iSchool i141:   Search Engines: Technology, Society, and Business

Assignment 2

Questions

1. Prof. Varian said that it doesn't make sense to talk about search engine market share by saying things like "90% of web searchers use Google, therefore Google has 90% market share". What did he mean by this? What are the larger implications from the perspective of having healthy competition among competing search engine companies?

2. Why does ad space for a query keyword like "diamonds" typically sell for more money than a keyword like "diamond"? Name another example like this in which the two queries are very similar but it is likely that they would correspond to different queries and hence yield different priced bids from advertisers.

3. Name two significant similarities between web spam and email spam. Name three significant differences.

4. What is the role of anchor text in deterring web spam?

5. In class we briefly discussed conceptions of privacy. Mr. Hoofnagle said that policy makers are moving from thinking about privacy as a human right to thinking about protecting individuals from harm if their privacy is compromised. Discuss how this point relates to the kinds of information collected by search engines. (If you can use intellectual tools from your major or other areas of study, go ahead and use those perspectives.) (Eun Kyoung thought this article on web privacy from the Washington Post might be thought-provoking for this question.)

6. In class we exchanged difficult queries with one another. Try to figure out how to answer your partner's query. Describe what the query was and how you went about searching for it. If you weren't able to find a good answer(s), explain why you think this was difficult to do. Don't spend more than 1/2 hour doing the searchers! In addition to describing what you did here, also send email to your partner describing what you did or did not find.

Homework Rules

Turning in your Homework

Lastname_Firstname_Assign2.doc
Lastname_Firstname_Assign2.pdf
etc.