to get to #1 on Google but they must have as much right as the larger companies surely?

Interfaces - Making using a computer that much easier

So your using a computer and you are looking at the screen and suddenly wonder how you are navigating through the system; well, that my friend is the Interface.

  A UI (User Interface) can be seen everywhere, to you getting money out of a cash machine, calling someone on your new iPhone or Android phone or sending an email on you computer. It is these interfaces on your phones and computers that will be placed under the spotlight today.

  Beginning with a GUI: This interface allows the communication between computer and user via graphical means i.e. Windows 7's icons and windows. The GUI was a revolution in computer history as it allowed everybody access to a computer despite their computer skills which is what was need beforehand i.e MS-DOS was an  early operating system that was used on many personal computers and required text commands to be entered to give the computer commands. These text commands were often long and were not very user friendly to use for example, to copy a file to another location the user could not simply click-and-drag back then they had to type in:

"copy from [source\filename] to [destination\folder]"

Only until upgrade to MS-DOS 5 was a very limited GUI introduced including mouse operation instead of using solely the keyboard. Check out the promo vid of MS-DOS 5.

  Without the help of Ivan Sutherland and Doug Englebart the GUI would not be possible. Ivan invented the Sketchpad which was the first move toward the interfaces we use today. It allowed the user to create shapes on a screen by using a light pen and was a massive leap to how we interact with computers today.

The system still had a size problem to hurdle

The revolutionary user interaction tool

  Doug Englebart was the person responsible for allowing you to move that little mouse around the screen although back then they were massive, imagine dragging a large brick across that lovely new varnished table.

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  With technology booming in the 21st century new ways of interacting with a computer are always arising whether it being speech or now even movement (i.e. Xbox Kinect, Nintendo Wii or Playstation Move) but here I will be focusing on how websites are viewed and present on GUI's on computers and compare them to GUI's on mobile phones.

Facebook (Computer)

  This site is becoming massively popular and it is now essential to have constant access to this is you are out of the house or office away from your computer.

  On the computer everything looks simple with the 1. logo and the navigation sections along the top of the page and down the left side, tools such as your profile, photos and Fb games are located here. All your friends can be seen here too 2. Down the centre of  the page is your main personalised information appropriately named by Facebook as your 'news feed'. 3. Along the right side of the page is adverts, your events and some information about how to use the site.

Click for full size!!

The website is very easy to use and the same is for its mobile page.

Facebook (Mobile)

  When wanting to use Fb on the move there is either the application of the specifically designed mobile site. The mobile site automatically detects it being accessed by a mobile device and so links it to that format. The mobile site is very easy to use and much like it application sister condensed to the most important information. Although the facebook games cant be accessed from the mobile device that is not much of a problem because while moving around you just want to update you status once in a while.

The mobile site

The app look

   The application as you can see uses a basic GUI to make its use easier. The news feed icon looks like a folded paper and the chat looks like dialogue bubbles.

HMV (Computer)

  This site is very popular for buying games, music, films and electronics; but how does it fair on both a computer and a mobile?

  

Click to view full size

  This site is very visual and hold lots of graphics meaning that its load time is considerably longer than say, Facebook's simple design.

  The design here looks very appealing with the negative space emphasising the main information and the large icons and promo adverts. But on this site there is one element that struggles to cross platform to the mobile world and that is - flash.

  Flash can't be used on any old generation mobile device nor can it on an apple, but recently with Android's firmware update of 2.2 Froyo for its devices flash 10 is supported. But for the majority flash is a large hurdle that cant be overcome easily.

Who Are Journalists These Days??

  Journalism 2.0 is an extension to Web 2.0 (blogging, visual, audio and social networking) where by news can be covered in numerous different ways. Within this evolution of the media comes 'Citizen Journalism' (CJ) or 'Street Journalism'. This term is used to describe members of the public filming specific events with mobile phones, cameras or small hand-held shooters. The events are are usually filmed before a professional news team can get to location meaning that the video or audio captured is in its unedited state or raw footage.

  The evolution of mobile phone technology has provided  anyone becoming involved in CJ.

The Citizen Journalist Technology - quick and easy

Phone video cameras over the last few years has evolved to HD meaning that captured footage is of a higher quality making much more of an impact.

This quick and easy to use piece of hardware was vital in the 9/11 New York Bombings, without the public there would be no way of capturing the devastation that was caused.

Rooftop view of 2nd plane hitting tower  (Source: Youtube // CameraPlannetArchive)

The same is with the London Bombings, without amateur footage through CJ we would have never understood what the situation was like in the stations themselves as large news groups like the BBC or ITV were denied access by the authorities.

  The idea of Citizen Journalism has become under a large amount of scrutiny primarily from the more 'professional' individuals in the profession. For example, a letter from a photojournalist Pete Jenkins states, "This is presumably to reward people who were lucky (or unlucky) enough to have been caught up in one disaster or another, and happen to own a mobile cameraphone".

The idea that CJ has gone too far!

 Me personally can see where he is coming from (sort of), he has probably spent years and years training and learning how to provide the best story via the best photographs and to be overtaken by a random citizen capturing a 30sec clip on their phone, posting it on Youtube and a few days later have it shown on all major news networks. (An example is the notorious Cat Lady who purposely chucked a cat in a dustbin by its neck: See the video here)

  Youtube, as mentioned above, has become a world wide success fetching a mere 2billion hits per day according to newsintech.com and provides a platform where videos such as the Cat Lady can become news worthy. In a video from, yes, Youtube, respected American journalist Katie Couric explains this site and how       simple videos can become 'viral': Katie Couric explaining Youtube with Video Examples

This platform of video publishing allows the world to view, comment and discuss the content as if it was shown on TV on the 6'o Clock news. With Journalism 2.0 blog sites are becoming a very popular location for CJ set up to essentially collect this amateur footage for the world to view. Although some large news networks look away at this others embrace it and see its potential. For example, America's CNN has its own dedicated Citizen Journalism site: http://cj.ibnlive.in.com/. On its site it states, "A pioneer in participatory journalism, CNN-IBN offers the common man a platform to tell his story. Log in to join the army of Citizen Journalists and make yourself heard". The sites caption, "Be the Change" I think is a great example to use to describe this broad type of journalism, it is changing, and rapidly at that.

  One interesting type of video capture is CCTV. Over the last decade the number of cameras watching us has grown exponentially but are these cameras part of CJ? I mean, a CCTV camera in a train or on a high street is all integrated into the countries police and therefore part of the government making a massive network of cameras. But this is similar to a large news network in my opinion and therefore not a CJ device or method. On the other hand I suppose CCTV footage can be seen as part of CJ as it is there and captures a rare event as it happens. Its not  there to capture devastating events but to record small scale things such as mugings or desruptions. The CCTV cameras are available 24/7 much like a citizen and captures the event that a news network will not be able to capture. An example would be the London Bombings or the station floodings in Madrid 2007: Station Flooding Footage

This surreal footage shows the whole floor expand as it fills with what looks like water. No news teams would be able to get that footage as it has happened right-there-right-then. For citizens the chance of some filming that particular footage is slim as people were seen fleeing the station. So CCTV can both be seen as a metaphorical CJ or just an addition to the large network linked into the government.

  So who are journalists these days? My answer is that anyone can but in respect to those in the professional trade, it takes skill to set up the footage, prepare and deliver a report on TV or in the paper.

A Networked Society: Good or Evil?

  If you have managed to get onto the computer and navigated to this exact post then you are part of a networked society - congratulations! 

  Its all good, you are reading this informative blog post without leaving the comfort of your room, great isn't it? But as this blog title suggests there are some bad sides to having a networked society and here at The Digital Bucket they will be explored and magnified against the positive elements of being connected. 

   Being part of a networked society is great for making communication easy, I bet that most of you reading this will have a profile on Facebook. This social networking site allows just that, easy communication. In a blog post last year by its creator Mark Zuckerberg, "Growing rapidly to 200 million users is a really good start..." All of these people will be connected to their friends and family's profiles allowing them to share information in seconds without even leaving the house or even the country. As Zuckerberg's creation grows its networked society becomes more and more inter-linked with all members.

  With this in mind some would argue that this is the sort of thing that is destroying 'proper' social interaction most importantly in the younger generation. No face-to-face communication is necessary when social networks such as Facebook, MSN, Skype and MySpace exist and allow anyone to simply connect and see what their friends were doing 14 minutes ago. Two famous features of Facebook is the 'Relationship Status' and the 'Interested In'. This can be seen as a controversial tag that displays sensitive information about individuals' private life. Take a look at this video from Youtube concentrating on these items:

 With the social integrity under fire it is a necessity in some global organisations where video conferencing would not be possible without being constantly in a networked society. In a past blog post by Skype itself, "Business users have always been part of the Skype family and make up 30% of Skype's global community now number at 171 million". Notice the use of the word 'community'; all these businesses conferencing together are all part of a networked society. Another advantage with businesses inter-linked together is that money is saved; in the same blog post by Skype they state, "95% [of bussinesses] claimed to have saved money and 80% claimed that using Skype increased employee productivity." So looking at this point and linking back to the title, this side of a networked society is a good and advantageous thing.

   Moving onto the more dark or 'evil' (in this case) side of the internet and indeed the networked society. Cases of people being befriended by someone on Facebook who say they are who they are actually not can have horrific consequences and that is the most popular topic to refer to. Other 'internet evils' include theft of personal details on sites such as Ebay or Amazon. Sensitive information that you enter such as email address and credit card details can be picked up by someone targeting you. Email phishing and key loggers are a few types and you'll will have had hundreds of spam emails, you know the ones, right? The iconic and world famous Viagra pills spam? Or perhaps the fact that you have just won the Nigerian Lottery?! Yes, these contribute to the bad side of being in a networked society.

  Another, bullying.This has been a constant area within school life and often leaves the target helpless and isolated. With a networked society basically involved in almost every young person's life such as Facebook or even now Youtube bullying has evolved to the World Wide Web. The thing about Youtube is that people leave comments to videos posted by others, comments that can be hurtful to different cultures around the world and because they are sitting in their small room and most probably in another country they feel it acceptable. This is why the idea of a networked society is under allot of scrutiny at the moment.

   These have been just a few insights into the good sides of some networked societies and also their contradictory bad sides. But with progression these negative elements should be ironed out for example, Facebook again have undergone heavy scrutiny by the users themselves to improve the security issues as reports of hackers and false accounts were discovered. Numerous updates have been implemented meaning that it is becoming increasingly strong; this will be similar to other networked societies where security is an issue.