Problem 1 Brookshear, Chapter 10 Review Problem 13 (pg 485).
Problem 2 Brookshear, Chapter 10 Review Problem 17 (pg 486).
Problem 3
In the paper "On the Politics of Search Engines -- and why it matters"
by Introna and Nissenbaum, the authors suggest "meta-search technology"
as one possible way technology could help solve the problems they
are discussing. Meta-search engines are search services that take a user's
query, send it (or some modified form of it) to several search engines,
and then present the combined results to the user. Meta-search engines
may simply return to the user the best 30 results from each of 5 search
engines without further processing (the numbers 30 and 5 are for example only),
or may try to combined and re-rank the results of the search engines.
Part a How might a meta-search engine help solve the problem of making the Web more of a vehicle for public good rather than a reflection of market force as discussed by Introna and Nissenbaum? Be specific about what the meta-search engine would need to provide in the way of services and results.
Part b Meta-search engines that use commercial search engines are using the products of those commercial enterprises. This raises the issue of whether meta-search engines are using the intellectual property of search engines. For example, think about one newspaper using articles that have appeared in another newspaper. Is this the same? Under what circumstances do you think a meta-search engine should be allowed to use the results of a search engine without the permission of the owners of the search engine? Justify your answer.
Problem 4
Do you think that Introna's and Nissenbaum's position that the Web should
be a "public good" is valid? Why?