march05ff.indd


G a r y  P a t t i l l o  

Search engines: advertising vs. natural results 
Only 38 percent of search engine users are aware of the distinction between 
paid search results and unpaid or “natural” results. One in six users report they 
can always tell which results are paid or sponsored and which are not. Over 
one­third of users said they were unaware that Internet search results are a mix 
of regular search listings and sponsored links. 
Deborah Fallows. “Search Engine Users: Internet searchers are confi dent, satisfied and trusting – but they are also unaware 
and naïve,” Pew Internet & American Life Project, January 23, 2005. 
www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/146/report_display.asp. 

Interplanetary Internet 
The Interplanetary Internet Study aims to build a new Internet across the solar 
system. It would help scientists understand other planets and aid astronauts in 
their communications with earth. Networking in the space environment will 
require new techniques and technologies to be developed. Plans for Mars and 
Jupiter are already under consideration. 
Interplanetary Internet Project, January 27, 2005. www.ipnsig.org/home.htm. 

Higher Education Research Institute freshman survey 
“A record high 47.2 percent of 2004 entering freshmen believe that there is a 
very good chance that they will get a job to help pay for college expenses, com­
pared to a low of 35.3 percent in 1989. More women (53.3 percent) than men 
(39.6 percent) currently indicate that there is a very good chance they will seek 
employment during college.” This is one result of the latest Higher Education 
Research Institute freshman survey. More students also plan to rely on family 
support and loans to cover their educational expenses. 
The American Freshman: National Norms for 2004, Higher Education Research Institute, Press Release, January 31, 2005. 
www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/04_press_release.pdf. 

Brazilians like spam 

lib.unc.edu 

C&RL News March 2005  272 

Gary Pattillo is reference librarian at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, e-mail: pattillo@refstaff. 

According to a Forrester Data research study, 41 percent of American consumers 
have purchased an item as a result of receiving unsolicited commercial e­mail. In 
Brazil, 66 percent of consumers have done the same. Online consumers are more 
likely to purchase software from junk e­mail than any other type of product. 
“Consumer Attitudes Toward Spam in Six Countries,” December 9, 2004. 
www.bsa.org/usa/events/loader.cfm?url=/commonspot/security/getfi le.cfm&pageid=20654&hitboxdone=yes. 

Ivy League losing prestige 
Today’s Fortune 100 executives are younger, more of them are female, and fewer 
were educated at elite institutions than in the 1980s. In 2001, just 10 percent of 
the top executives at Fortune 100 companies—the 100 largest by revenue—had 
an Ivy League undergraduate degree. That’s a drop of four percentage points 
from the number of Ivy League–educated executives in 1980. 
Peter Cappelli and Monika Hamori. “The New Road to the Top,” Harvard Business Review. (2005): 83, no. 1, 25. 

http:lib.unc.edu
www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/04_press_release.pdf
www.ipnsig.org/home.htm
www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/146/report_display.asp