Second International Handbook of Internet Research

Abstract

Perhaps the most significant tool of our internet age is the web search engine, providing a powerful interface for accessing the vast amounts of information available on the world wide web and beyond.1 While the first web search engines focused on providing navigation to the various pages across the world wide web, search providers have steadily expanded their searchable indexes to include a wide array of online information, such as images, news feeds, Usenet archives, and video files. Additionally, search engines have begun digitizing the “material world,” adding the contents of popular books, university libraries, maps, and satellite images to their growing indexes. Further, users can now search the files on their hard drives, send e-mail and instant messages, shop online, engage in social networking, organize photos, share videos, collaborate on projects, and publish blogs through various web search engine offerings. Consequently, users increasingly rely on a growing infrastructure of search-related services and tools to locate and access information online, as well as to communicate, collaborate, navigate, and organize their lives.