Scoring Struggles: Documenting Lived Experiences of Web Search

February 2020 – December 2021

Being ranked in web search engines can make or break or business, reputation, or career. While much work on the politics of search engines has focused on questions of bias, discrimination, and design, rather little is still known how people who depend on these results experience the system on a daily basis. Big companies and organizations may have the resources to hire PR and marketing consultants to affect their standing in the engines. But how do less well-resourced people make sense and cope with their predicament?

In this project, we document the lived experiences of people struggling with web search results. Through a series of qualitative interviews, we collect the stories from small business owners and local activists to politicians running for public office and people re-entering society after prison terms.

Funding: NSF CAREER Award (#1848286)

Researchers: