our culture

I think that a new book should be written regarding how Google has transformed our culture. I use Google Search but not nearly as much as I use Google docs, Gmail, etc. I think we should talk about how Google has transformed our culture and web usage.

Thoughts on the Book

So I finally finished the book.

Google Today and Tomorrow
This Chapter just went over some things that have been happening recently and some of their plans

Perfect Search
Battelle gives his thoughts on the idea of perfect search. He talks about a world where everything is tagged as completely as possible to make it realistic for us to search for stuff and recieve every possible answer out there.
Discussion Question: What do you think about a world where every single thing, your keys, and kids location, is searchable on Google?

In the very final chapter, written in retrospect, Battelle discusses the governments demand for an entire report on Google's index of porn, and they refused.
Discussion Question: Who is ultimatly responsible/ the owner of the Internet?

Overall I hated the beginning and loved the end. Its as though they should be two seperate sections. Although the History of Search is interesting in and of itself, I don't think it is essential for the second half of the book.

I think it would be interesting to do some further research into what has changed, where Google is, and where all its competitors are. It was funny to read about things Google was "thinking" about doing. For example Google, during the books time, claimed not to be looking into having its own wireless, but now they are coming out with The Fiber.

~Christina

Another Discussion Question Idea..

Google's mantra "Don't Be Evil" seems like common sense, but in the Google world of information and power their responsibility has proven to be a very subjective matter. What are some of the ways in which Google must be careful with their immense power?

• Google Maps/Reverse number look up
• Changing algorithms and hurting legit small businesses
• How Google manages all the personal information it compiles - PATRIOT ACT
• China censorship problem..

Can you think of any that aren't mentioned in the book?

Some thoughts...

After reading more and more of The Search, I feel like the best decision is to not recommend this book in its entirety. There is a lot of superfluous information that doesn't really follow the main content of a course on networking information and/or the wisdom of crowds. Chapter 7 is an example of this. Titled "The Search Economy, this section of the book is more focused on those individuals who have made money off of the Google business model and their search engine. Although interesting, it doesn't really provide a lot information that would be necessary for such a course. On the other hand, sections like Chapters 1-3 fit in perfectly. So instead of assigning the whole book, there are specific portions of The Search that would provide good supplemental knowledge to the course.

Overture and Google

The story of Bill Gross and Overture is one of the most interesting stories in the book in my eyes. Gross was the one that really figured all of this out but Google are the ones that are making billions off of his idea. Gross obviously has done fine for himself but he is still the one that really figured out this multi billion dollar industry, he just couldn't put all the pieces together.

It reminds me of the Microsoft/Apple backstory a little bit in the sense that Google more or less stole his idea, made it theirs, and made it work. Gross is by no means failing and he has been plenty successful, I just think it's crazy that he made all of it happen and no one remembers him, Overture, or GoTo.

Potential Discussion Questions

Here are just a couple potential discussion questions that I've came up with that we can talk about in our meeting.

1. What are some ways that contextual search styled advertising could play a part in non internet business?

2. What are some privacy concerns associated with search that Google has had to deal with?

3. Explain the connection between backlinks and research paper citation

4. Why are backlinks the most effective means to categorize sites? How does this relate to the networking content we have studied in the course?

Presentation

I was thinking that starting a Google Doc/Presenation would allow us to throw idea on the powerpoint for the presentation. This way we have an outline before we meet and the time spent in the meeting is cut down. here is the link. invites have been sent.

here is the link:
https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=dgm977fm_24gtj4g6cz