Michael Zimmer.org

Philipp Lenssen points out that when you search Google for “she invented,” on the results page you are asked “Did you mean ‘he invented’?”
There has been lots of discussion on this seemingly misogynistic “correction” that Google provides, and those familiar with my research know that I’m a proponent of critiquing algorithm and system design for potential bias. But in this case I think it is more a function of the n-gram table of adjacent word frequencies. A user searches for “x y”, Google determines that “x z” is related, and …

Search Engine Watch speculates that Google might start using WHOIS information in their ranking of web pages. A recent patent application filed by Google, Information retrieval based on historical data, hints at the possible use of domain information in the ranking of results:

Domain registration could be used as a way to determine the “document inception date,” or an age associated with a page.
The expiration date of a domain could indicate the “legitimacy” of a document, with short term registrations indicating more questionable pages.
Changes, and the frequency of changes, in registration …

When the deal between Google and AOL was first announced, I (among others) complained that Google was introducing bias into their search engine results by teaching AOL how to “game” the system in order to optimize the placement of AOL sites within Google’s search results.
Now, according to John Battelle, it seems that this part of the deal might be gone. Since it seems to have been eliminated from their arrangement so quietly, I wonder if Google is trying to pretend they never considered allowing such a controversial practice. But, of …

I recently received a request from a journalism graduate student to comment on a story about “growing anti-Google sentiment and what is fueling it” and about “how Google’s principles have changed, and how the public is reacting to this switch.” Here are my brief answers to the questions posed:
“Do you have a sense that the mainstream public (not just the internet savvy) have a real growing distrust of Google’s services?”
I haven’t seen any direct evidence on how recent events have affected the general public’s level of trust/distrust with Google, but …

Mark Fiore’s latest cartoon satirizes the activities of US search engine companies contributing to the Great Firewall of China: “Protect Your Regime with iRepress – with Powerful Democracy Filtering!”

Last month, Google changed their censorship policy after launching their censored Google.cn service in China. Now it seems Google has changed its “core principles” regarding providing only organic search results.
Previously Google’s Principles included this statement:
The order and contents of Google search results are completely automated. No one hand picks a particular result for a given search query, nor does Google ever insert jokes or send messages by changing the order of results. Occasionally, when a particular website is the subject of public attention, other sites begin linking to it. This …

Bambi Francisco writes that Google’s recent decision to officially censor search results in China violates its core values:
It’s profound what being a public company can do to the core values of a young firm.
was less than two years ago that Google Inc. (GOOG) co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin thumbed their noses at the U.S. investment banking community with an auction-based IPO and their pledge not to cave in to the short-term demands of Wall Street.
Their mantra was “do no evil,” and the company’s statement still says Google’s goal …

Google’s official policy on censoring and otherwise altering search results has been updated since their decision to provide censored results for China. The policy can be found at the help page for the question “Does Google censor search results?”
The previous policy read:
Google does not censor results for any search term. The order and content of our results are completely automated; we do not manipulate our search results by hand. We believe strongly in allowing the democracy of the web to determine the inclusion and ranking of sites in our search …

Philipp Lenssen points to this report that a group of people from Students for a Free Tibet gathered in front of the Googleplex to protest against Google bowing to Chinese censorship requests.
From SFT’s press release:
“Students and young people worldwide are appalled by Google’s decision to become active partners in China’s censorship apparatus,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “Google’s participation in the Chinese government’s program of repression and information control renders the company motto “Don’t be evil” a terrible joke.”
Google rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft have …

Google has officially launched google.cn, a version of its search service designed to appease the Chinese government’s desire to block searches related to Taiwanese or Tibetan independence, the Tiananmen massacre, Falun Gong, etc.
CNN posted this statement from Google on the matter:
In order to operate from China, we have removed some content from the search results available on Google.cn, in response to local law, regulation or policy. While removing search results is inconsistent with Google’s mission, providing no information (or a heavily degraded user experience that amounts to no information) is …

This Economist article on Google co-founder Larry Page has been getting a lot of attention due to its closing statements on Google’s reported desire build a machine that will pass the

Following up on earlier concerns, Jeff Jarvis reports that GoogleNews is including news articles from the far-right British National Party.
While I have previsouly disagreed with Jeff that certain “news” is inherently more valid than other “news” for inclusion in news aggregation services like GoogleNews, I do agree with him that Google needs to be more transparent about how sites are selected and ranked within the GoogleNews service.

I’m late (due to end-of-semester grading) to the discussion of the recent Google-AOL deal. The key points:

Google spends $1 billion to gain a 5% stake in AOL;
Google offers special promotion and links to AOL (as sponsored links) for searches which AOL has its own content;
Google provides AOL with $300 million in free advertising on Google’s web sites;
Google would begin to test various forms of graphical ads (a bold departure from its text-only approach to ads which keeps their interface clean, fast and user-friendly);
Google will incorporate AOL video programming in …

I am presenting this paper today at the 6th International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AOIR). The panel is titled “Search Engines – Their Politics; Their Logics”:
The Value Implications of the “Google Paradigm” for Organizing, Distributing and Accessing Information
Given the status search engines have gained as the dominant knowledge tool for accessing the wealth of information available on the Internet, it is vital to consider the value and ethical consequences of our reliance on these tools for organizing, distributing and accessing information. This paper will explore …

Continuing the on-going discussion of bias at GoogleNews, TechDirt links to this study (an MA thesis) which aims to measure the source bias in GoogleNews.
The study examines search results for evidence of bias. By analyzing the content of articles returned in searches on the major-party presidential candidates in the days leading up to the 2004 election, it aims to assess the aggregator’s level of political bias. The study looks at balance within these articles as an indicator of bias, using results from the same searches on Yahoo News as a …