PDF Publication Title:
Text from PDF Page: 044
instead of “the search results” or “search results” it is stressed that the removal of results concerns Google’s own product, which might renders removal more acceptable or natural and thereby more agreeable. It seems that Google attempts to position the hacker or spammer as the dangerous other. Google may be perfectly right; there is much spam and malware on the Internet. In this case however, it seems that focusing on misuse of the ‘enemy’ is used as a rhetoric strategy to win the reader. Google’s good intentions are reinforced; by rendering the other as dangerous, the self is considered less dangerous. 3.5 Technologic evolution as inescapable and natural Epstein notes in his article how Google uses the word ‘organic’. He claims the following: Google’s search algorithm is pushing one candidate on the top of rankings because of what the company coyly dismisses as ‘organic’ search activity by users; it’s harmless, you see, because it’s all natural. Under this scenario, a computer program is picking our elected officials. (Epstein 2015). Epstein does not refer to the source in which Google speaks of ‘organic’ search activity. However, since other powerful companies do speak about ‘organic’ traffic, such as Facebook’s dashboards for page owners, it was decided to investigate if, and how Google used words such as ‘organic’ to naturalize certain algorithmic actions, since in other fields it has been proven that labels that refer to nature are considered harmless.21 It was found that Google does indeed use words that allude to natural events. Spam is represented as having, for instance, “unnatural” links, while what is considered “unnatural” is not explained (“Fighting Spam” 2015). To explain why it is normal that some sites have less visitors than usual, Google states that “sites are experiencing the natural eb and flow of online traffic” (“Fighting Spam” 2015), thereby rendering digital processes as something natural, but also something that is beyond the control of humans (as is eb and flow). Also, Google uses names of animal species for her algorithms and algorithmic updates, such as “the Panda algorithm” and the “Penguin” code update (“Fighting Spam” 2015), which renders something abstract and unknown (an algorithm) into something we do know (harmless, even protected, animals). Moreover, Google speaks of “The evolution of search” and “how search has evolved” (“Algorithms” 2015), thereby presenting adaptations of the search algorithm as natural and inevitable—as a natural consequence of its past and current forms. By representing search as an evolving entity, the first steps are already taken and we have accepted it, which makes it more difficult to interfere with it. Although Google uses words that refer to nature or natural processes, the Google corpus is not very dense with it. I would say that the use of these words might reinforce the discourse 21 The food industry, for instance, uses labels such as “natural” and “pure” because users expect that such products are free from synthetic additives or manipulations, while this is often not the case. 44PDF Image | peek into the discursive construction of the Google Search Algorithm: A critical discourse analysis
PDF Search Title:
peek into the discursive construction of the Google Search Algorithm: A critical discourse analysisOriginal File Name Searched:
thesis-google-search-algotithm.pdfDIY PDF Search: Google It | Yahoo | Bing
Cruise Ship Reviews | Luxury Resort | Jet | Yacht | and Travel Tech More Info
Cruising Review Topics and Articles More Info
Software based on Filemaker for the travel industry More Info
The Burgenstock Resort: Reviews on CruisingReview website... More Info
Resort Reviews: World Class resorts... More Info
The Riffelalp Resort: Reviews on CruisingReview website... More Info
CONTACT TEL: 608-238-6001 Email: greg@cruisingreview.com (Standard Web Page)