Search For Hegemony

A user could have no idea where the information is located in the Internet, but once he knows Google or Baidu, and if time permits, it will be certain for him or her to get the answer after typing some key words and browsing all the pop-up results patiently.Search engine gradually changes the ways people work and entertain themselves online. It also challenges the traditional types of communication. What's more, in terms of the trend of search engine industry, search engine is inclined to"domain"the Internet, especially when it comes to the fact that some tycoons enjoy absolute market sharing in the specific field or related areas. It is reasonable for everyone to worry about the situation, since a limited number of search engines may not only act as a"gatekeeper"for online information, but probably upgrade to a hegemony power in the near future as well.Probing to the work style (the sorting methods) of search engine and people's cognition towards search engine can not be simply regarded as a technical problem; it is more likely to be an in-depth research involving discussion on information monopoly and control.On one hand, search engine keeps its sorting techniques as highest confidential; on the other hand, human beings have no choice but to rely on search engine when faced with the mammoth Internet. They blindly trust search engine or submit to the agenda set by search engine helplessly.This thesis hopes to approach the relation between search engine and information control mainly from two aspects. First, it will focus on the causality relationship, which links search engine and the idea of information control; second, it will research the inferior status of users (recipients), which results in their inevitable control by search engine. This thesis begins with the brief introduction of the history and speed of the Internet and search engine. Approached through the communication attribution, the thesis then introduces the affinity between search engine and information control. Regarding the two dominate aspects related to the topic, the search engine and the audience, the thesis develops elaborate analysis on the business performance and sorting methods of search engine and user survey to further demonstrate the ubiquity of information control.Whereas the technology trend and the supervision on the Internet, the thesis discusses the hidden hegemony brought by search engine and proposes some defending and improving suggestions concerning the development of search engine and user demand. Finally, the thesis also tries to explore methods to solve or alleviate the conflicts between the two.