Essay on the Disparity in Web Searches

There are different search engines available on the world wide web. However, the results shown by the two different search engines for the same characters are different. Further, there are primarily three kinds of search engines; those driven by automation, those driven by human submissions, and those considered as the mixture of these two types (Edosomwan & Edosomwan, 2010). This essay tried to analyze the results from “Google” and “EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier” for the search “Privacy and security” based on “Web evaluation criteria.”

The difference between the web results shown by Google as well as EBSCO is extreme. Primarily, web search is conducted by opening Google and EBSCOs academic search premier on the different tabs in chrome and inputting “Privacy and security” in the search bar. The first result in google is an article on “What is the difference between privacy and security?” by “www.csoonline.com” (Siegel, 2016). The evaluation of this website is carried out based on “authority, accuracy, objectivity, and currency” provided on the Cornell website (Cornell University, 2017). The rating of the webpage would be on the lower side since there are no citations provided for the given article. The author’s name is given; however, no information about the author’s qualification or sponsor could be found. The article is purely based on the author’s belief and opinion, and opinions presented without facts could be challenged, which is the major flaw in this article. The website does contain an advertisement about “Zip recruiter” (Siegel, 2016). The objective of the article is only the sharing of opinions and information to educate the general public. The article was dated in 2016, and the web page was copyrighted to present the year 2019. However, there is no information available on the date of the update. Despite a lower rating, the web page seems trustworthy since it is linked to IDG (International Data Group), although it is necessary to note that it is a private organization and completely capable of providing manipulating information.

The first result shown by EBSCO is an article from “International Review of Law, Computers & Technology” entitled “E-Government users’ privacy and security concerns and availability of laws in Dubai” (Sarabdeen, Rodrigues & Balasubramanian, 2014). There are three authors to this article, and all of them are well qualified, credible, and competent in the subject listed. Moreover, the information provided in the article is a good mix of facts, information, and opinions of the author, along with minute details of the sources and citations. In a nutshell, the information given in the article is reliable with no sign of errors and has an editor that verified the information since it has been presented in the journal. In addition, the article extracted is dated in 2014 and has no advertisements. The objective, however, is to present the information with the facts on E-Government policies and laws of the Dubai government regarding privacy and security.

The difference in the results extracted from Google and EBSCO has been observed based on web evaluation criteria. There are many reasons behind it; one is algorithms behind the bots, allowing search engines to rank the data. Indeed, the algorithms behind the two search engines are different; therefore, the results shown by the two search engines are different. Similarly, a specific computer system is adopted by personalization, which means the prediction of the results is based on frequent searches, several clicks on similar links, and dislikes (Lewandowski, 2008). Therefore, it is possible that landscape artist receives results for the search “brown” would be paint or similar products and for the political person it would be “Gordon Brown.”

Work cited

Cornell University. (2017). LibGuides: Evaluating Web Pages: Questions to Consider: Categories. Retrieved from http://guides.library.cornell.edu/evaluating_Web_pages Edosomwan, J., & Edosomwan, T. (2010). Comparative analysis of some search engines. South African Journal of Science, 106(10/11). doi: 10.4102/sajs.v106i10/11.169

Lewandowski, D. (2008). The retrieval effectiveness of web search engines: considering results descriptions. Journal of Documentation, 64(6), 915-937. doi: 10.1108/00220410810912451

Sarabdeen, J., Rodrigues, G., & Balasubramanian, S. (2014). E-Government users’ privacy and security concerns and the availability of laws in Dubai. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, 28(3), 261-276. doi: 10.1080/13600869.2014.904450

Siegel, B. (2016). What is the difference between privacy and security? Retrieved from https://www.csoonline.com/article/3075023/privacy/the-difference-between-privacy-and-security.html