Web search engines and distributed assessment systems

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

I analyse the impact of search engines on our cognitive and epistemic practices. For that purpose, I describe the processes of assessment of documents on the Web as relying on distributed cognition. Search engines together with Web users, are distributed assessment systems whose task is to enable efficient allocation of cognitive resources of those who use search engines. Specifying the cognitive function of search engines within these distributed assessment systems allows interpreting anew the changes that have been caused by search engine technologies. I describe search engines as implementing reputation systems and point out the similarities with other reputation systems. I thus call attention to the continuity in the distributed cognitive processes that determine the allocation of cognitive resources for information gathering from others.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)387-409
Number of pages23
JournalPragmatics and Cognition
Volume14
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Epistemic authority
  • Epistemology
  • Reputation
  • Trust
  • Web

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