This dissertation makes the connection between the human drive, as described by psychoanalysis, to construct God and the construction of the technological entity, Google. Google constitutes the extension of the early Christian period God to the twenty-first century. From the examination of significant religious and theological texts by significant theologians (Augustine, Thomas, Luther, Calvin, etc.) that explain the nature of God, the analogous relationship of God to Google will open a psychoanalytic discourse that answers questions on the current state of human mediation with the world. Freud and, more significantly, Lacan’s work connects the human creation of God, ex nihilio, to Google’s godly qualities and behaviors (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omnibenevolence). This illustrates the powerful motivation behind the creation of an all-encompassing physical / earthly entity that includes the immaterial properties of God. Essentially, Google operates as the extension or replacement of the long reigning God in Western culture. Furthermore, the advent of science and technology through rationalism (as outlined by Nietzsche) results in the death of the metaphysical God and the ascension of the technological God. Google offers an appropriate example for study. Moreover, the work of Jean Baudrillard and Marshall McLuhan will further comment on Google as the technological manifestation of God, particularly in its media formulations. Finally, this dissertation concludes with a review that highlights future research with an exploration that foresees the death of Google from the same rational method of inquiry by which the death of God occurred at the end of the nineteenth century. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Recursos Educacionais Abertos (REA) podem ser definidos como materiais de ensino, aprendizagem e pesquisa, em qualquer meio de armazenamento, que estão amplamente disponíveis por meio de uma licença aberta que permite reuso, readequação e redistribuição sem restrições ou com restrições limitadas. Atualmente, diversas instituições de ensino e pesquisa têm investido em REA para ampliar o acesso ao conhecimento. Entretanto, os usuários ainda têm dificuldades de encontrar os REA com os mecanismos de busca atuais. Essa dificuldade deve-se principalmente ao fato dos mecanismos de busca na Web serem genéricos, pois buscam informação em qualquer lugar, desde páginas de vendas até materiais escritos por pessoas anônimas. De fato, esses mecanismos não levam em consideração as características intrínsecas de REA, como os diferentes padrões de metadados, repositórios e plataformas existentes, os tipos de licença, a granularidade e a qualidade dos recursos. Esta dissertação apresenta o desenvolvimento de um mecanismo de busca na Web especificamente para recuperação de REA denominado SeeOER. As principais contribuições desta pesquisa de mestrado consistem no desenvolvimento de um mecanismo de busca na Web por REA com diferenciais entre os quais se destacam a resolução de conflitos em nível de esquema oriundos da heterogeneidade dos REA, a busca em repositórios de REA, a consulta sobre a procedência de dados e o desenvolvimento de um crawler efetivo para obtenção de metadados específicos. Além disso, contribui na inclusão de busca de REA no cenário brasileiro, no mapeamento de padrões de metadados para mecanismos de busca na Web e a publicação de uma arquitetura de um mecanismo de busca na Web. Ademais, o SeeOER disponibiliza um serviço que traz um índice invertido de busca que auxilia encontrar REA nos repositórios dispersos na Web. Também foi disponibilizada uma API para buscas que possibilita consultas por palavras chaves e o uso de palavras booleanas. A forma de validação em mecanismos de busca na Web, como um todo, e de forma quantitativa e específica por componentes foi feita em grau de especialidade. Para validação de qualidade foram considerados 10 participantes com grupos distintos de escolaridade e área de estudo. Os resultados quantitativos demonstraram que o SeeOER é superior em 23.618 REA indexados em comparação a 15.955 do Jorum. Em relação à qualidade o SeeOER demonstrou ser superior ao Jorum considerando a função penalizada e o score utilizada nesta pesquisa. / Open Educational Resources (OER) has been increasingly applied to support students and professionals in their learning process. They consist of learning resources, usually stored in electronic device, associated with an open license that allows reuse, re-adaptation and redistribution with either no or limited restrictions. However, currently the Web search engines do not provide efficient mechanisms to find OER, in particular, because they do not consider the intrinsic characteristics of OER such as different standards of metadata, repositories and heterogeneous platforms, license types, granularity and quality of resources. This project proposes a Web search engine, named SeeOER, designed to recover OER. Main features of SeeOER are: schema-level con ict resolution derived from the heterogeneity of OER, search for Brazilian OER repositories, query considering data provenance and the development of an effective crawler to obtain specific metadata. In addition, our project contributes to the inclusion of the search OER research issues in the Brazilian scenario, to the mapping of metadata standards to Web search engine. In addition, SeeOER provides a service which internally has an inverted index search to find the OER which is different from traditional Web repositories. We also provide an API for queries which make it possible to write queries based on keywords and boolean. The validation of the search engine on the Web was both qualitative and quantitative. In the quantitative validation it was observed in level of specialty of the search engines components. In conclusion, the quality and quantitative results experiments showed that SeeOER is superior in OER indexed 23,618 compared to 15,955 the Jorum. In relation to the quality SeeOER shown to be superior to Jorum 27 points considering the metric used in project.

This thesis describes analysis of user web query behavior associated with Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) Enterprise Search System (Hereafter, ORNL Intranet). The ORNL Intranet provides users a means to search all kinds of data stores for relevant business and research information using a single query. The Global Intranet Trends for 2010 Report suggests the biggest current obstacle for corporate intranets is “findability and Siloed content”. Intranets differ from internets in the way they create, control, and share content which can make it often difficult and sometimes impossible for users to find information. Stenmark (2006) first noted studies of corporate internal search behavior is lacking and so appealed for more published research on the subject. This study employs mature scientific internet web query transaction log analysis (TLA) to examine how corporate intranet users at ORNL search for information. The focus of the study is to better understand general search behaviors and to identify unique trends associated with query composition and vocabulary. The results are compared to published Intranet studies. A literature review suggests only a handful of intranet based web search studies exist and each focus largely on a single aspect of intranet search. This implies that the ORNL study is the first to comprehensively analyze a corporate intranet user web query corpus, providing results to the public. This study analyzes 65,000 user queries submitted to the ORNL intranet from September 17, 2007 through December 31, 2007. A granular relational data model first introduced by Wang, Berry, and Yang (2003) for Web query analysis was adopted and modified for data mining and analysis of the ORNL query corpus. The ORNL query corpus is characterized using Zipf Distributions, descriptive word statistics, and Mutual Information. User search vocabulary is analyzed using frequency distribution and probability statistics. The results showed that ORNL users searched for unique types of information. ORNL users are uncertain of how to best formulate queries and don’t use search interface tools to narrow search scope. Special domain language comprised 38% of the queries. The average results returned per query for ORNL were too high and no hits occurred 16.34%.

University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Communication

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate the Web search strategies used to retrieve information from the Web by postgraduate students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus in order to address the weaknesses of undergraduate students with regard to their Web searching strategies. The study attempted to determine the Web search tactics used by postgraduate students, the Web search strategies (i.e. combinations of tactics) they used, how they determined whether their searches were successful and the search tool they preferred. In addition, the study attempted to contribute toward building a set of best practices when searching the Web. The sample population consisted of 331 postgraduate students, yielding a response rate of 95%. The study involved a two-phased approach adopting a survey in Phase 1 and interviews in the Phase 2. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used and the population was divided into five mutually exclusive groups (i.e., postgraduate diploma, postgraduate certificate, Honours, Master’s and PhD). A pre-test was conducted with ten postgraduate students from the Pietermaritzburg campus. The study revealed that the majority of postgraduate students have been searching the Web for six years or longer and that most postgraduate students searched the Web for information from five to less than ten hours a week. Most respondents gained their knowledge on Web searching through experience and only a quarter of the respondents have been given formal training on Web searching. The Web searching strategies explored contribute to the best practices with regard to Web search strategies, as interviewees were selected based on the highest number of search tactics used and they have several years of searching experience. The study was also able to identify the most preferred Web search tool. It is envisaged that undergraduate students can potentially follow these search strategies to improve their information retrieval. This finding could also be beneficial to librarians in developing training modules that assist undergraduate students to use these Web search tools more efficiently. The final outcome of the study was an adaptation Bates’ (1979) model of Information Search Tactics to suit information searching on the Web. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

網際網路在許多方面皆改變了大眾的讀報方式：不僅僅是因為Google News一類的新聞搜尋引擎，提供讀者多樣化且一次性的即時整合型閱覽，現今多數的網路使用者，也已養成從數個不同網頁中選擇所需資訊來瀏覽或進行研究、調查的習慣。然而，隨著報紙印刷發行量的銳減、新聞網站的流量不如預期，新聞媒體出版商對於搜尋引擎憑藉他人著作獲取暴利的手法感到越來越挫敗。Google自西元2009年起在Google News美國版刊登廣告，會不會成為壓垮傳統新聞媒體的最後一根稻草?而Google的這項舉措是否動搖其利用他人著作內容賺錢的正當性?可符合美國著作權法的合理使用原則? 本文將就Google News刊登廣告所引發的爭議，從網路新聞的發展、Google的經營模式以及合理使用原則的規範目的等面向，鎖定美國著作權法，來探討網路搜尋引擎截取他人著作內容的合法性，以及數位時代下合理使用原則的未來命運。 / The Internet has changed the way people reading the newspaper: not only because news search engines such as Google News providing readers with a diverse and one-time real-time integration of reading, but also because nowadays, most Web users have become accustomed to selecting the information they need from several different Web pages for browsing or carrying out research, and investigation. However, as the newspapers’ circulation drops, and the flow of news Web sites does not reach the expectation, the fact that search engines use others’ works to obtain profits disappoints news media publishers a lot. Will the advertisements placed alongside search results on the American version of Google News be the last straw? Will this undermine the validity of Google’s initiative of using others’ work for money, and fit in with the fair use doctrine? This article will try to analyze the Google News advertising disputes from the perspectives of development of network newsm, Google's business model and the fair use doctrine , and to discuss the legality of the Web search engine as well as the fate of fair use under digital era in the future.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Computer Science, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web (www), information can be easily accessed and retrieved from the web using information retrieval systems such as web search engines or simply search engines. There are a number of search engines that have been developed to provide access to the resources available on the web and to help users in retrieving relevant information from the web. In particular, they are essential for finding text information on the web for academic purposes. But, how effective and efficient are those search engines in retrieving the most relevant text information from the web? Which of the search engines are more effective and efficient? So, this study was conducted to see how effective and efficient search engines are and to see which search engines are most effective and efficient in retrieving the required text information from the web. It is very important to know the most effective and efficient search engines because such search engines can be used to retrieve a higher number of the most relevant text web pages with minimum time and effort. The study was based on nine major search engines, four search queries and relevancy judgments as relevant/partly-relevanUnon-relevant. Precision and recall were calculated based on the experimental or test results and these were used as basis for the statistical evaluation and comparisons of the retrieval effectiveness of the nine search engines. Duplicated items and broken links were also recorded and examined separately and were used as an additional measure of search engine effectiveness. A response time was also recorded and used as a base for the statistical evaluation and comparisons of the retrieval efficiency of the nine search engines. Additionally, since search engines involve indexing and searching in the information retrieval processes from the web, this study first discusses, from the theoretical point of view, how the indexing and searching processes are performed in an information retrieval environment. It also discusses the influences of indexing and searching processes on the effectiveness and efficiency of information retrieval systems in general and search engines in particular in retrieving the most relevant text information from the web. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Met die koms van die Internet en die Wêreldwye Web (www) is inligting maklik bekombaar. Dit kan herwin word deur gebruik te maak van inligtingherwinningsisteme soos soekenjins. Daar is 'n hele aantal sulke soekenjins wat ontwikkel is om toegang te verleen tot die hulpbronne beskikbaar op die web en om gebruikers te help om relevante inligting vanaf die web in te win. Dit is veral noodsaaklik vir die verkryging van teksinligting vir akademiese doeleindes. Maar hoe effektief en doelmatig is die soekenjins in die herwinning van die mees relevante teksinligting vanaf die web? Watter van die soekenjins is die effektiefste? Hierdie studie is onderneem om te kyk watter soekenjins die effektiefste en doelmatigste is in die herwinning van die nodige teksinligting. Dit is belangrik om te weet watter soekenjin die effektiefste is want so 'n enjin kan gebruik word om 'n hoër getal van die mees relevante tekswebblaaie met die minimum van tyd en moeite te herwin. Heirdie studie is baseer op die sewe hoofsoekenjins, vier soektogte, en toepasliksheidsoordele soos relevant /gedeeltelik relevant/ en nie- relevant. Presiesheid en herwinningsvermoë is bereken baseer op die eksperimente en toetsresultate en dit is gebruik as basis vir statistiese evaluasie en vergelyking van die herwinningseffektiwiteit van die nege soekenjins. Gedupliseerde items en gebreekte skakels is ook aangeteken en apart ondersoek en is gebruik as bykomende maatstaf van effektiwiteit. Die reaksietyd is ook aangeteken en is gebruik as basis vir statistiese evaluasie en die vergelyking van die herwinningseffektiwiteit van die nege soekenjins. Aangesien soekenjins betrokke is by indeksering en soekprosesse, bespreek hierdie studie eers uit 'n teoretiese oogpunt, hoe indeksering en soekprosesse uitgevoer word in 'n inligtingherwinningsomgewing. Die invloed van indeksering en soekprosesse op die doeltreffendheid van herwinningsisteme in die algemeen en veral van soekenjins in die herwinning van die mees relevante teksinligting vanaf die web, word ook bespreek.

Recursos Educacionais Abertos (REA) podem ser definidos como materiais de ensino, aprendizagem e pesquisa, em qualquer meio de armazenamento, que estão amplamente disponíveis por meio de uma licença aberta que permite reuso, readequação e redistribuição sem restrições ou com restrições limitadas. Atualmente, diversas instituições de ensino e pesquisa têm investido em REA para ampliar o acesso ao conhecimento. Entretanto, os usuários ainda têm dificuldades de encontrar os REA com os mecanismos de busca atuais. Essa dificuldade deve-se principalmente ao fato dos mecanismos de busca na Web serem genéricos, pois buscam informação em qualquer lugar, desde páginas de vendas até materiais escritos por pessoas anônimas. De fato, esses mecanismos não levam em consideração as características intrínsecas de REA, como os diferentes padrões de metadados, repositórios e plataformas existentes, os tipos de licença, a granularidade e a qualidade dos recursos. Esta dissertação apresenta o desenvolvimento de um mecanismo de busca na Web especificamente para recuperação de REA denominado SeeOER. As principais contribuições desta pesquisa de mestrado consistem no desenvolvimento de um mecanismo de busca na Web por REA com diferenciais entre os quais se destacam a resolução de conflitos em nível de esquema oriundos da heterogeneidade dos REA, a busca em repositórios de REA, a consulta sobre a procedência de dados e o desenvolvimento de um crawler efetivo para obtenção de metadados específicos. Além disso, contribui na inclusão de busca de REA no cenário brasileiro, no mapeamento de padrões de metadados para mecanismos de busca na Web e a publicação de uma arquitetura de um mecanismo de busca na Web. Ademais, o SeeOER disponibiliza um serviço que traz um índice invertido de busca que auxilia encontrar REA nos repositórios dispersos na Web. Também foi disponibilizada uma API para buscas que possibilita consultas por palavras chaves e o uso de palavras booleanas. A forma de validação em mecanismos de busca na Web, como um todo, e de forma quantitativa e específica por componentes foi feita em grau de especialidade. Para validação de qualidade foram considerados 10 participantes com grupos distintos de escolaridade e área de estudo. Os resultados quantitativos demonstraram que o SeeOER é superior em 23.618 REA indexados em comparação a 15.955 do Jorum. Em relação à qualidade o SeeOER demonstrou ser superior ao Jorum considerando a função penalizada e o score utilizada nesta pesquisa. / Open Educational Resources (OER) has been increasingly applied to support students and professionals in their learning process. They consist of learning resources, usually stored in electronic device, associated with an open license that allows reuse, re-adaptation and redistribution with either no or limited restrictions. However, currently the Web search engines do not provide efficient mechanisms to find OER, in particular, because they do not consider the intrinsic characteristics of OER such as different standards of metadata, repositories and heterogeneous platforms, license types, granularity and quality of resources. This project proposes a Web search engine, named SeeOER, designed to recover OER. Main features of SeeOER are: schema-level con ict resolution derived from the heterogeneity of OER, search for Brazilian OER repositories, query considering data provenance and the development of an effective crawler to obtain specific metadata. In addition, our project contributes to the inclusion of the search OER research issues in the Brazilian scenario, to the mapping of metadata standards to Web search engine. In addition, SeeOER provides a service which internally has an inverted index search to find the OER which is different from traditional Web repositories. We also provide an API for queries which make it possible to write queries based on keywords and boolean. The validation of the search engine on the Web was both qualitative and quantitative. In the quantitative validation it was observed in level of specialty of the search engines components. In conclusion, the quality and quantitative results experiments showed that SeeOER is superior in OER indexed 23,618 compared to 15,955 the Jorum. In relation to the quality SeeOER shown to be superior to Jorum 27 points considering the metric used in project.

In the past decade, research efforts dedicated to studying the process of collaborative web search have been on the rise. Yet, a limited number of studies have examined the impact of collaborative information search processes on novices’ query behaviors. Studying and analyzing factors that influence web search behaviors, specifically users’ patterns of queries when using collaborative search systems can help with making query suggestions for group users. Improvements in user query behaviors and system query suggestions help in reducing search time and increasing query success rates for novices. This thesis investigates the influence of collaboration between experts and novices as well as the use of a collaborative web search tool on novices’ query behavior. We used SearchTeam as our collaborative search tool. This empirical study involves four collaborative team conditions: SearchTeam and expert-novice team, SearchTeam and novice-novice team, traditional and expert-novice team, and traditional and novice-novice team. We analyzed participants’ query behavior in two dimensions: quantitatively (e.g. the query success rate), and qualitatively (e.g. the query reformulation patterns). The findings of this study reveal that the successful query rate is higher in expert-novice collaborative teams, who used the collaborative search tools. Participants in expert-novice collaborative teams who used the collaborative search tools, required less time to finalize all tasks compared to expert-novice collaborative teams, who used the traditional search tools. Self-issued queries and chat logs were major sources of terms that novice participants in expert-novice collaborative teams who used the collaborative search tools used. Novices as part of expert-novice pairs who used the collaborative search tools, employed New and Specialization more often as query reformulation patterns. The results of this study contribute to the literature by providing detailed investigation regarding the influence of utilizing collaborative search tool (SearchTeam) in the context of software troubleshooting and development. This study highlights the possible collaborative information seeking (CIS) activities that may occur among software developers’ interns and their mentors. Furthermore, our study reveals that there are specific features, such as awareness and built-in instant messaging (IM), offered by SearchTeam that can promote the CIS activities among participants and help increase novices’ query success rates. Finally, we believe the use of CIS tools, designed to support collaborative search actions in big software development companies, has the potential to improve the overall novices’ query behavior and search strategies.