Credibility in Web Search Engines

Web search engines apply a variety of ranking signals to achieve user satisfaction, i.e., results pages that provide the best-possible results to the user. While these ranking signals implicitly consider credibility (e.g., by measuring popularity), explicit measures of credibility are not applied. In this chapter, credibility in Web search engines is discussed in a broad context: credibility as a measure for including documents in a search engine's index, credibility as a ranking signal, credibility in the context of universal search results, and the possibility of using credibility as an explicit measure for ranking purposes. It is found that while search engines-at least to a certain extent-show credible results to their users, there is no fully integrated credibility framework for Web search engines

Comparison of Quality of Internet Pages on Human Papillomavirus Immunization in Italian and in English

Purpose: Information available on the Internet about immunizations may influence parents' perception about human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization and their attitude toward vaccinating their daughters. We hypothesized that the quality of information on HPV available on the Internet may vary with language and with the level of knowledge of parents. To this end we compared the quality of a sample of Web pages in Italian with a sample of Web pages in English. Methods: Five reviewers assessed the quality of Web pages retrieved with popular search engines using criteria adapted from the Good Information Practice Essential Criteria for Vaccine Safety Web Sites recommended by the World Health Organization. Quality of Web pages was assessed in the domains of accessibility, credibility, content, and design. Scores in these domains were compared through nonparametric statistical tests. Results: We retrieved and reviewed 74 Web sites in Italian and 117 in English. Most retrieved Web pages (33.5%) were from private agencies. Median scores were higher in Web pages in English compared with those in Italian in the domain of accessibility (p < .01), credibility (p < .01), and content (p < .01). The highest credibility and content scores were those of Web pages from governmental agencies or universities. Accessibility scores were positively associated with content scores (p < .01) and with credibility scores (p < .01). A total of 16.2% of Web pages in Italian opposed HPV immunization compared with 6.0% of those in English (p < .05). Conclusions: Quality of information and number of Web pages opposing HPV immunization may vary with the Web site language. High-quality Web pages on HPV, especially from public health agencies and universities, should be easily accessible and retrievable with common Web search engines. (C) 2010 Society for Adolescent Medicine. All rights reserved

Suchen, finden – glauben?

Dreimal täglich googeln: In Deutschland recherchieren mehr als achtzig Prozent der Internetnutzer regelmäßig in Suchmaschinen oder Webkatalogen – unabhängig von Alter, Geschlecht und Bildung. Das Internet etabliert sich für weite Kreise der Bevölkerung zum Recherchemedium Nummer eins. Private Blogs, Foren, Wikis und Newsportale – die Glaubwürdigkeit der Informationen im Web variiert erheblich. Suchmaschinen spiegeln diese Heterogenität wider. Andreas Tremel beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, wie die Nutzer mit unterschiedlich glaubwürdigen Fundstücken in Suchmaschinen umgehen. Befragt man Nutzer zur Bedeutung der Glaubwürdigkeit von Informationen im Web, ist diese offenbar das Selektionskriterium. Dennoch scheinen Nutzer naiv, wenig aufgeklärt und oberflächlich im Umgang mit Suchergebnissen. Um das tatsächliche Verhalten abhängig von der Treffer-Glaubwürdigkeit erstmalig beobachten zu können, wurde eine Suchmaschinensimulation entwickelt, die eine experimentelle Manipulation im Rahmen einer Feldstudie (n=400) ermöglichte. Vor dem Hintergrund der Glaubwürdigkeit wurden auch die Nutzung von Keyword-Werbung und Einflüsse des Recherche-Involvements untersucht.Googling three times a day: 80 % of Internet users in Germany use search engines and web directories regularly – regardless of age, sex or education. The Internet is quickly establishing itself as the No. 1 research tool for big parts of the population. Private Blogs, forums, Wikis and news portals – the credibility of information on the web varies greatly. Search engines reflect this heterogeneity. Andreas Tremel looks into the way users handle the varying credibility of results from search engines. Asked about the importance of credibility of information on the web, users name it the decisive factor. Nevertheless, they seem naïve, misinformed and superficial in handling search results. To be able to evaluate actual behavior relating to the credibility of search results, a search engine simulation was developed which allowed for experimental manipulation within the course of a field study (n=400). Additionally, the use of keyword advertising and the influence of research involvement was analyzed within the context of credibility

MEDQUAL: Improving Medical Web Search over Time with Dynamic Credibility Heuristics

Performing a search on the World Wide Web (WWW) and traversing the resulting links is an adventure in which one encounters both credible and incredible web pages. Search engines, such as Google, rely on macroscopic Web topology patterns and even highly ranked 'authoritative' web sites may be a mixture of informed and uninformed opinions. Without credibility heuristics to guide the user in a maze of facts, assertions, and inferences, the Web remains an ineffective knowledge delivery platform. This report presents the design and implementation of a modular extension to the popular Google search engine, MEDQUAL, which provisions both URL and content-based heuristic credibility rules to reorder raw Google rankings in the medical domain. MEDQUAL, a software system written in Java, starts with a bootstrap configuration file which loads in basic heuristics in XML format. It then provides a subscription mechanism so users can join birds of feather specialty groups, for example Pediatrics, in order to load specialized heuristics as well. The platform features a coordination mechanism whereby information seekers can effectively become secondary authors, contributing by consensus vote additional credibility heuristics. MEDQUAL uses standard XML namespace conventions to divide opinion groups so that competing groups can be supported simultaneously. The net effect is a merger of basic and supplied heuristics so that the system continues to adapt and improve itself over time to changing web content, changing opinions, and new opinion groups. The key goal of leveraging the intelligence of a large-scale and diffuse WWW user community is met and we conclude by discussing our plans to develop MEDQUAL further and evaluate it

Assessing web surface credibility by generation Y: A Q methodological study

Online marketing includes a variety of activities. Website presentation is one of the most striking. For many business providers it is vital to have a web-site and therefore there are currently more than 1.8 billion websites on the Internet. This situation has an impact on people who access the sites in terms of problems of decision making and confidence in the credibility of the website. This article deals with so-called surface credibility and analyses research data using the Q-method. The research was conducted with 70 respondents from generation Y. 40 anonymized web pages were used as sorted variables. The web pages were divided into 8 categories: financial institutions, universities, educational institutions, travel, lifestyle, commodity search engines, e-shops, health. Four factors were extracted and described. According to our study, the design quality; previous experience and similarity; graphical elements, website layouts and institutional framework are main elements playing the key role when assessing web surface credibility by generation Y. The main contribution of this article lays in its methodological approach by using Q-method in the innovative context of analysing web sites.O

Une approche basée agent pour la recherche de document numérique

The amount of information available on the Web is increasing in exponential way. This enormous abundance of information has created new challenges for users such as information retrieval, checking credibility of the information and content management ... etc. As for information retrieval, it became more difficult, because of the continual change of Web content: the emergence of new Web sites and pages, changing or deleting theirs contents, etc. In this context, search engines are available to users for helping them to completing their information retrieval process. Unfortunately, these search engines do not take into account the specific character of the user and they treat it as a generic user. Our objective in this work is to propose a document retrieval system based-agents whom focus on the user and takes into account his preferences, behavior and knowledge. Our system is composed of two parts: client and server. Software agents whom are in the client side interact with the user to gather information about his preferences and knowledge, and help him to formulate his need of information in a butter way. Software agents whom are in the server side will use the information collected by agents of the other side to serve the information needs of the user

Online information on electronic cigarettes: Comparative study of relevant websites from Baidu and Google search engines

BACKGROUND: Online information on electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) may influence people's perception and use of e-cigarettes. Websites with information on e-cigarettes in the Chinese language have not been systematically assessed. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess and compare the types and credibility of Web-based information on e-cigarettes identified from Google (in English) and Baidu (in Chinese) search engines. METHODS: We used the keywords vaping or e-cigarettes to conduct a search on Google and the equivalent Chinese characters for Baidu. The first 50 unique and relevant websites from each of the two search engines were included in this analysis. The main characteristics of the websites, credibility of the websites, and claims made on the included websites were systematically assessed and compared. RESULTS: Compared with websites on Google, more websites on Baidu were owned by manufacturers or retailers (15/50, 30% vs 33/50, 66%; P<.001). None of the Baidu websites, compared to 24% (12/50) of Google websites, were provided by public or health professional institutions. The Baidu websites were more likely to contain e-cigarette advertising (P<.001) and less likely to provide information on health education (P<.001). The overall credibility of the included Baidu websites was lower than that of the Google websites (P<.001). An age restriction warning was shown on all advertising websites from Google (15/15) but only on 10 of the 33 (30%) advertising websites from Baidu (P<.001). Conflicting or unclear health and social claims were common on the included websites. CONCLUSIONS: Although conflicting or unclear claims on e-cigarettes were common on websites from both Baidu and Google search engines, there was a lack of online information from public health authorities in China. Unbiased information and evidence-based recommendations on e-cigarettes should be provided by public health authorities to help the public make informed decisions regarding the use of e-cigarettes

New perspectives on Web search engine research

Purpose–The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the context of Web search and search engine-related research, as well as to introduce the reader to the sections and chapters of the book. Methodology/approach–We review literature dealing with various aspects of search engines, with special emphasis on emerging areas of Web searching, search engine evaluation going beyond traditional methods, and new perspectives on Webs earching. Findings–The approaches to studying Web search engines are manifold. Given the importance of Web search engines for knowledge acquisition, research from different perspectives needs to be integrated into a more cohesive perspective. Researchlimitations/implications–The chapter suggests a basis for research in the field and also introduces further research directions. Originality/valueofpaper–The chapter gives a concise overview of the topics dealt with in the book and also shows directions for researchers interested in Web search engines

The onus on us? Stage one in developing an i-Trust model for our users.

This article describes a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC)-funded project, conducted by a cross-disciplinary team, examining trust in information resources in the web environment employing a literature review and online Delphi study with follow-up community consultation. The project aimed to try to explain how users assess or assert trust in their use of resources in the web environment; to examine how perceptions of trust influence the behavior of information users; and to consider whether ways of asserting trust in information resources could assist the development of information literacy. A trust model was developed from the analysis of the literature and discussed in the consultation. Elements comprising the i-Trust model include external factors, internal factors and user's cognitive state. This article gives a brief overview of the JISC funded project which has now produced the i-Trust model (Pickard et. al. 2010) and focuses on issues of particular relevance for information providers and practitioners

Users' trust in information resources in the Web environment: a status report

This study has three aims; to provide an overview of the ways in which trust is either assessed or asserted in relation to the use and provision of resources in the Web environment for research and learning; to assess what solutions might be worth further investigation and whether establishing ways to assert trust in academic information resources could assist the development of information literacy; to help increase understanding of how perceptions of trust influence the behaviour of information users