"Thought Paper" for Dr. Deborah Gordon
Gender, Race and Knowledge, Fall 1997
Wichita State University, Women's Studies Department
http//:www.twsu.edu

Why do I want to write about the Internet generally, and here today web search engines? Of course it is for academic credit, to construct objective research projects, but otherwise, what of desire? After all, the Net has become my research obsession out of choice. I use the word obsession deliberately as it seems to fit the necessary mindset in order to complete projects at hand. One is continually engaged with and in consideration of the subject matter of focus. Considering that objectivity requires one to strip oneself of desire, which, is an impossibility, I would like to first acknowledge and consider my desire. Especially since objectivity and desire are intermeshed. The desire to research specific topics and the desire to be objective stand together.
I must admit my fascination with the Internet, as a desire to explore the new and unexplored. I wonder sometimes if the desire is a combination of cultural forces around the Net as a centrally located cultural topic of the moment and a mesmerization of the self by technology. I find myself drawn into researching the Net in a sort of technophillia like obsession. In this desire, which comes from the self and outside of the self, I have become instilled somehow, with the desire to become immersed in the Net, while uncovering the "reality" of the Net. Of course, is this not the research process?
Tracing the roots of this desire I file back to my personal historical moment in time, that is birth date and semantic historical place in time of my upbringing. Thrown into this world in 1958, I realize now that at a very young age I was taught to worship (in a sense or maybe in fact) technology in many forms. Proof of this may be in the fact that as I young child I found the stories of God and Jesus in church unbelievable. They did not fit into the logic systems with which I was imbued. The logic systems I was working with are congruent with a world that believes in technology. It seems strange the conflict between the suspension of disbelief around religous beliefs and the empirical proof supporting beliefs around rational technological systems. Predicated upon the logic systems taught me I rejected religous stories as fantasy and lived in, with and around rationality/technology as a belief system.
Based upon stories told to me and from my own recollections I testify of my awe filled wonder and belief in automobiles, planes, space program, technology etc. What does it mean to believe in technology? As far as belief goes I recall an essay I read by C. S. Lewis, "Belief in Belief" in which he described the ability to believe as coming out of the experience of that which is to believed. I have experienced, I believe in technological manifestations as real and tangible. Therefore, I am able to believe in their existence. This belief continues today in my workings with and observations of the Internet.
My father, an aerospace engineer at Boeing began working with NASA on the Apollo mission from its inception. Through my father I was consequently linked to the daily impacts and wonders of the Space Program as seen through the eyes of a young boy. Along with the rest of the world the notion of space travel seemed utterly fantastic. I recall as a young child of the Space Age my fascination with and belief in, as I recall, a technological utopia. This feeling about technological utopianism I don't believe was realized by me out of a vacuum, but rather was part of the whole Space Age manifesto. Recalling this, I remember the dread I felt that I would never get to drive a car, as they would be obsolete by the time I reached driving age. However, somehow this seemed okay as the progression of technology would only bring better things to life. Technology would provide answers to society's problems. Whatever difficulties humans experienced with natural limitations, technological innovations would then present solutions. This seemed to be matter of fact, to me.
Conversely, while my father was working on the Apollo mission my mother was an activist with the League of Women Voters. She engaged in subverting the system by registering African-American citizens of the state of Louisiana. This was done by distributing answers to voter registration tests and monitoring of polling sites on election days. My arm gets tired when I recall cranking the mimeograph machine (There were no copiers then). By day my father was bringing in the Space Age while by day my mother was engaging the system to answer for itself and allow enfranchisement of African-American citizens. The outer conflicts of my parents, one a radical political activist and the other an activist builder of the military industrial complex seem to now become my inner conflicts. I believe this conflict/perspective contributes to and shapes my optimism/skepticism around the manifesto of the Information Age.
The question that now seems so ironic to me: We can send "man" to the moon but yet black voters have to fight for the right to vote?? How very strange indeed. Still today the question goes begging. While many ie. Over 90% of the Internet population who benefit and use the Internet are white and middle-class. Likewise, who benefitted from the space program? The answer to the latter question seem obvious; (the military industrial complex/white middle-class). The former question deserves an equally honest answer, the military industrial complex (over 60% of web sites are commercial/the Internet was originally created for the military through the Department of Defense using public monies).
The semantic promulgations about the Internet seem to parallel those of the Space Age in comparison to the Information Age. The dawning of the Space Age ala John F. Kennedy (God rest his soul), and the dawning of the Information Age via Bill Clinton harbor similar metaphorical feelings and remembrances. The framing of a society to perceive itself through the lens of the Space Age and the Information Age have similar outlines. There is a belief contained within both of technological machinery and progress. The subscript of both seem to say, wow aren't you glad we invested all this money in our military. The prowess of the military industrial complex is used in both cases to paint a context in which technology uplifts humanity. The Space Program allows people to physically transcend the earth and creates new consumer products, while the Net allows people to transcend the body and go global. Simultaneously an entire industry has emerged around the Net infrastructure. There is an exhileration associated with both the Space Age and the Information Age; future applications of the Net promise a complete transcendence or downloading of the body into the Net.
I draw upon the context of the Information Age and have the same sort of feelings, a sense of hopefulness for human beings which I
recall having as a child of the Space Age. A sort of renewed optimism for a technological utopia. As Donna Haraway reminds us, is this not natural for the children of the Nuclear Age, born out of wedlock into the arms of technoutopianism. I would definitely say, it is so.
It is difficult for me to admit I still have within me faith and belief in a techno-utopia. It seems so politically incorrect. Perhaps it is a fetish I am trying to come to terms with by refusing to be in denial. However, this belief is tempered and holds suspiciousness, fear and fascination, as well as hope. Like it or not (Haraway has taught me) for good or evil that the fate of humanity is inextricably linked to technology. Taking all of this in, I have come to a better understanding of not only myself but as well, my desire and fascination concerning the Internet. So it is with the previously mentioned internalized conflict I look in the mirror and ask: Who am I? To that I respond: Part naive childlike self- mesmerized, and an adult knowing knower, aware of the dangers and misapplication of technology. Yet and here I sit, still entranced yet aware. With the knowledge and desire instilled in me to be a faithful follower of technology and the suspiciousness of a 60's activist to suspect technology in all its' forms. I am conflicted, there is no clarity and complete resolution. I write out of conflict and desire.
It is self revealing to me as I sit here and prepare to write the research paper. I have and continue to do most of the research on the Internet and while entering this dialogue into a computer I am listening to an Indonesian radio station via the World Wide Web. (Oddly enought they speak Malay and play American rock n' roll.) It is perhaps the old adage, using the master's tools and as well a realization that technology is a tool to be used for the betterment of people's lives, and possibly, subversion. Perhaps it is neither, just simply convenience. Can we trust the Information Age? I would pose the possibility that the Information Age can be shaped by those engaged in the systems. To trust or not trust the Information Age seems to depend on how we engage and use the framework of our time. Denial would come out of not realizing our stake and potential to influence outcomes. Denial is a path of least resistance in which we don't have to claim responsibility.
Out of this, IE my desire for objectivity, comes the question of Internet functioning. Specifically, what counts for knowledge and information on the Internet and how is this disseminated through the use of search engines? In this vain I will attempt to engage search engine functioning. Search engines are software programs that search their databases for potential matches to a search. Search engines rely upon web robots or spiders to search the Internet to find additions to their databases. The functioning of these search engines and whether or not they privilege particular sites over others and how they do so is my research question. The listing of web sites is provided for as a free service by most search engine companies. For a fee web services will list one's site with anywhere from fifty to hundreds of search engines. I theorize that those paying listings services are given higher status in search selection. This probably is not due to partial treatment but rather to a superior listing format which takes advantage of search engine proclivities. This would be hard to quantify, but we can be assured that more than likely significantly sized companies pay for listing services while others rely upon the kindness of strangers. As part of my research I will compare search results to include this variable as part of the analysis(hopefully).
In a general sense I want to know, if the process of doing a search of the Internet privileges certain sites over others. Should there by a privileging uncovered, who benefits and upon what basis is this delineated. Does information which is disseminated over the WWW favor existing power structures? If so, could we surmise that this tendency would create information dissemination which would support existing power structures? What are the implications of this?
Uncovering search engine function and documenting this in a highly technical way would be a massive undertaking. However I believe that progress can be made in our understanding by allowing search engines to reveal themselves. My methodology will consist of doing keyword searches on at least ten search engines using the same keyword. (Sampling various key word results) Through analysis of the results of these searches I will be able to compare the results and make a cursory judgement on search engine functionality as it relates to search results.
Another tactic is to research into the algorithmic functioning of search engines themselves. In the process of reading about the design of search engines I have been able to discover what software programmers intend in their construction of search engine software. Part of my research paper will discuss this area. Search engines use various strategies to create matches. Understanding of search engine functions will enable explanations of the results of the previous methods discussed.
Included in the research paper will be a brief history of the Internet including the creation of the orginal search engines gopher and mosaic. Current Net demographics and usage patterns will be discussed briefly. The results of my searches will be analyzed and an attempt will be made to create some initial conclusions about search engine functioning and privleging. I suspect that my research question may find that the diversity of search engine design and functioning may serve the Net to allow a flattening of hiarchies in terms of information dispersal. Discussion of the research question related to research reults will conclude the paper.