Week 2Please respond to the following questions in ONE posting a.docx

Week 2
Please respond to the following questions in ONE posting and
NUMBER your responses:
Tip: Copy-and-paste these questions in your initial posting and
respond to each one.
In this week's readings by Alewin (2017); Bellinger, Castro, &
Mills (2004); Wilson (2000); and Hearst (2009) AND the
lecture on Information Behavior by Andrea Lorenz (2012), the
authors discuss their views on epistemology (knowledge
acquisition) and human information behavior (models of
information seeking, theories, and myths).
Think of a topic in which you have a good degree of (or
substantial) knowledge and respond to the questions below.
Make reference to the readings and/or lecture to support
your perspective.
1. What topic/subject do you have a good degree of (or
substantial) knowledge? (e.g., hobby, topic of personal interest,
academic subject)?
2. What information seeking behaviors (approaches or
processes) do you recall using to gain knowledge about the
topic/subject? For example, did you use any (or combination of)
information seeking behavior models that were discussed in the
Week 2 readings/lecture, such as Wilson's Information Behavior
model, Krikelas's model (information gathering and information
giving), Bates' Berry Picking (Dynamic) model, Kuhlthau's
process of information seeking model, Zipf's principle of least
effort, and/or Dervin's sense-making? Please make connections
to specific aspects of the readings and/or lecture to explain your
response (cite the article or lecture and author in your
response).
3. To get knowledgeable about your particular interest, how did

you join the "information conversation?" How did you seek
more information and converse with others about your topic?
4. What tools do you recall using to locate information on the
topic/subject (e.g., search engines, databases, online catalog)
and what types of information sources did you use to acquire
knowledge (e.g., print-based books and magazines/periodicals;
electronic articles, blogs, news stories, etc., on websites; word-
of-mouth from professors, friends and/or family members)?
Please explain.
Entry 1: Muhammad
1. What topic/subject do you have a good degree of (or
substantial) knowledge? (e.g., hobby, topic of personal interest,
academic subject)?
A topic/subject I have a good degree of knowledge is in
Volleyball. I have watched my dad playing it since I was a little
kid and that caused me to gain interest in it as well. During
High School I became a part of the Volleyball team- later on
becoming the captain of the team. Knowing what move to make
at what time is crucially important since it can cause you to
gain or lose a point.
2. What information seeking behaviors (approaches or
processes) do you recall using to gain knowledge about the
topic/subject? For example, did you use any (or combination of)
information seeking behavior models that were discussed in the
Week 2 readings/lecture, such as Wilson's Information Behavior
model, Krikelas's model (information gathering and information
giving), Bates' Berry Picking (Dynamic) model, Kuhlthau's
process of information seeking model, Zipf's principle of least
effort, and/or Dervin's sense-making? Please make connections
to specific aspects of the readings and/or lecture to explain your
response (cite the article or lecture and author in your
response).
"Information Seeking Behavior is the purposive seeking for
information as a consequence of a need to satisfy some goal"

(Wilson, 2000). When I started practicing and playing on the
team, I had to be really focused on finding out what moves to
make and how to work together with the team. I think the Bates'
Berry Picking (Dynamic) model can be used to relate to my
topic because I started off wanting to learn about volleyball, but
then I started developing interest in the different types of
positions. Later on choosing the spiker/blocker position as my
favorite.
3. To get knowledgeable about your particular interest, how did
you join the "information conversation?" How did you seek
more information and converse with others about your topic?
Our team used a lot of communication because communication
was the key to success. That communication could have been
mostly in person or group chat. When we would be practicing or
playing on the court we would use a lot of verbal
communication. When off court or home we would message in
the group chat. I started off as a regular teammate and later on
became the captain of the team; therefore the knowledge I
gained during the beginning, I spread during my years as the
captain.
4. What tools do you recall using to locate information on the
topic/subject (e.g., search engines, databases, online catalog)
and what types of information sources did you use to acquire
knowledge (e.g., print-based books and magazines/periodicals;
electronic articles, blogs, news stories, etc., on websites; word-
of-mouth from professors, friends and/or family members)?
Please explain.
The tools I used to learn more about this topic was the
information and guidance the coaches provided us. We used to
see videos of professional volleyball players playing. Therefore
we would try to copy the form they make while serving, spiking
or blocking the ball.
Entry 2: Ian
1. A topic or subject I think I have a good degree of knowledge

in is Japanese culture because I've done a lot of research both
for personal interest but also academically. I remember I first
started out learning about Japan's traditional music scene such
as kabuki and noh theatre because I was supposed to write a
research paper on it and it's what got me interested in their
culture. I also studied in Japan and was lucky to learn from
Japanese locals and teachers about the history of several
Japanese practices and traditions.
2. I'd say Bates' Berry Picking model perfectly describes how I
tried to find more information on Japanese culture, especially
when it came to their musical history. When I first started
researching kabuki and noh theatre, I came across the different
instruments and then ended up finding myself learning about
other traditional instruments that are rooted in Japanese history
such as taiko. As most research papers go, I start off with a
general topic and do some surface-level surfing before finding a
more interesting topic which then takes priority before finding
subsequent evidence and information that go deeper and more
in-depth. The reason why I believe the berry-picking model is
more appropriate is because it adjusts to the needs of the
searcher especially because "the searchers' information needs,
and consequently their queries, continually shift" (Hearst). I
believe my needs for information weren't static contrary to what
the Krikelas's model assumes and I needed different information
and had to perform a variety of search queries to find the
relevant information I needed at the time. However, I'd say that
I definitely made use of the citations and references in most of
the academic/scholarly articles I read, also known
as information structure tactics. Though, outside of whatever I
needed to research for class I definitely did a lot of
searching/learning on Google, YouTube, and maybe surprisingly
TikTok (with a grain of salt). I also have many friends and my
host family that I still have contact with and I ask them a lot of
questions that I'm curious about so I definitely do rely on Zipf's
principle of least effort. But I feel like this principle is

applicable to almost everything because I always end up asking
my friends or family about most things because it's convenient.
3. As I mentioned before, I was part of a study abroad program
in Japan and so the opportunity presented itself. I was able to
connect with a bunch of classmates, Japanese locals, Japanese
high school students and university students, my host family,
and teachers who I was able to talk to and learn/experience their
culture together with. Before that I was already learning how to
speak Japanese through self-study and I had a group of friends
to study together with so we ended up sharing most of what we
learned with each other. There were also a ton of resources
online and groups you could join full of like-minded students
and people who share the same interest.
4. For my research paper I definitely used the Rutgers online
catalog/databases for most of my research. I also mentioned
above that for more casual things that I had a general curiosity
about I just surfed the web and ended up learning a lot through
YouTube, blogs, and plain ol' Google. I was preaching Zipf's
principle of least effort without even realizing it was a thing
because every time I had a question, I'd just end up asking my
teachers and host family about most of my questions because
they're studying Japanese (the language and the culture) or are
Japanese themselves.
Week 3Please respond to the following questions in ONE
posting and NUMBER your responses:
Tip: Copy-and-paste these questions in your initial posting and
respond to each one.
1. What two search engines did you use to conduct the "Vanity
Search"?
2. Based on your knowledge of the world, is your name a
common one? How do you know this? Based only on the results

of your search, is your name a common one? Did your search
results produce any information (or 'hits') about yourself? If
yes, what search queries produced the best results? Did you
make any changes in your search queries using
Boolean operators, keywords, and/or phrasing to your name to
try to return at least one result about you (or more results about
you) within the first 30 results? If yes, did your results
improve? Please explain.
3. Did you see any difference between the the first set and
second set of search results when conducted on different days?
What might account for any differences that you observed?
Make reference to the reading(s), lecture, and/or video in your
response to support your view, as appropriate.
4. What do you think accounts for any changes in the search
results between the two search engines you used? What is the
value, if any, in using two search engines to conduct a search?
5. What have you learned about using different search engines
thus far in terms of their functionality (similarities and
differences) and their ability to retrieve information to satisfy a
user's (i.e., your) search needs (i.e., the original intent of the
queries - to find information about yourself on the
Internet)? Please make connections to the readings, lecture,
and/or video to explain your response (cite the article or lecture
and author in your response) and support your views.
Entry 1: Jay
1. What two search engines did you use to conduct the "Vanity
Search"?
· The two different search engines I used was Google and

Yahoo.
2. Based on your knowledge of the world, is your name a
common one? How do you know this? Based only on the results
of your search, is your name a common one? Did your search
results produce any information (or 'hits') about yourself? If
yes, what search queries produced the best results? Did you
make any changes in your search queries using Boolean
operators, keywords, and/or phrasing to your name to try to
return at least one result about you (or more results about you)
within the first 30 results? If yes, did your results improve?
Please explain.
· I would like to say that my name is a common one, at least
amongst the Hindu religion, there are quite a bit of people
named “Jay Patel.” Patel is also a very common Indian last
name, especially amongst the Gujurati population.
· Based off the results, my name is a common name. I would say
that Google provided the best results.
· The only changes I’ve made to the search queries was using
the booleans AND & OR. The results did change alot, in the
sense the amount of hits on the page did increase.
3. Did you see any difference between the the first set and
second set of search results when conducted on different days?
What might account for any differences that you observed?
· The only difference between the first and second searches was
mainly the number of hits on the page. The only differences I
can account for is most likely the popularity of that certain “Jay
Patel” or “Jay”, etc. “...automatically add either the AND or the
OR conjunction to link your search terms together. This could
radically alter your search in unexpected ways.” (Creating a
search strategy, retrieved from
http://www.sc.edu/beaufort/library/pages/bones/lesson6.shtml

Links to an external site.
)
4. What do you think accounts for any changes in the search
results between the two search engines you used? What is the
value, if any, in using two search engines to conduct a search?
· I believe that the changes in the search results is the way the
search engines are being used. I believe that if a ceratin query is
searched more on one engine it’ll show up more often on that
engine than another one. Hence the difference in the number of
hits from the different search engines. “...information retrieval
researchers have explored many techniques, but modern
document retrieval systems still tend to be blunt instruments,
retrieving many nonrelevant documents (errors in precision) and
missing many relevant documents (errors in recall). The user is
left with a significant task of reading or scanning the retrieved
results to determine whether they actually have the information
sought and to figure out whether and how to rephrase a request
to see if any relevant documents were missed.” (Woods, W. A.
(2004). Searching vs. finding. Queue, 2, 26-36.)
5. What have you learned about using different search engines
thus far in terms of their functionality (similarities and
differences) and their ability to retrieve information to satisfy a
user's (i.e., your) search needs (i.e., the original intent of the
queries - to find information about yourself on the Internet)?
Refer to the reading(s), lecture, and/or video to support your
views in your response, as appropriate.
· I’ve learnt that most search engines can vary the results you
would like to see. For example Yahoo gave me a repeat of the
same results on more than one occasion while Google gave me a
variety of results but only had a few where they were the same.
I came to the conclusion that Google provided more of a variety

of results mainly that more people use google than any other
search engine.
Entry 2: Ethan
I used Google and Bing to complete the assignment.
1. While my name is not one of the most common names, it is
fairly common, and has been one of the most popular baby
names for a few decades. Based on my search results, it is
common, since the only query that returned results about me
was the one with added Rutgers to the end of it. Even with this
addition, both search engines only returned one result about me,
my LinkedIn page.
2. I did see a slight increase in the number of results returned
on 9/18, as well as an increase in the number of people I saw in
the results. I believe this is because there were multiple news
stories about a soccer player named Ethan Barr on this day.
3. Bing seemed to be more focused on news stories than Google
was, so the news about the soccer player may have had more of
an impact on their search results. There does appear to be value
in using both search engines, because I was able to find people
who only appeared on one and not the other.
4. While Bing was able to provide me with a greater number of
results for most of my queries, the relevance of Google’s
generally seemed to be more valuable. It is hard to come to any
conclusions based on this data alone, but circumstantially it
appears to me that Google may be better if you are trying to
find an individual person, whereas Bing may be more useful if
you want to cast a wide net.

Discussion of Exercise #2: Boolean Search Strategies/Results
1. Briefly assess your search experience: Did you find useful
information for the (5) query questions/statements that were
given to you? How did you change your search strategies to
improve/maximize your results? Which “tricks” and/or specific
options worked (e.g., Boolean operators, keywords, ordering,
phrasing with quotes, parentheses) and which didn’t? Did you
use Google's Advanced Search page with enhanced search
options? If so, did this improve your results?
2. Overall Observations: Why do you think you received the
results you did based on the search queries you submitted?
Specifically, what "inner workings" (such as crawling, indexing,
querying/retrieving, and/or ranking) of search engines (in this
case, Google) affected your search results? Make reference to
the lecture(s), readings, and/or media in this unit to support
your perspective
(cite the lecture, reading, or media with the author) to
support your observations. Note: In your overall observations,
it's important to make connections to the inner workings of
search engines to become an informed, skilled user of IR
systems to retrieve information that will best meet your needs in
the quickest way possible when you conduct research, which
you'll be doing in the Information Consultant Project AND the
IT Market Sector Analysis Project!
Entry 1: Sidney
I did not find the information valuable for two of the queries

(anchorman and spouses), but I found the rest very useful. I
used multiple strategies involving booleans such as "AND" or
"NOT" functions as well as using """ to search for exact phrases
or words. I tried to maximize relevant results by searching for
the exact words or a collection of terms while "NOT" searching
for others. The best methods involved quotes and the "AND"
function; the worst was the "NOT," but that could be due to
ineffective use. I did not use Google's Advanced search because
I wanted to see how far I could go in my results with using the
standard engine and not rely on a more "advanced" one.
2. I think the most likely reason my results came about as they
did is due to the ranking and crawling methods of search
engines. As discussed in class and in the text, crawling is when
engines extract pages and links to add greater discoverability to
a topic, and then ranking is just the overall popularity of that
item or webpage, so if you type in Facebook, you’re more likely
to get the “official” website due to its popularity than a domain
like “facebok”.
If we take a look at the terms for the assignment, things like
eggnog are a seasonal beverage in North America, diabetes
affects hundreds of millions of people globally, and billions of
people like football, and many more millions are likely to have
an interest in the staffing of the German team. It’s not a
surprise that the more esoteric things like an anchorman or the
spouses of the heads of a specific company are much harder to
find when thinking of them and their relationship to
mechanisms such as crawling and ranking.
Entry 2: Matthew

1. Briefly assess your search experience: Did you find useful
information for the (5) query questions/statements that were
given to you? How did you change your search strategies to
improve/maximize your results? Which “tricks” and/or specific
options worked (e.g., Boolean operators, keywords, ordering,
phrasing with quotes, parentheses) and which didn’t?
Did you use Google's Advanced Search page with
enhanced search options? If so, did this improve your results?
I found helpful information in all of my query questions; I
believe I had some excellent statements in order to conduct my
search. In order to maximize my results, I used more keywords
and Boolean operators. These definitely helped with my search
to get more information. Definitely, all of them worked; the
main point about using these tricks was that you needed to be
specific with what your search was, definitely the use of
parentheses and Boolean operators made it easier for me. I did
not use Google's Advanced Search page since all my searches
on Google were useful and had great information.
2. Overall Observations: Why do you think you received the
results you did base on the search queries you submitted?
Specifically, what "inner workings" (such as crawling, indexing,
querying/retrieving, and/or ranking) of search engines (in this
case, Google) affected your search results? Make reference to
the lecture(s), readings, and/or media in this unit to support
your perspective
(cite the lecture, reading, or media with the author) to
support your observations. Note: In your overall observations,
it's important to make connections to the inner workings of
search engines to become an informed, skilled user of IR
systems to retrieve information that will best meet your needs in
the quickest way possible when you conduct research, which
you'll be doing in the Information Consultant Project AND the
IT Market Sector Analysis Project!
I believe most of the searches, especially on google, work with

keywords that make them easier for the search to realize what
the user is specifically asking for; as the professor said in one
of his lectures, "the results after your search in the search
engine are dependent upon several processes, crawling,
indexing, querying, retrieving, ranking and display," for this
reason when I used Boolean operators or key words my search
was easier.
Discussion of Search Engine Processes and Search Engine Bias
& Optimization
1. Weeks 4 & 5 covered the inner workings of search engines
(e.g., crawling, indexing, ranking, querying/retrieval, etc.). In
your viewpoint, which of the main processes/components of
Web search engines are most important for users to understand
when conducting searches? And why?
2. Based on the readings and videos in Week 5, what are TWO
key ideas you have learned about search engine bias and
optimization that you didn't know before? Explain and
mention specific readings and/or videos to support your
response.
3. Based on the readings and/or videos in Week 5, what are
TWO recommended "white hat" practices that a webmaster or

SEO professional might use to improve the ranking of a
company's website (or a start-up site) in search engine listings?
Explain and mention a specific video or reading to support your
response.
4. Based on the readings in Week 5, what is ONE "black hat"
optimization technique used to improve the ranking of a
company's website and who uses it? What are the
problems/ramifications of using "black hat" techniques? Explain
and mention a specific reading to support your response.
Entry 1: Weihao
Weeks 4 & 5 covered the inner workings of search engines (e.g.,
crawling, indexing, ranking, querying/retrieval, etc.). In your
viewpoint, which of the main processes/components of Web
search engines are most important for users to understand when
conducting searches? And why?
In my opinion, crawling, indexing, ranking, and
querying/retrieval play significant roles in different steps.
Based on the work from last week, I feel like indexing and
ranking play the most important role in the inner workings of
search engines. Indexing marks the keywords that each people
inserts into the search engine and locating those keywords from
various documents. Ranking helps to show the frequency of
each keyword. Therefore, people could find the closest result
from that search engine. Like the practice work, we did in class
this week. We have indexed and ranked keywords from different
documents. This process helps people with accurate information
quickly and efficiently.
Moreover, I learned from the reading this week that Title

Metadata could be helpful in the process of ranking. “Title
metadata is responsible for the page titles displayed at the top
of a browser window and as the headline within search engine
results. It is the most important metadata on your page”
(Michigan Tech). Such a way of manipulating data could make
ranking and indexing more effective for displaying accurate
results for people who use the search engine.
Based on the readings and videos in Week 5, what are TWO key
ideas you have learned about search engine bias and
optimization that you didn't know before? Explain and
mention specific readings and/or videos to support your
response.
According to the reading, Stanford University has provided
three different ideas that help people to understand search
engine bias. Among them, there are two crucial points. “Search-
engine technology is not neutral, but instead has embedded
features in its design that favor some values over others. Major
search engines systematically favor some sites (and some kind
of sites) over others in the lists of results they return in
response to user search queries” (Kessner 2013). Search engine
bias can be viewed as the extension of public or societal bias or
stereotypes. When those companies create websites to
broadcast, they often create those with their view of a different
incident. Such views could be personal and biased towards a
specific group of people. Moreover, most search engines now
are assisting with AI technology. AI has the potential to utilize
the information that is favored by certain people. It means AI
could learn from human bias, and use the bias against society.
On the other hand, Search optimization could be a process to
prevent search engine bias. According to the reading,
“According to Wikipedia,6 “Search engine optimization (SEO)
is a set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a Web
site in search engine listings...” These methods include
manipulation of dozens or even hundreds of Web site elements”
(Malaga 2008). SEO could be used to prevent biased
information that targeted a specific group and rerank the

websites to block the transmissions of such information.
However, it could also be used to practice “hat” to a certain
group through the optimized information. The reading indicates
that “those that pursue SEO are up against an arsenal of black
hat techniques. In addition, even those optimizers who try to
stay on the white hat side may find that they have inadvertently
crossed the line leading to penalties or even a ban” (Malaga
2008).
Based on the readings and/or videos in Week 5, what are TWO
recommended "white hat" practices that a webmaster or SEO
professional might use to improve the ranking of a company's
website (or a start-up site) in search engine listings? Explain
and mention a specific video or reading to support your
response.
According to the reading by Malaga, Wikipedia has recorded
practices to improve the ranking of the websites. “Zhang and
Dimitroff have found that sites that make proper use of Meta
tags achieve better search engine results. Zhang and Dimitroff
also found that sites with keywords that appear in both the site
title and throughout the site’s text achieve better search engine
rankings than sites that only optimize the title” (Malaga 2008).
With the Meta tags, People could find accurate information
effectively. The methods of meta tags or metadata are also
recorded on the website of Michigan Tech. “When designing
your website, each page contains a space between the <head>
tags to insert metadata or information about the contents of your
page. If you have a CMS site originally produced by the UMC
web team will have pre-populated this data for you” (Michigan
Tech). The meta tags provide prior access to certain websites
over others. On the other hand, Keywords contained in both
titles and content would make rank the document in a higher
place because through the indexing and ranking process of the
Google search engine, the document with more keyword
appearances could be ranked in a higher place.

Based on the readings in Week 5, what is ONE "black hat"
optimization technique used to improve the ranking of a
company's website and who uses it? What are the
problems/ramifications of using "black hat" techniques? Explain
and mention a specific reading to support your response.
According to the reading, Bowling the Competition is one
“black hat” technique that has been used to improve the ranking
of a company’s website. “If a black hat site is ranked third for a
key term, the optimizer who can get the top two sites banned
will be ranked first” (Malaga 2008). The ramification of such a
method of optimizing information is severe. “For instance, a
black hat might request links to the competitor’s site from link
farms, gambling sites, or adult-oriented sites. Links from these
bad neighborhoods result in penalties and bans” (Malaga 2008).
As those websites have been marked as unsafe or unreliable
websites to users’ devices, the websites would lose their
reputation to the public. Less View means less profit. The result
for the websites would be bank broke. People would potentially
lose a way to reach for accurate information on the other hand.
Entry 2: David
1. In my opinion, the most important process for users to
understand when conducting searches is querying/retrieval. It is
important to understand querying/retrieval because knowing
how to effectively structure a search will make search results
more accurate and relevant.
2. Two key ideas that I have learned about search engine bias
and optimization based on the Week 5 readings would be the
fact that search engines are not neutral and the idea that small
changes within a website can change the frequency that the
website appears in search results. According to Kassner's article

on search engine bias, "Search engines are value-laden and thus
biased because of the kinds of features typically included in
their design" (Kassner, 2013). Google's search optimization
guide states that small modifications to websites may seem
insignificant at first but combined together with other
techniques it can produce significant changes in search results.
3. Based on the week 5 readings, two recommended white hat
practices that a webmaster or SEO professional might use to
improve the ranking of a company's website in search engine
listings would be to use metadata and alt tag images. Michigan
Tech's article on how to improve search engine optimization
explains that metadata and alt tags create more opportunities for
search engines to show the website in search results with by
adding more keywords and terms that can be used to search for
the website.
4. One black hat optimization technique that can be used to
improve the ranking of a company's website would be to openly
steal content from legitimate sites. The people who do this are
search engine optimization consultants who are looking to make
fast profit and undermine their competitors (Malaga, 2008).
Black hat optimizers can even use their black hat techniques to
try to get their competitors banned off of the search engines.
Discussion of Collaborative Information Seeking, Knowledge
Creation, & Information Exchange
1. Based on Chirag Shah's (2014) article, what is an
information-seeking situation in which collaboration is
beneficial and when does it not pay off? Discuss both
problem(s)/issue(s) and benefit(s) as discussed in the article

(and cite the source with page number).
2. Have you ever worked with others to "produce" content using
collaborative technologies (e.g., Google Drive-Docs or Slides;
PBworks, Wikispaces, or other wiki; Delicious, Diigo, or other
knowledge management software; Blogger, WordPress, or other
blog; etc.) either through Rutgers or external to Rutgers? If yes,
what was the delivery medium/platform and describe your
experience in collaborating and/or crowd-sourcing with others
to produce content in an online/digital environment.
3. Have you ever participated in an external (i.e., not at Rutgers
in a course) Discussion Group, Forum, Newsgroup, or other
online group (e.g., in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GroupMe)
for group communication? If yes, what was the delivery
medium/platform and describe your experience in
sharing/exchanging/communicating information with others in
an online/digital environment.
Entry 1: Johnathan
1. While reading the article, I found it really interesting to see
how Shah discussed collaboration and the benefits and
limitations that comes with it. I like working in a collaborative
environment but reading through the article made me think
about certain situations where collaboration actually hurt the
work being done. Thinking about a situation where this comes
into play, there could be a collaborative project where many
different people are working on figuring out a solution to a
problem. This can be any sort of problem such as trying to
figure out the best way of doing something. Collaborative work
can be helpful in this situation because so many people have

different backgrounds and have different ways of thinking. It is
rare in a collaborative environment where everyone thinks the
same thing or has the same exact opinion. Shah words this exact
situation perfectly, "The participants of a team come with
different backgrounds and expertise" (p219). Because everyone
in the environment thinks differently and comes from different
backgrounds, it is good to hear all other options because
someone in the collaboration might have a better way of solving
the problem. Thinking about this situation, a collaboration
environment can also hurt this type of thing. I have been in a
collaboration where people just can't figure out what to do and
the work is hindered greatly. Shah discusses this perfectly
stating, "Collaboration is meaningless without the power to
implement final decisions" (p217). Because there are so many
different opinions, it can sometimes cause a problem and things
don't get done and finding the best decision takes much longer.
2. During my time at Rutgers, I used a lot of google drive and
docs within google. The software itself is set up perfectly,
making collaboration very easy. For school as well, it is perfect
because there is a documents, slides, and excel where everyone
has the same access to. It is the perfect way to get work done
when collaborating. While using google drive software's, my
experience collaborating was very easy and nothing bad to
complain about. One of my favorite features is that you can see
what person edited the document so if someone isn't doing
work, the entire team knows who wasn't working and who needs
to step up and get more work done. During covid as well, since
no one could meet in person and work on a project, it made it
very easily to remotely work together on projects and
documents. I also used google drive during my internship where
everyone in the company had access to certain files and
information where everyone collaborated together to make sure
certain things were done on time.
3. During my time at my internship, my company used google
chat which I was not very familiar with before I started working
there. Google chat was a great way for people in the company to

communicate where there were many different groups in
different fields. For example, there was a SOC team chat which
I was apart of (Security Operations) and a marketing team and a
company chat etc. It made it very easy to reach out to people in
each department and get a situation figured out or talk to a team
in particular. There was also the ability to talk to people
individually which was great so you didn't have to call them or
take time away from their work. You could also send
documents, pictures, websites, etc. which made it a great place
to exchange information. Google chat was a great way for a
company to be organized and efficiently discuss job related
situations on a daily basis.
Entry 2: Urooj
1. Based on Chirag Shah's (2014) article, what is an
information-seeking situation in which collaboration is
beneficial and when does it not pay off? Discuss both
problem(s)/issue(s) and benefit(s) as discussed in the article
(and cite the source with page number).
- Based on Chirag Shah's reading the information-seeking
situation typical collaboration is mutually beneficial for those
participating. Collaboration should always be acknowledge as
useful and desired to focus on where it is beneficial. the article
highlights that some collaboration is not always beneficial and
they do not pay off like others. There is a need to having a good
understanding so there could be analysis done if the benefits
will pay of or no (Chirag, 232). Some issues highlighted in the
articles are regarding what is the promotion of collaboration,
people understanding of collaboration, cost and benefit of
collaboration, and how to expand synthesis (Chirag, 232). The
article also talks about how collaborative information seeking

could be harmful in some terms too. The article also makes a
relevant relationship between collaboration and Information
seeking. Collaboration, cooperation, coordination, contribution
is all parts of communication. The article briefly go in detail
about what are the limitation of each factor of communication.
1. Have you ever worked with others to "produce" content using
collaborative technologies (e.g., Google Drive-Docs or Slides;
PBworks, Wikispaces, or other wiki; Delicious, Diigo, or other
knowledge management software; Blogger, WordPress, or other
blog; etc.) either through Rutgers or external to Rutgers? If yes,
what was the delivery medium/platform and describe your
experience in collaborating and/or crowd-sourcing with others
to produce content in an online/digital environment.
- I have worked with other to produce content using
collaborative technology for many of the school related
projects, These projects required the use of Google drive,
Google docs, Google Slides. I have also used content
management software like WordPress for school related project
and Internship related purposes. Personally my experience with
these media platform was really good and personally prefer
these delivery medium platforms because of the feature they
have. My experience in collaborating with other to produce
content was much convenient. As it was easier to us to access
these platforms on our own time instead of having everyone
meet in person at the same time. We were able to use these
digital platforms an work from home and there were no problem
with productivity in any way. Crowd sourcing is basically a
practice of obtaining information by large number of people for
a project or task related purpose, paid or unpaid only through
internet. Now a days it is very common to use crowd sourcing
for school related or even work related projects. Crowd-
sourcing helps in many ways as it let people share their thought
and work together without having the need to meet in person. I
have always used these medium platforms to work or the group
projects and they have always turn out to be a great source of
use to work in a group

1. Have you ever participated in an external (i.e., not at Rutgers
in a course) Discussion Group, Forum, Newsgroup, or other
online group (e.g., in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, GroupMe)
for group communication? If yes, what was the delivery
medium/platform and describe your experience in
sharing/exchanging/communicating information with others in
an online/digital environment- Yes, I have participated in
external Forum and other online groups through many social
media platform including LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram,
GroupMe, etc. for group communication. My experience using
these platform for group communication as very effective in
term of communicating. Everyone in the group is able to share
their ideas effectively and communicate their thought about a
certain topics in digital environment. These digital environment
act as a very good platform to exchange idea with other
members of the group especially when working in groups. I
think the group communication on these platforms are very
efficient in communicating especially in business and school
related environment for many different reasons.
Week 10
Debate 3: "Deplatforming" - Free Speech vs. Censorship of Hate
Speech, False information and Controversial Topics
Do you support Tech Companies' recent filtering of Alex Jones,
Gab and similar sources, or do you feel these actions infringe
on their ability to exercise free speech?
Important!
When you make your arguments (For AND Against),

you MUST make reference (using in-text citations) to one or
more of the Readings (under "Legal Aspects") to support your
positions. Include the Author, Title of the article, and year of
publication. Feel free to continue researching on the topic for
further evidence, if desired.
Some things to consider when making your arguments:
· On what grounds was the banning of personalities like Alex
Jones, and the Deplatforming of Gab justified?
· Does the public interest outweigh the rights of these people
and organizations to speak their minds?
· Did Apple, Facebook, Twitter, hosting companies, etc.
technically deprive these sources of their rights?
· Do these deplatforming actions protect the public good? How
so?
· Should personalities be allowed to use these platforms to
speak their minds, no matter how controversial, hateful,
harmful or false their statements might be? What about
creating their own, separate platforms?
· Looking at further implications: What fine lines are there
between expressing an opinion, and inciting hate and violence?
Would the situation be different if it was the government
suppressing certain kinds of speech, instead of private
companies?
Entry 1: Asad
Overall I do support the deplatforming of hate speech. One of
the readings that made me really made me think this was the
article about Gab losing hosting privileges after the mass
shooting in Philadelphia. That was a horrible tragedy and can be
traced back to the source which is Gab. And they should lose
their hosting privileges. It is very justified in banning these
people because of the atrocities they are causing. People like

Alex Jones, Gab and Truth Social have huge platforms and they
can do so many horrible things. Alex Jones himself spread the
fact that Sandy Hook was a false flag attack and his followers
went and harassed the families so much that a few of them had
to change names and move. How can we as a scoiety let
grieivng parents suffers from the actions of a crazy person. A
few people may make arguments that deplatforming is violating
their rights and such but in reality the First Amendment was
made about the government. Not the private sites. These private
sites can do what they want with whatever content is on their
platform. Apple, Facebook and Twitter are not violating any of
their rights. The problem to me is that if you do not deplatform
these types of people and the way they scream hate speech you
can run into many problems. In fact when Elon Musk bought
Twitter nearly 5000 racist tweets popped up within the hour.
Showing that if you even give them an inch of space they will
take it a mile. The deplatforming helps protect the public from
this evil gaining a foothold and making it mainstream.
Entry 2: Tridib
AGAINST CENSORSHIP
Censoring certain individuals does not mean that their voices
will be taken away. There are other platforms that censored
individuals could flock to. For example, after Twitter was
permanently banned from Twitter, he initiated the platform
“Truth Social,” which Johnson and Goldstein describe as “a
vibrant right-wing ecosystem increasingly brimming with
activity(New York Times 2022).” Thus, simply banning
someone from one platform does not take away one’s voice
entirely. Also, our legal system affords people the right to speak
freely, with only a few specific restrictions. As Hillesheim

points out, unless a person’s speech “crosses the line and
becomes incitement, fighting words or a “true threat,” hate
speech is protected by the First Amendment(REWIRE 2017).”
When it’s impossible to censor someone from a legal
standpoint, and companies censoring people only has a limited
effect on a person’s ability to reach people, there’s no point in
banning or de-platforming individuals from social media
platforms.
FOR CENSORSHIP
While free speech is a right, saying certain things can be
harmful to large groups of people. Companies that help people
engage in public discourse are responsible to their users for
maintaining a platform that is safe and inclusive. Furthermore,
Hillesheim in his article brings up a University of Kansas study
that found that “explicit racial prejudice is a reliable predictor
of the ‘free speech defense’ of racist expression(REWIRE
2017). If there are bad intentions when using free speech
arguments, these arguments may be ignored for the greater
good. There have been numerous instances of people spreading
hateful messages and content online. There have been hateful
echo chambers on platforms such as Gab and 8chan. If banning
certain people from having a platform makes it harder for hatred
and bigotry to spread, it should be done in order to promote a
more inclusive and respectful online community.
Discussion: Select ONE or more of the ‘future of search’
innovations (listed below) and describe/discuss the
innovation(s), and make references to the reading(s) and/or
video/lecture in this unit in your initial posting. Cite the source
with the author (or presenter), title of the article (or video),
site, and year of publication.
· Further developments in "contextual" searching
· Further developments in Mobile search and App indexing

· Knowledge search
· Optimizing the user's experience
· Machine learning
· Google Hummingbird and Semantic search
· The Semantic Web
· Social search and social network integration
· Natural language processing and artificial intelligence
systems
· Internet of things
In addition as part of your initial posting, discuss what the
innovation(s) may mean to at least ONE of the following
groups:
· eCommerce and Businesses and their customers/consumers
· SEOs/Webmasters
· CTOs (Chief Technology Officers)
· IT Developers
· Marketers and Advertisers
Make reference to the reading(s) and/or video in your posting
and cite the source with the author (or presenter), title of the
article (or video), site, and year of publication.
Entry1: Lena
Future search is defined as a unique planning method that
enables large, diverse groups to validate a common mission,
take responsibility for action, and develop commitment to
implementation. Google hummingbird is an updated version of
googles search algorithm. Prior to creating hummingbird,
google had a knowledge graph and that is a set of SERP features
designed to provide quick answers about people places and
things. Google does this through somatic search. Semantic
search is defined as a core data searching technique that not

only interprets keywords within the search bar but tries to also
determine the intent and contextual meaning behind a search
query. Google then tries to use semantic search to help improve
with searches. Hummingbird takes disseminated searches and
makes a “concept into reality”((What is google hummingbird?
how to write for hummingbird 2022). Hummingbird was also
essentially created to allow algorithms to understand voice
searches as they became more popular in 2013. With having
google hummingbird be able to look at contacts and concepts
this also affects SEOs. SEO stands for search engine
optimization. The way Google Humming bird effects SEO is by
decreasing the about of words it focuses on while search.
Hummingbird has now effected 90% of searches. (How google
hummingbird changed the future of Search 2021).
How google hummingbird changed the future of Search. (2021,
November 22). Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/06/23/google-
hummingbird
What is google hummingbird? how to write for hummingbird.
Moz. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2022, from
https://moz.com/learn/seo/google-hummingbird
Entry 2: Urooj
For this discussion post, I have chose to talk about Machine
Learning. Machine learning is a process that is devoted to
understand how machine to improve the understanding of how
to improve performance of machine. There are many machine
learning innovation that are significance to the technological
world these days. Some of the recent innovation of machine
learning include the development in space of 5G adoption,
network adoption, improved cybersecurity. These innovation in

machine learning has been working towards making the job easy
for professional working with huge variables. One of the
reading article "How the Hummingbirds changes the future of
search" the author states "Many experts speculate that
developments in the field of natural language processing – the
process by which machines can effectively parse and interpret
human speech – will become a driving force in the advancement
of semantic search." Machine learning is a driving force in
future of technical innovations. In the article it also points out
that later on research and development in natural processing
language to sophisticated artificial intelligence system will be
very beneficial. These machine innovation may be very
beneficial to the SEO/Webmasters group . The article "How
future of hummingbirds changed the future of search" talks
about how a web can be made better by adding some of the
graphic innovation to improve the SEO. The article includes "
In-depth long-form articles are an excellent way to explore
complex topics and a range of ideas in a single post, but
sometimes, people don’t want to read the marketing equivalent
of Ulysses. In fact, sometimes they don’t want to read an
article, of any length, at all. This is when visual content
shines." This shows how these type of innovations could
possibly help in a way to engage the audience.
How google hummingbird changed the future of Search.
WordStream. (2021, November 22). Retrieved November 12,
2022, from
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/06/23/google-
hummingbird
Links to an external site.
Hemingway Short Story Discussion

From the video, you should note that a theme is more than a
single word. Many students will not write thematic statements
like the example from Frozen: "Don't close out people that you
love." Rather, they'll give an example of a motif, like
"loneliness." REMEMBER: Symbols are concrete objects (the
doors) or maybe a color that has cultural significance.
A motif is usually a representation of symbols, perhaps love,
friendship, loneliness, or perseverance. A theme or thematic
statement will be an author's ultimate message that likely has
nothing to do with the plot itself. Like in the video, Frozen's
plot has to do with two sisters, one with magical powers. Yet,
its message is much more universal and - the filmmakers would
argue - should be applied to all human lives.
For this discussion, you will indicate an understanding of these
three literary elements. You will list - in this order - the title, a
symbol, a motif, and a theme from one of the Hemingway
stories you read.
While not a Hemingway story, this provides an example of what
I'm looking for:
Title: "Little Red Riding Hood"
Symbol: Grandma's Clothes
Motif: Trustworthiness
Theme: Everyone - especially children - should be wary of
strangers.
Hemingway's Short Stories
Now let's use our skills in finding literary terms as we read
some of Hemingway's texts.
Definitely read these:
"
Cat in the Rain
Links to an external site."
"
Hills Like White Elephants

And choose one more of the following:
"
The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber
"
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
"
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
If you get lost as to the meaning in any of these (as many do for
"Hills Like White Elephants"), Hemingway is a very well
studied writer; you will have no trouble finding synopses on the
internet to support your reading. This doesn't mean that you
shouldn't try. Read the text, pull your best guesses as to
symbols, motifs, and thematic statements. Should you then
need, find support from the internet, then go back into the story
to reevaluate.
Ernest Hemingway is arguably the most important literary
figure of the 20th Century. Before his work, writers would fill
pages with needless, flowery detail as if they were being paid
by the word. Hemingway - with the encouragement of his
mentor and colleague, Gertrude Stein - went the other way. His
work is noticeably sparse. He leaves a lot to readers to imagine
for figure out. His method is too extreme for academic writers
who never want to leave ideas up to readers to figure out;
everything needs to be spelled out to be convincing. As a

literary writer, though, his iceberg technique demands that
readers be attentive and imaginative. This means that he gives
critics like us a LOT to work with as we analyze his texts.
Here's an infographic on the iceberg theory:
Take, for instance, his short story, "Baby Shoes," the shortest
short story in the English language, clocking in at a mere six
words:
That's it. But what can we extrapolate from these six words?
These are not wealthy people, right? They have to - in their
grief - concern themselves with posting this sale in the
newspaper. That's an extreme poverty. We could easily analyze
these six words to discuss the impacts of poverty on parenting,
especially grieving parents.
While you would NEVER leave this much interpretation up to
readers of your academic essays, the concept of being concise is
important to academic writers as well. Check out
this advice on wordiness
for standardized test takers. It gives quality points for writers.
However, let's take a moment for some literary writing. For this
assignment, write a short story: ten words or less. It shouldn't
sound like a fortune cookie. There should be an insinuation of
characters and their lives or values like in "Baby Shoes." Do
your best, and remember this lesson when you edit your work to
eliminate words and phrases that don't need to be there
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