“Google Told Me So!” On the Bent Testimony of Search Engine Algorithms

Narayanan, Devesh; Cremer, David De

doi:10.1007/s13347-022-00521-7

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Notwithstanding this, there is a significant body of scholarship that examines commercial search engines such as Google. Critical research has scrutinized the ideological underpinnings of search algorithms (Mager, 2014) and how people attempt to make themselves ‘algorithmically recognizable’ (Gillespie, 2017); unveiled the ‘bent testimony’ of search algorithms (Narayanan and De Cremer, 2022), which is commonly disguised by the seamless ubiquity of search engines in users’ daily lives (Haider and Sundin, 2019; Sundin et al, 2017); or provided a cultural retrospective of the process of Googlization and its information politics (Rogers, 2018; Vaidhyanathan, 2011).…”

Section: Theoretical Scaffoldingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Consequently, they have an impact on the beliefs we hold about the matter at hand by means of the content they produce and make algorithmically recognizable (Gillespie, 2017: 65), in a sense generating a collaborative framework for ‘the validation of truth by public opinion’ (Oleinik, 2022: 186). ‘As such, googling resembles testimony because of our epistemic reliance on those who produce the content that gets presented to us when we perform a Google search’ (Narayanan and De Cremer, 2022: 3).…”

Section: Theoretical Scaffoldingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Google, data voids, and the dynamics of the politics of exclusion

Norocel

Lewandowski

2023

Big Data & Society

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This study deploys a critical approach to big data analytics to gauge the tentative contours of data voids in Google searches that reflect extreme-right dynamics of exclusion in the aftermath of the 2015 humanitarian crisis in Europe. The study adds complexity to the analysis of data voids, expanding the framework of investigation outside the USA context by concentrating on Germany and Sweden. Building on previous big data analytics addressing the politics of exclusion, the study proposes a catalogue of queries concerning the issue of migration in both Germany and Sweden on a continuum from mainstream to extreme-right vocabularies. This catalogue of queries enables specific and localized queries to identify data voids. The results show that a search engine's reliance on source popularity may lead to extreme-right sources appearing in top positions. Furthermore, using platforms for user-generated content provides a way for localized queries to gain top positions.

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Section: Theoretical Scaffoldingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Scaffoldingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Google, data voids, and the dynamics of the politics of exclusion

Norocel

Lewandowski

2023

Big Data & Society

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“…Search results seem to be experienced as pieces of “knowledge” that you have uncovered through your knowledge-seeking activities. The fact that online search is actually, to a large extent, governed by algorithms and other sources of bias (Johnson, 2021; Narayanan & De Cremer, 2022) does not seem to matter much (or is too opaque) in one’s experience of this research activity. Indeed, Fisher et al (2015) showed that even if you explicitly and specifically direct people what to search for, the overconfidence effect of the act of searching holds.…”

Section: Charting the Conspiracist’s (Re)searchesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insight in the Conspiracist’s Mind

Van de Cruys,

Bervoets,

Gadsby

et al. 2023

Pers Soc Psychol Rev

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Academic Abstract The motto of the conspiracist, “Do your own research,” may seem ludicrous to scientists. Indeed, it is often dismissed as a mere rhetorical device that conspiracists use to give themselves the semblance of science. In this perspective paper, we explore the information-seeking activities (“research”) that conspiracists do engage in. Drawing on the experimental psychology of aha experiences, we explain how these activities, as well as the epistemic experiences that precede (curiosity) or follow (insight or “aha” experiences) them, may play a crucial role in the appeal and development of conspiracy beliefs. Aha moments have properties that can be exploited by conspiracy theories, such as the potential for false but seemingly grounded conclusions. Finally, we hypothesize that the need for autonomous epistemic agency and discovery is universal but increases as people experience more uncertainty and/or feel epistemically excluded in society, hence linking it to existing literature on explaining conspiracy theories. Public Abstract Recent events have made it painfully clear that conspiracy beliefs can tear deep rifts in society and that we still have not found an adequate, de-escalating response to this. To understand the appeal of conspiracy theories and find new, humanizing ways to talk about them, we propose in this perspective paper to start from the universal human need to autonomously make discoveries through personal knowledge-generating actions. Indeed, psychological research shows that the aha experiences that accompany subjective discoveries create confidence in and perceived ownership of ideas that may be exploited by conspiracy theories. We hypothesize that people experiencing more uncertainty and/or epistemic exclusion in society will especially feel the need to re-establish autonomous epistemic agency and discovery. While this explanation starts from shared human experiences and practices, it also illustrates the potential of those processes to lead to a narrowed world and ossified cognition.

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The Impact of Web Search Result Quality on Decision-Making

Merker,

Bondarenko

2024

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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“Google Told Me So!” On the Bent Testimony of Search Engine Algorithms

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Google, data voids, and the dynamics of the politics of exclusion

Google, data voids, and the dynamics of the politics of exclusion

Insight in the Conspiracist’s Mind

The Impact of Web Search Result Quality on Decision-Making

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