[Electronic Language is the tool we use to communicate when using computers connected together, particularly on the Internet. Find a fuller explanation of Electronic Language here.]
We can ask the question “How do I read electronic language?” in another way that will help us to understand. “How do I decode a particular text?” or “How do I read the search engine Google?” (This is like asking, how do I read John Grisham’s novel “The Chamber”.)
To explain this, it will be easier to show you someone writing about their reading of Google. Let us work through the following. This is a discussion about how Google does something:
|
|
|
Google treats same page differently
depending on search terms |
|
snowfox121
Junior Member
joined:Apr 15, 2002
posts:75
msg #:1 |
5:15 am on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
If I do a search on "blue widgets," my page "widget.htm" comes up in the results with a fresh date of Dec. 26.
If I do a search on "widgets" the same page "widget.htm" comes up in the results but with no fresh date.
How can this be? Both results point to the same page, which google has obviously visited on the 26th. Why this difference in the results? |
|
rfgdxm1
Senior Member
joined:May 12, 2002
posts:982
msg #:2 |
5:29 am on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
You probably hit a different box the second time that hadn't yet got the fresh page. Google isn't one computer. It's a bunch of Linux boxen in 7 datacenters around the world. |
|
snowfox121
Junior Member
joined:Apr 15, 2002
posts:75
msg #:3 |
5:32 am on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
oy, thanks. |
|
soapystar
Preferred Member
joined:June 19, 2002
posts:309
msg #:4 |
5:37 am on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
may not be the case here..but ive noticed that google will serve the most relevant version of my homepage.....if the fresh tag is more relevant i get that..sometimes ive seen it serve a chached page more than 3 months old.... |
|
Powdork
Preferred Member
joined:Sept 13, 2002
posts:316
msg #:5 |
6:44 am on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
You probably hit a different box the second time that hadn't yet got the fresh page. Google isn't one computer. It's a bunch of Linux boxen in 7 datacenters around the world. |
|
I posted this same question once before and got the same answer. However, as I'm sure is probably the case with the lovely snowfox, no matter how many times you try the two searches, it keeps happening. This would suggest that different searches automatically are routed through different centers rather than randomly or according to traffic. I doubt this and am inclined to follow soapystar along the lines of relevancy. That is; for awhile, while the minty freshness is being updated, the index can consist of both pages (fresh and stale) and will return the most relevant of the two.
|
|
jomaxx
Junior Member
joined:Nov 6, 2002
posts:67
msg #:6 |
8:32 am on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
Similar experience here. The fresh page normally comes up, but for searches that don't match the fresh version, the regular index page can be served up instead. And quite a few times I've seen pages from previous indexing cycles as well. |
|
stevenha
Full Member
joined:Apr 15, 2002
posts:87
msg #:7 |
6:36 pm on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
I thought of another possibility. I am presuming that Google pre-calculates and stores the SERPs for thousands-or-millions of the most common search requests. Doing so could save a huge amount of computations. ( But it would still do the full ranking computation for rarer complicated searches.)
In order to mix in minty fresh results, Google would probably create a cycle for "expiring" its pre-calculated SERPs, so that new ones can be re-calculated periodically. Depending on the randomness of that cycling process, the amount of minty fresh results available will vary. Does that sound plausible? (As usual around here, I'm totally guessing.) |
|
snowfox121
Junior Member
joined:Apr 15, 2002
posts:75
msg #:8 |
6:53 pm on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
That is very interesting. Now 24 hours later, the Google results are exactly the same. i looked at the cache and the one that is not fresh goes back several months. It also DOES relate to a common internet search phrase, so you might have something there. |
|
rfgdxm1
Senior Member
joined:May 12, 2002
posts:982
msg #:9 |
7:07 pm on Dec 27, 2002 (utc 0) |
|
Interesting theory, stevenha. It would make some sense to cache the most commonly searched phrases, rather than have to them over and over again. This cache could have a time to live value the same way ISPs do the same thing with DNS caching. Once the cache hit the time to live value, it would be deleted, and replaced with a new cache the next time someone did that search. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hosted by Westhost.com
Terms of service ¦ Privacy Policy ¦ About
All trademarks and copyrights held by respective owners.
Member comments are owned by the poster.
BestBBS v3.1 (c) WebmasterWorld.com 1998-2003 all rights reserved
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/7946.htm
Snowfox121 is reporting an incident where he was reading Google. Just like someone might go to a particular page and paragraph in a book by John Grisham, Snowfox121 turned to a particular type of interaction Google has with its readers.
Snowfox121 sets up a search of Google for “blue widgets”, he receives a response from Google. He then sets up another search “widgets” and gets a result. He compares the results and seeks to answer what is going on. This is an act of reading electronic language.
Let us set this out. An act of reading electronic language involves:
- Setting up an electronic language environment;
- Selecting particular input into the electronic text;
- Receiving the output;
- Analyzing what the electronic text does.
Snowfox121 opens his browser on his personal computer, connects to the internet and points his browser to Google (this is step 1 in this reading activity). Then, he tests Google with two inputs “blue widgets” and “widgets” (this is step 2 in this reading activity.) He receives the output of the two tests (step 3) and analyzes the results to interpret what is going on (step 4). In fact, the rest of the discussion in this forum entry focuses on step 4 in this reading process. Powdork at 6:44 am on Dec 27 came up with one reading, and Stevenha comes up with another reading at 6:36 pm Dec 27. Rfgdxm1 finally come to a conclusion and finalizes the reading for this time.
We will work a number of reading activities through this book. Essentially, you should understand that reading electronic language can be done individually, although, you will get a much better understanding by having different inputs in a reading discussion as seen in this example. While the activities in steps 1-3 are done individually and you may come to a reserved conclusion in step 4, you may wish to discuss the reading with others to arrive at a conclusion. This may also be reserved until you later show more evidence; although it is also wise to always be tentative about any reading, as programmers may change the text, a business may cause the text to be changed, or additional entries in the enormous database may change the results. So while we arrive at conclusions, we need always to be open to re-read.
12:08:29 AM 
|
|
