ISOJ 2006

1. Visualizing Technology:
Images in Google and Yahoo News Aggregators
Dr. Cindy Royal
Assistant Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University
School of Mass Communications

2. Abstract
• 24% of Internet users have searched the Internet for news, photographs
or videos that other media outlets have decided not to publish or
broadcast.
• 67% of the adult American population goes online, including 68% of men
and 66% of women with women slightly outnumbering men in the
Internet population because they make up a greater share of the overall
U.S. population.
• Differences exist in the quality of one’s usage based on gender.
• Men are more interested in technology and more tech-savvy than
women.
• With such significant differences in the quality of ones usage of
technology being determined by gender, it is important to understand the
cultural and social reasons for such diverse patterns.
• Images in online media can influence how we imagine our roles in
society. This study analyzes the framing of images representing
technology on two popular news aggregators, Google News and Yahoo
News.
*Pew Internet and American Life Project Studies

3. Literature Review
• Framing - “Frames are organizing principles that are socially
shared and persistent over time, that work symbolically to
meaningfully structure the social world.” (Reese, 2001) When
used by the media in setting the context of a story, framing can
promote certain values and discourage others.
• Feminist Media - representations of women in media, women’s
magazines, women’s usage of telephone and television,
discourses of the private sphere
• Cyberfeminism - “a woman-centered perspective that
advocates women’s use of new information and
communications technology for empowerment.” (Millar, 1998)

4. Method
• Visited Google and Yahoo News sites daily for 15 consecutive days
from January 18 – February 1, 2006
• A total of 513 images collected; 273 images were analyzed for Google
and 240 for Yahoo
• Sites were visited at 8am each morning to simulate the viewing habits
of a user surfing for news early in the day
• On the Google site, the news category Science/Technology was visited.
On the Yahoo site, the Technology category was visited.
• The pages were saved in pdf format and later printed out in order to
perform the analysis
• Coded site, main character, no. of people, gender, and usage
• Second coder used on sample, agreement 90% or better on each
variable
• Data imported to SPSS for summarization and analysis

7. Hypotheses tested
• H1: Images of inanimate objects are used more frequently than humans on both search
engines to represent technology, thus indicating the disembodied nature of society’s view of
technology.
• H2: Of the images of inanimate objects, corporate logos will represent a significant
percentage. This will indicate the power of corporate presence in media representations of
technology.
• H3: Images of individuals are used more frequently than groups thus romanticizing the idea
of the lone inventor or programmer on the technological frontier.
• H4: Images of men are predominant in representing Technology thus representing the male
dominance of the technology field.
• H5: While individuals are more likely to be used to depict technology, men will be more likely
to be shown as individuals than women.
• H6: Men are more likely to be depicted as technology executives or using technology; women
more likely to be seen as objects, not engaging with technology.

8. Main Character in Image
19.4%
49.2%
1.8%
0.4%
37.0%
20.0%
41.8%
30.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Google Yahoo
% of Total Images
Humans
Animals
Logo
Other

9. No. of People in Image
67.9%
70.3%
9.4%
11.9%
1.9%
3.4%
20.8%
14.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Google Yahoo
% of Human Images
1
2
3
4 or more

10. Gender
50.9%
77.1%
26.4%
12.7%
15.1%
6.8%7.5%
3.4%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Google Yahoo
% of Human Images
Male
Female
Mixed
Undetermined

11. Gender of Individuals
61.1%
78.3%
27.8%
18.1%
11.1%
3.6%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Google Yahoo
% of Images of Individuals
Male
Female
Mixed
Undetermined

12. Usage by Gender
83.3%
97.7%
9.1%
73.1%
58.3%
61.2%
16.7%
2.3%
63.6%
15.4% 16.7%
20.4%
9.1% 7.7%
19.4%
12.2%
18.2%
3.8%
5.6% 6.1%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Google Yahoo Google Yahoo Google Yahoo
Exec User Non-user
% of Images within Usage Categories
Male
Female
Mixed
Undetermined

13. Conclusions
• Symbolic annihilation (Tuchman) is still relevant in
media images, particularly in regard to technology
coverage
• Women portrayed less often and with different usage
patterns than men in images depicting technology
• Inanimate objects and corporate logos are often used
to represent technology, even as the Internet
becomes more of a communications medium
• Further analysis should include continued research
on the ways that images of technology are used to
influence our idea of who uses it and how it is
engaged (race, ethnicity, age); experimentation to
determine how users engage with images.