Deep Web definition

Firstly, a definition of my own:

The ‘shallow/surface web’ is ‘stuff’ you know that you don’t know, and includes a cake recipe, an address and website of a business, social media, to the latest headlines about celebrities. Sometimes ‘paywalled’ (hello, #NewsCorpse!) but still reasonably (or very) easy to access. It is the tip of the ‘information’ iceberg, if a ‘tip’ includes eleventy billion hits on a search query. 😲

The ‘deep web’ is the base of the iceberg – stuff you don’t know that you don’t know. Deep Web is usually paywalled, and often very expensive to purchase. Thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it often where the research and academic information which extends and examines our understanding resides. 😔

The deep web should not be confused with the ‘dark’ web. Parts of dark web are the slimy underside of the iceberg where the bottom-dwellers live. It is stuff that you know is there but don’t want or need to know anything else about. The dark web is possibly the most secure part of the web, because they know what they are doing is ethically and morally wrong but don’t want to be caught. Stay away from this part of the dark web. 🤭

The dark web is also used to protect the anonymity of sources in journalism, national security, and government. Whilst not strictly ‘slimy’, the lack of transparency around what might be hidden in this part of the dark web is disquieting. 🤔

I have an incomplete blog post from the December 2011 SLAV Conference where Joyce Valenza was speaking. Dr. Valenza introduced her talk about better searching, and why Google isn’t it, with the iceberg analogy above. Unfortunately, my mind was so blown I didn’t include any notes about the talk on my blog (I suspect they are ‘somewhere’ 🤷‍♀️ in my papers). Despite starting my career in university libraries, using paper indexes like APAIS and ERIC to assist students, it had not occurred to me until that point that students in primary and secondary should also have access to databases beyond World Book and Britannica. My realisation about access did not, however, result in corresponding monetary support from my school administration and the deep web continues to remain an elusive source for students in most schools, particularly students in state schools, where funding of libraries is woefully inadequate, and/or those without a library manager/teacher librarian.

Dictionary.com. [n.d.]. The Deep Web vs. The Dark Web: Do You Know The Difference? Retrieved March 13 2021. https://www.dictionary.com/e/dark-web/