Ibadan Journal of the Social Sciences
Volume 6, No. 2, 2008
Pages 167-177
DOI: 10.36108/ijss/8002.60.0260
Web Searching in a Nigerian Language: An Assessment of Google Yoruba
Oladokun Omojola
Mass Communication Department,
Covenant University, Ota Nigeria
Abstract
This study assess the audience rating of www.google.com/int/yo/, the Yoruba Language interface website of Google search engine named “Google Ede Oyinbo” but dabbed “Google Yoruba’ in this paper for easy reference. The study begins with the level of awareness which is expressed in terms of actual visit to the site. A survey of the rating of the satisfaction derived by the audience from five expectation categories was carried twice in two years across literate; web experienced members of five age groups. The findings from the two survey, which correlate, shows that awareness was low and in fact, those who had actually paid visit to the site with evidence of response to queries where not enthusiastic about the satisfaction they derived with regard to their expectations. This uninspiring attitude, come about not only as a result of limited service offering at the site but attributably as a result of audience intrinsic challenges which owe much to colonial legacy interference.
Keywords: Google Yoruha. audience awareness, audience expectations, web search