| This thesis addresses the topic of the commodification of search by examining the historical role of the Internet search engine. Given the fact that the search engine is crucial in the dissemination and the construction of knowledge for its users, it is important to understand the variables that led to both its creation and continued use. This study presents the early history of the search engine from 1990 to 1998, and charts its ongoing transformation, via commercialization, from its status as an information gatekeeper to that of an advertising tool. Rather than focusing on the search engine's commercial value, the researcher utilizes Marx's commodification theory in conjunction with modern studies of the political economy of communications. This is a critical analysis that reconsiders the value of the proliferation of commercialized search engines in relation to the concentrated, online power structure that has resulted from such proliferation.;By mapping the early history of the Internet search engine, this study reveals that there are at least three search commodities produced in the course of search engine commercialization: search engine technology, search services, and search engine users. Intensive marketing activities are shown to significantly consolidate power that gives privilege to commercial websites. At the end of this study, viable alternatives to major search engines are suggested that may restore the authentic relation between a user's query and the Web's reply. |
