Google and the Culture of Search

<p><strong><em>What did you do before Google?</em></strong> The rise of Google as the dominant Internet search provider reflects a generationally-inflected notion that <i>everything</i> that matters is now on the Web and <i>should</i> in the moral sense of the verb be accessible through search. In this theoretically nuanced study of search technology's broader implications for knowledge production and social relations Ken Hillis Michael Petit and Kylie Jarrett shed light on a culture of search in which our increasing reliance on search engines influences not only the way we navigate classify and evaluate Web content but also how we think about ourselves and the world around us online and off. </p>