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Asso for Info Science Tech - 2023 - Morrison - Making the invisible visible Critical discourse analysi1.08 MB
Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Making the invisible visible: Critical discourse analysis as a tool for search engine research
Association for Information Science and Technology. Journal, Vol.75(5), pp.600-612
2024
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Like information science more broadly, search engine research has largely been fragmented into two factions: system-oriented and user-oriented studies. This limits our capacity for answering some fundamental questions surrounding an integral—often invisible—part of modern life. Given the “search-ification” of this life, given an oligopolous global market and an information-wealthy but attention-poor audience, methods capable of studying search engines, as well as their relationship with users and society are increasingly necessary. This paper proposes critical discourse analysis (CDA) as an effectual, oft-overlooked method for search engine research, one capable of interrogating both search engines and their use. The paper outlines CDA, provides examples of its application, and highlights its capacity for progressing our critical understanding of search engines. This developing understanding, evidenced by a review of the literature, suggests that challenges brought by search cannot be resolved by critiquing the power of systems alone. Rather, a reclaiming of today's information infrastructure requires we also illuminate the socio-political environments of search systems, and the metacognitive, invisible processes pivotal to our communication with them. While power-analyses of search continue, and some have begun to employ CDA, little recognition exists of this theoretical perspective's capacity for supporting both system-oriented and user-oriented studies.
Details
- Title
- Making the invisible visible: Critical discourse analysis as a tool for search engine research
- Authors
- Renee Morrison (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Education and Tertiary Access
- Publication details
- Association for Information Science and Technology. Journal, Vol.75(5), pp.600-612
- Publisher
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Date published
- 2024
- DOI
- 10.1002/asi.24859
- ISSN
- 2330-1643; 2330-1635
- Copyright note
- © 2023 The Authors. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Association for Information Science and Technology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
- Organisation Unit
- Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; School of Education and Tertiary Access
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99985098402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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