From pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de Mon Jan 13 15:41:58 2014 From: pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de (=?iso-8859-1?Q?J=FCrgens=2C_Pascal?=) Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 14:41:58 +0000 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google Message-ID: Dear list members, (sorry for the short notice) As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google representatives including search engineers tomorrow. We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but I'll try my best! The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. Best regards from Mainz, Pascal -- Pascal J?rgens M.A. Tel. +496131/39-25638 Research Associate, Dept. of Communication U of Mainz, Germany From gahlord at thoughtfaucet.com Mon Jan 13 16:55:24 2014 From: gahlord at thoughtfaucet.com (Gahlord) Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 07:55:24 -0800 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <951794C8367046A4BCB696858F74CED3@thoughtfaucet.com> I would be happy to hear whatever you can share with us. Gahlord Dewald President/Janitor Thoughtfaucet http://thoughtfaucet.com http://linkedin.com/in/gahlorddewald http://twitter.com/gahlord On Monday, January 13, 2014 at 6:41 AM, J?rgens, Pascal wrote: > Dear list members, > > (sorry for the short notice) > > As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google representatives including search engineers tomorrow. > We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. > > I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but I'll try my best! > > The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. > > Best regards from Mainz, > Pascal > > > -- > Pascal J?rgens M.A. > Tel. +496131/39-25638 > Research Associate, Dept. of Communication > U of Mainz, Germany > > > _______________________________________________ > re-search mailing list > re-search at listcultures.org > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From sarah.logan at anu.edu.au Mon Jan 13 23:36:02 2014 From: sarah.logan at anu.edu.au (Sarah Logan) Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 22:36:02 +0000 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: <951794C8367046A4BCB696858F74CED3@thoughtfaucet.com> References: <951794C8367046A4BCB696858F74CED3@thoughtfaucet.com> Message-ID: <4d7adf3c201144c98f26312bb0a3c58a@SINPR06MB332.apcprd06.prod.outlook.com> Hi Pascal, Thanks so much for the opportunity. I would be very interested to hear about any plans Google may have regarding media literacy in emerging markets. I know other search engines such as Baidu, for example, distinguish themselves from Google in the way they design the user experience for first time or inexperienced internet users. Many thanks, Sarah. Sarah Logan Digital Politics Research Fellow School of International, Political and Strategic Studies Australian National University @circt On Monday, January 13, 2014 at 6:41 AM, J?rgens, Pascal wrote: Dear list members, (sorry for the short notice) As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google representatives including search engineers tomorrow. We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but I'll try my best! The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. Best regards from Mainz, Pascal -- Pascal J?rgens M.A. Tel. +496131/39-25638 Research Associate, Dept. of Communication U of Mainz, Germany _______________________________________________ re-search mailing list re-search at listcultures.org http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From engin at bozdag.nl Mon Jan 13 23:58:03 2014 From: engin at bozdag.nl (Engin Bozdag) Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 23:58:03 +0100 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Pascal, Here are some questions that came to my mind: - How do they define diversity? Serendipity? Political diversity? Showing a liberal user more conservative items? - How do they perceive "quality"? Is it merely "customer satisfaction", "relevance", or is it something else? - If "relevance" defines quality, then do they feel that everything else is acceptable? This includes personalization, whitelisting, blacklisting, weighing some content as authoritative, etc. - Do they run tests to measure and prevent "filter bubble"? - Do they experiment with personalization / diversity features without users' consent/knowledge? (Bing and Facebook does that) - How do they make the decision on what algorithm to employ? All engineers gather, give their thoughts and product manager tells them what to do? - Do they consult users to understand their opinions/values on certain features such as personalization? Or is the value of the manager/engineer is used while deciding the algorithm? best regards from Delft, -- Engin Bozdag PhD candidate Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands Faculty Technology, Policy Analysis, Management Department Values & Technology *W:*http://ethicsandtechnology.eu/bozdag *E:* v.e.bozdag at tudelft.nl *T:* +31 15 27 85417 On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 3:41 PM, J?rgens, Pascal < pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de> wrote: > Dear list members, > > (sorry for the short notice) > > As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google > representatives including search engineers tomorrow. > We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if > anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it > fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. > > I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but > I'll try my best! > > The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. > > Best regards from Mainz, > Pascal > > > -- > Pascal J?rgens M.A. > Tel. +496131/39-25638 > Research Associate, Dept. of Communication > U of Mainz, Germany > > > _______________________________________________ > re-search mailing list > re-search at listcultures.org > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From richardnvgraham at gmail.com Tue Jan 14 00:39:03 2014 From: richardnvgraham at gmail.com (Richard Graham) Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 23:39:03 +0000 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Pascal, What a great opportunity, I hope it ends up being as valuable as it sounds. If it fits with your discussion could you ask about autocorrect/autosuggestion please? Particularly the process whereby Google decide certain queries (words, or phrases) should not be suggested. Its an area that fits with all three of the topics you raised above. Privacy in terms of limiting slanderous autosuggestions relating to specific people. Personalisation: might a version of the filter bubble be working through autocomplete suggestions relating to previous search behaviours or geographical localisation? And media literacy in the way users, on the whole, have little understanding of why certain suggestions are being presented to them. Google have given small indications to some of the things which are excluded or removed from autosuggest in the past but in a vague and guarded way. I'd be very interested to hear more detail about the way in which Google feel the feature functions, who is responsible for its direction and the decisions and guidelines taken towards its continuing and future developments. Hope its a productive meeting, Best, Richard Graham AHRC Doctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities Exeter University @richardnvgraham On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM, J?rgens, Pascal < pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de> wrote: > Dear list members, > > (sorry for the short notice) > > As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google > representatives including search engineers tomorrow. > We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if > anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it > fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. > > I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but > I'll try my best! > > The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. > > Best regards from Mainz, > Pascal > > > -- > Pascal J?rgens M.A. > Tel. +496131/39-25638 > Research Associate, Dept. of Communication > U of Mainz, Germany > > > _______________________________________________ > re-search mailing list > re-search at listcultures.org > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de Tue Jan 21 10:10:42 2014 From: pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de (=?iso-8859-1?Q?J=FCrgens=2C_Pascal?=) Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 09:10:42 +0000 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google Message-ID: <584B11AB-D712-4E0F-BEDE-A0C6D608AEBF@uni-mainz.de> Dear all, as promised, here is a brief summary of what we learned in our exploratory talks with Google. A bit of background: We are part of a research project on search engines (SE) spanning education scholars (media literacy), lawyers (regulation) and mass communication (search engine research) disciplines. After several empirical studies and a detailed analysis of the german legal framework, we came to the conclusion that (a) search engines in general but Google in partucilar have gained increasing potential for influencing users. Individualized (personalized) results represent a quantitative shift here, possibly marking a departure from the model of SE as passive information brokers, (b) the current legal framework does not allow for any political movement towards regulating search engines, however, (c) taking the foundational principles (es. the spirit of constitutional and media law) into account, some sort of regulation is becoming increasingly likely/necessary (d) in light of the difficulties arising from the regulation of an international corporation, an increased focus on search engine literacy might help mitigate SE power When they learned of the results, Google understandably got curious and invited us to talk about the study. (Disclaimer: We did not receive any money. There was no compensation and Google did not pay any expenses.) As expected, a lot of time was spent explaining the different approaches and methods of the study as well as Google's own perception of the issues. Out of our and your questions, we only managed to discuss a selected few. Here's what might interest you: Google's own perception of competition and market power Google did stress that because of search's decreasing relevance in the information flow, they don't consider themselves to be a monopoly or even in a market dominating position. Furthermore, they insisted that they need to retain a minimum of high-value traffic (shopping, currently at ~20%) so they can keep subsidizing the unprofitable 80% of searches. Regarding the age-old question of whether a SE is a neutral information broker or a content owner who's responsible, we didn't get to a satisfactory conclusion. Google didn't want to commit to either perspective (looking back, they rarely did). Apparently, in order to claim free speech protection in the US, it needs to claim some sort of authorship of the content. That would have very interesting implications, but I am not a lawyer so take this with a grain of salt. How the algorithm gets changed This was pretty interesting: They have around 2 changes to the search algorithm per day. Each change goes through a series of verification steps. For some changes, a panel of paid external judges is called upon for evaluation of the result quality (!). So they do have some qualitative/quantitative assessment that involves humans. Additionally, as we already know, they make heavy use of A/B testing (more than 10'000 test per year). Interestingly, they stressed that any slowing down of changes in the algorithm would severely hamper their ability to keep up with misuse. If you think about that, this means that Google seems to be fighting attacks with the speed that security companies fight malware. The future As expected, most people from Google (especially those from market research) were absolutely bored by search and much more focused on mobile, voice search and cross-integration with additional search services (maps etc.). In this regard, we as a field are probably behind 3-5 years and I honestly am not sure how we can approach the upcoming changes to user behavior. Researching multi-platform and mobile behavior is really hard. We also briefly talked about media literacy. Google is involved with a lot of initiatives to teach computer/internet skills, usually in cooperation with existing NGOs. The separation of interests seemed alright, but personally I'd still be sceptical of private-sponsored education campaigns (that's probably a very German reluctance). All in all, the atmosphere was very friendly and open-minded, which allowed for some true exchange of opinions. They did went out of their way to get together people from a lot of different areas, which was very productive. Still, to me it became clear that the company's positions and public positioning regarding these issues are thoroughly and carefully crafted and not likely to change quickly. Google is not (no longer?) a company that is open, quick or emotional about the discourse regarding their role in society. They probably can't be, simply due to their exposed position. On the plus side, we as academics are definitely received as openly as possible, but within limits. Thanks again to all of you who provided questions last week. There were some excellent ideas among them! I hope this brief report was of some interest to you, all the best from Germany, Pascal -- Pascal J?rgens M.A. Tel. +496131/39-25638 Research Associate, Dept. of Communication U of Mainz, Germany -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de Tue Jan 21 11:14:30 2014 From: pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de (=?iso-8859-1?Q?J=FCrgens=2C_Pascal?=) Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 10:14:30 +0000 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear all, sorry for the high volume of messages, but going through your mails, I remembered one detail that is rather important: Regarding the auto-complete function, the engineer insisted that it was "purely a popularity" metric. That meas that what appears in the autocomplete boxes is solely dependent on the terms that other users typed. There must be at least some minimal filtering for obscenity etc. Following a high-profile court ruling in Germany, Google has been forced to exclude certain keywords from autocomplete suggestions. They did, however, stress that this would be too complex to do in a dynamic fashion and can only work with small sets of precisely defined keywords. We did ask several questions about personalization; unfortunately, none of them could be answered (they couldn't say or didn't have the data). All the best from Mainz, Pascal -- Pascal J?rgens M.A. +496131/39-25638 Research Associate, Dept. of Communication U of Mainz, Germany On 14 Jan 2014, at 00:39, Richard Graham > wrote: Dear Pascal, What a great opportunity, I hope it ends up being as valuable as it sounds. If it fits with your discussion could you ask about autocorrect/autosuggestion please? Particularly the process whereby Google decide certain queries (words, or phrases) should not be suggested. Its an area that fits with all three of the topics you raised above. Privacy in terms of limiting slanderous autosuggestions relating to specific people. Personalisation: might a version of the filter bubble be working through autocomplete suggestions relating to previous search behaviours or geographical localisation? And media literacy in the way users, on the whole, have little understanding of why certain suggestions are being presented to them. Google have given small indications to some of the things which are excluded or removed from autosuggest in the past but in a vague and guarded way. I'd be very interested to hear more detail about the way in which Google feel the feature functions, who is responsible for its direction and the decisions and guidelines taken towards its continuing and future developments. Hope its a productive meeting, Best, Richard Graham AHRC Doctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities Exeter University @richardnvgraham On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM, J?rgens, Pascal > wrote: Dear list members, (sorry for the short notice) As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google representatives including search engineers tomorrow. We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but I'll try my best! The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. Best regards from Mainz, Pascal -- Pascal J?rgens M.A. Tel. +496131/39-25638 Research Associate, Dept. of Communication U of Mainz, Germany _______________________________________________ re-search mailing list re-search at listcultures.org http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From berno.rieder at gmail.com Tue Jan 21 12:29:58 2014 From: berno.rieder at gmail.com (Bernhard Rieder) Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:29:58 +0100 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <894C0F98-8B16-4E72-A38B-92E835397D9F@gmail.com> Hi Pascal, Thanks a lot for this! The more technical stuff was already mostly know through Cutts? conference talks, but I was very interested to hear about the ?monopoly? and ?the future? aspects. Thanks again and best wishes, Bernhard On 21 Jan 2014, at 11:14 , J?rgens, Pascal wrote: > Dear all, > > sorry for the high volume of messages, but going through your mails, I remembered one detail that is rather important: > > Regarding the auto-complete function, the engineer insisted that it was "purely a popularity" metric. That meas that what appears in the autocomplete boxes is solely dependent on the terms that other users typed. There must be at least some minimal filtering for obscenity etc. > > Following a high-profile court ruling in Germany, Google has been forced to exclude certain keywords from autocomplete suggestions. They did, however, stress that this would be too complex to do in a dynamic fashion and can only work with small sets of precisely defined keywords. > > We did ask several questions about personalization; unfortunately, none of them could be answered (they couldn't say or didn't have the data). > > All the best from Mainz, > Pascal > > -- > Pascal J?rgens M.A. > +496131/39-25638 > Research Associate, Dept. of Communication > U of Mainz, Germany > > On 14 Jan 2014, at 00:39, Richard Graham wrote: > >> Dear Pascal, >> >> What a great opportunity, I hope it ends up being as valuable as it sounds. >> >> If it fits with your discussion could you ask about autocorrect/autosuggestion please? Particularly the process whereby Google decide certain queries (words, or phrases) should not be suggested. Its an area that fits with all three of the topics you raised above. Privacy in terms of limiting slanderous autosuggestions relating to specific people. Personalisation: might a version of the filter bubble be working through autocomplete suggestions relating to previous search behaviours or geographical localisation? And media literacy in the way users, on the whole, have little understanding of why certain suggestions are being presented to them. >> >> Google have given small indications to some of the things which are excluded or removed from autosuggest in the past but in a vague and guarded way. I'd be very interested to hear more detail about the way in which Google feel the feature functions, who is responsible for its direction and the decisions and guidelines taken towards its continuing and future developments. >> >> Hope its a productive meeting, >> >> Best, >> >> >> Richard Graham >> AHRC Doctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities >> Exeter University >> @richardnvgraham >> >> >> On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM, J?rgens, Pascal wrote: >> Dear list members, >> >> (sorry for the short notice) >> >> As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google representatives including search engineers tomorrow. >> We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. >> >> I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but I'll try my best! >> >> The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. >> >> Best regards from Mainz, >> Pascal >> >> >> -- >> Pascal J?rgens M.A. >> Tel. +496131/39-25638 >> Research Associate, Dept. of Communication >> U of Mainz, Germany >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> re-search mailing list >> re-search at listcultures.org >> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org >> > > _______________________________________________ > re-search mailing list > re-search at listcultures.org > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org From kontakt at renekoenig.eu Tue Jan 21 20:21:49 2014 From: kontakt at renekoenig.eu (=?iso-8859-1?B?UmVu6SBL9m5pZw==?=) Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 20:21:49 +0100 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: <894C0F98-8B16-4E72-A38B-92E835397D9F@gmail.com> References: <894C0F98-8B16-4E72-A38B-92E835397D9F@gmail.com> Message-ID: <00c601cf16de$08b31aa0$1a194fe0$@renekoenig.eu> Hi Pascal, dear list, Thanks a lot for sharing these really interesting and rare insights! Best, Ren? > -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht----- > Von: re-search [mailto:re-search-bounces at listcultures.org] Im Auftrag von > Bernhard Rieder > Gesendet: Dienstag, 21. Januar 2014 12:30 > An: "J?rgens, Pascal" > Cc: re-search at listcultures.org > Betreff: Re: [re-search] Questions for Google > > Hi Pascal, > > Thanks a lot for this! The more technical stuff was already mostly know > through Cutts? conference talks, but I was very interested to hear about the > ?monopoly? and ?the future? aspects. > > Thanks again and best wishes, > Bernhard > > On 21 Jan 2014, at 11:14 , J?rgens, Pascal > wrote: > > > Dear all, > > > > sorry for the high volume of messages, but going through your mails, I > remembered one detail that is rather important: > > > > Regarding the auto-complete function, the engineer insisted that it was > "purely a popularity" metric. That meas that what appears in the > autocomplete boxes is solely dependent on the terms that other users > typed. There must be at least some minimal filtering for obscenity etc. > > > > Following a high-profile court ruling in Germany, Google has been forced > to exclude certain keywords from autocomplete suggestions. They did, > however, stress that this would be too complex to do in a dynamic fashion > and can only work with small sets of precisely defined keywords. > > > > We did ask several questions about personalization; unfortunately, none > of them could be answered (they couldn't say or didn't have the data). > > > > All the best from Mainz, > > Pascal > > > > -- > > Pascal J?rgens M.A. > > +496131/39-25638 > > Research Associate, Dept. of Communication U of Mainz, Germany > > > > On 14 Jan 2014, at 00:39, Richard Graham > wrote: > > > >> Dear Pascal, > >> > >> What a great opportunity, I hope it ends up being as valuable as it > sounds. > >> > >> If it fits with your discussion could you ask about > autocorrect/autosuggestion please? Particularly the process whereby > Google decide certain queries (words, or phrases) should not be suggested. > Its an area that fits with all three of the topics you raised above. Privacy in > terms of limiting slanderous autosuggestions relating to specific people. > Personalisation: might a version of the filter bubble be working through > autocomplete suggestions relating to previous search behaviours or > geographical localisation? And media literacy in the way users, on the > whole, have little understanding of why certain suggestions are being > presented to them. > >> > >> Google have given small indications to some of the things which are > excluded or removed from autosuggest in the past but in a vague and > guarded way. I'd be very interested to hear more detail about the way in > which Google feel the feature functions, who is responsible for its direction > and the decisions and guidelines taken towards its continuing and future > developments. > >> > >> Hope its a productive meeting, > >> > >> Best, > >> > >> > >> Richard Graham > >> AHRC Doctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities Exeter University > >> @richardnvgraham > >> > >> > >> On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM, J?rgens, Pascal mainz.de> wrote: > >> Dear list members, > >> > >> (sorry for the short notice) > >> > >> As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google > representatives including search engineers tomorrow. > >> We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if > anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it fits in, > I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. > >> > >> I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but I'll > try my best! > >> > >> The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. > >> > >> Best regards from Mainz, > >> Pascal > >> > >> > >> -- > >> Pascal J?rgens M.A. > >> Tel. +496131/39-25638 > >> Research Associate, Dept. of Communication U of Mainz, Germany > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> re-search mailing list > >> re-search at listcultures.org > >> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org > >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > re-search mailing list > > re-search at listcultures.org > > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org > > > _______________________________________________ > re-search mailing list > re-search at listcultures.org > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org From richardnvgraham at gmail.com Fri Jan 24 11:29:33 2014 From: richardnvgraham at gmail.com (Richard Graham) Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 10:29:33 +0000 Subject: [re-search] Questions for Google In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Dear Pascal, Thanks so much for sharing the results of what sounds to have been a really interesting discussion. Best wishes and thanks again, Richard On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 10:14 AM, J?rgens, Pascal < pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de> wrote: > Dear all, > > sorry for the high volume of messages, but going through your mails, I > remembered one detail that is rather important: > > Regarding the auto-complete function, the engineer insisted that it was > "purely a popularity" metric. That meas that what appears in the > autocomplete boxes is solely dependent on the terms that other users typed. > There must be at least some minimal filtering for obscenity etc. > > Following a high-profile court ruling in Germany, Google has been forced > to exclude certain keywords from autocomplete suggestions. They did, > however, stress that this would be too complex to do in a dynamic fashion > and can only work with small sets of precisely defined keywords. > > We did ask several questions about personalization; unfortunately, none > of them could be answered (they couldn't say or didn't have the data). > > All the best from Mainz, > Pascal > > -- > Pascal J?rgens M.A. > > +496131/39-25638 > Research Associate, Dept. of Communication > U of Mainz, Germany > > On 14 Jan 2014, at 00:39, Richard Graham > wrote: > > Dear Pascal, > > What a great opportunity, I hope it ends up being as valuable as it > sounds. > > If it fits with your discussion could you ask about > autocorrect/autosuggestion please? Particularly the process whereby Google > decide certain queries (words, or phrases) should not be suggested. Its an > area that fits with all three of the topics you raised above. Privacy in > terms of limiting slanderous autosuggestions relating to specific people. > Personalisation: might a version of the filter bubble be working through > autocomplete suggestions relating to previous search behaviours or > geographical localisation? And media literacy in the way users, on the > whole, have little understanding of why certain suggestions are being > presented to them. > > Google have given small indications to some of the things which are > excluded or removed from autosuggest in the past but in a vague and guarded > way. I'd be very interested to hear more detail about the way in which > Google feel the feature functions, who is responsible for its direction and > the decisions and guidelines taken towards its continuing and future > developments. > > Hope its a productive meeting, > > Best, > > > Richard Graham > AHRC Doctoral Fellow in Digital Humanities > Exeter University > @richardnvgraham > > > On Mon, Jan 13, 2014 at 2:41 PM, J?rgens, Pascal < > pascal.juergens at uni-mainz.de> wrote: > >> Dear list members, >> >> (sorry for the short notice) >> >> As part of a larger research project, I'll be meeting with several Google >> representatives including search engineers tomorrow. >> We'll have the opportunity to ask questions, and I wanted to hear if >> anyone of you has an issue that is particularly dear to your heart. If it >> fits in, I'd love to ask them about any of your questions. >> >> I don't yet know about NDAs, so I can't promise a full disclosure, but >> I'll try my best! >> >> The main topics will be privacy, personalization and media literacy. >> >> Best regards from Mainz, >> Pascal >> >> >> -- >> Pascal J?rgens M.A. >> Tel. +496131/39-25638 >> Research Associate, Dept. of Communication >> U of Mainz, Germany >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> re-search mailing list >> re-search at listcultures.org >> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org >> > > > -- Richard Graham AHRC Doctoral Fellow in English (Digital Humanities) University of Exeter @richardnvgraham -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: