While reading the book The Googlization of everything (And Why We Should Worry) by Siva Vaidhyanathan, I could not help but think of when friend of mine proved a doctor wrong and diagnosed herself with tonsillitis. And how did she manage that? She Googled her symptoms! With Google she was able to come to the true conclusion while the doctor with years of schooling and medical training was not. When retelling this story to me she enthusiastically stated "who needs doctors when I have Google?!" Moral of the story: WHO NEEDS ANYTHING WHEN THEY HAVE GOOGLE?
Google has all the answers. For as long as I can remember, Google has been the most dominant browser on the Internet. It has been set as my home screen for when I launch the Internet for years. There has never been a moment when I haven't gone to Google first when conducting an Internet search. Why is this? Because Google is trustworthy. Or at least it keeps up the illusion of being so.
So let's start at the beginning; where did Google come from? Well for starters it was invented in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Both PhD students at Stanford University. It originally ran under the Stanford website and eventually morphed into the leading browser in the Internet industry.
Before Google there was no organization to the web. Simply put, it was chaos. There was no hierarchy, there were other search engines, but none powerful or larger enough to handle the high demand of individual users. Because of this, when Google came into the picture there was no arguments, no fight for dominance. Google took control when no one else would. There was no voting in the decision, it just happened. These events can be compared to when Julius Caesar took over the state of Rome when it was in its own chaos. Once he had the power he maintained control through vast popular support by the people. Google did the exact same thing and has continued to do so over the years.
So how does Google manage to remain so popular even with all of the other competition out there? Google has figured out a way to make the web friendly. Not everyone can be tech-savvy Internet Einsteins. Google is aware of that and so they made the Internet user-friendly. Vaishyanathan said "Google has ensured that the web is a calmer, friendlier, less controversial and frightening medium - as long as one used Google to navigate it." (Vaishyanathan, 14). Google provides us with the notion that it knows how to make our lives better and that we do not need to worry about the minute details because it will take care of it for us. What sane person would turn that offer down? To let a search engine take care of all of the stressful details of our lives. However, we are blinded by the miracles of Google, we do not notice how it exerts control over its domain.(Vaishyanathan, 14).
Another way in which Google stays on top is by offering a wide variety of services. Over the years Google has developed dozens of user-friendly services. For example, Chrome, cloud, Google Books, Google Maps, Google Earth, G-mail, etc. Although not all of these services are the best in their respective categories, people prefer to keep all of their information with one organization as opposed to having everything sprawled out. Due to this, other firms still cannot compete even though when it comes down to it, their specific operating system may be better.
In the early years of Google, it was at its core, search engine. However over the years, it has morphed into an advertising agency. Advertisement are what keep Google running. We go to Google for search results, advertising companies go to it for a chance to make money. Many may not realize it, but Google does sell a product; our attention. Google utilizes the fact that it has countless people using it everyday and allows advertising companies to insert their personal ads on side bars and in pop-ups when we preform simple searches. We are being sold without even knowing it. So how does Google decide who gets what ad-space? Google keeps track of what each individual searches (they also take into account one's geographical location) and which sites are the most popular. They then take that data and give it to the advertising companies. It is then up to the advertisers to choose which sits they want, then comes the bidding war. This is where Google makes their profits. The highest bidder owes Google the second highest bid and in return gets the ad-space they want. The most unbelievable thing about all of this is the fact that it happens every time you hit enter. Every time there is a search, Google has an auction and someone buys advertising space on your computer screen. "In 2008 Google earned more than $21 billion (97 percent of its revenue) from online advertisements." (Vaishyanathan, 27).
"But overall, no single state, firm, or institution in the world has as much power over web-based activity as Google does." (Vaishyanathan, 14).
Google runs the world, or at least the world wide web.
For now anyways.
References:
"Julius Caesar." The Roman Empire. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.roman-empire.net/republic/caesar-index.html>.
Vaidhyanathan, Siva. "One: Render Unto Caesar (How Google Came to Rule the Web)." The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry). Berkeley: University of California, 2011. Print.
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Tuesday, 14 February 2012
Learning to Read
Who teaches us how to read?
For myself it was my parents and my grade school teachers. They taught me what each letter sounded like and what happened when you put a bunch of those sounds together; they create words. We then learn that each of these words have a different meaning and that those meanings can change depending on how they are used. These words and meanings are everywhere. We have developed our brains to the point that we can analyze these simple words without even realizing it.
When you're in school, the goal is to learn new words and expand your vocabulary. With each and every passing year, the words got longer and harder to understand. What was the point of this? Put simply to make us smarter and to give us the opportunity to achieve great things.
But does this concept still apply today? Do we still need to be savvy in this challenging language? Or have new technologies, particularly text messaging and the Internet, made it possible for us to revert back to the simple words we learned in grade school.
In my personal opinion, people have given up on widening their knowledge. People have become content with having the vocabulary of a grade-schooler. Not to say that people are no longer intelligent, because they still are, but in a different way. Instead of putting effort into writing essays and great novels, people are writing in the form of blogs, and posts, and texts. Due to the formatting of these mediums, impressive words are "obsolete". They have become unnecessary and impossible to use because audiences do not understand them. Its not that they can't, its the fact that our brains today are moving so quickly that they no longer have the time to pause and carefully read what is in front of them. The words that can keep up with this pace are short and simple. Abbreviations have become popular and words are now spelt differently. For example, instead of typing "I'll be right back" one would type "brb". Or in stead of spelling out the word skater, one would spell it sk8er. All of this because it is faster and easier to understand. One could argue that having the brain of a grade-schooler is now acceptable and intelligence is no longer privilege to a scholarly vocabulary.
We did not learn this new language from our parents and our teachers. No we created it ourselves and have designed machines (computers) to communicate with us in this new language. The invention of the computer has made it almost impossible for us to read anymore. In the past reading long essays that consisted of hundreds of words was an easy task. However, now-a-days one cannot get through more than 30-50 words without being distracted by numerous pop-up ads, pictures, and other links. As Marshall McLuhan said: "Media are not just channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought." We no longer think for ourselves. Computers tell us how to think and give us the information to think about. In the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Barr, he states "And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski."
Contrary to all of this, some would argue that we are reading more today than we ever have in the past. In a way this is true, as I have previously stated we are always reading and analyzing. However it is a different kind of reading and a new kind of analyzing and thinking.
Our reading skills are not the only thing that has taken a hit. Our ability to write has also been changed by computers. When writing in silence, with nothing but the sound of your pen against the paper, words tend to be more personal and elegant. In contrast, when typing on a keyboard, words have a tendency to be computerized. They lack style and emotion, instead they sound like they could have been put together by a cyborg or robot.
Overall computers and the Internet have changed the way we understand the simplest of words. What we learned in grade school has never been more useful.
For myself it was my parents and my grade school teachers. They taught me what each letter sounded like and what happened when you put a bunch of those sounds together; they create words. We then learn that each of these words have a different meaning and that those meanings can change depending on how they are used. These words and meanings are everywhere. We have developed our brains to the point that we can analyze these simple words without even realizing it.
When you're in school, the goal is to learn new words and expand your vocabulary. With each and every passing year, the words got longer and harder to understand. What was the point of this? Put simply to make us smarter and to give us the opportunity to achieve great things.
But does this concept still apply today? Do we still need to be savvy in this challenging language? Or have new technologies, particularly text messaging and the Internet, made it possible for us to revert back to the simple words we learned in grade school.
In my personal opinion, people have given up on widening their knowledge. People have become content with having the vocabulary of a grade-schooler. Not to say that people are no longer intelligent, because they still are, but in a different way. Instead of putting effort into writing essays and great novels, people are writing in the form of blogs, and posts, and texts. Due to the formatting of these mediums, impressive words are "obsolete". They have become unnecessary and impossible to use because audiences do not understand them. Its not that they can't, its the fact that our brains today are moving so quickly that they no longer have the time to pause and carefully read what is in front of them. The words that can keep up with this pace are short and simple. Abbreviations have become popular and words are now spelt differently. For example, instead of typing "I'll be right back" one would type "brb". Or in stead of spelling out the word skater, one would spell it sk8er. All of this because it is faster and easier to understand. One could argue that having the brain of a grade-schooler is now acceptable and intelligence is no longer privilege to a scholarly vocabulary.
We did not learn this new language from our parents and our teachers. No we created it ourselves and have designed machines (computers) to communicate with us in this new language. The invention of the computer has made it almost impossible for us to read anymore. In the past reading long essays that consisted of hundreds of words was an easy task. However, now-a-days one cannot get through more than 30-50 words without being distracted by numerous pop-up ads, pictures, and other links. As Marshall McLuhan said: "Media are not just channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought." We no longer think for ourselves. Computers tell us how to think and give us the information to think about. In the article, Is Google Making Us Stupid? by Nicholas Barr, he states "And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski."
Contrary to all of this, some would argue that we are reading more today than we ever have in the past. In a way this is true, as I have previously stated we are always reading and analyzing. However it is a different kind of reading and a new kind of analyzing and thinking.
Our reading skills are not the only thing that has taken a hit. Our ability to write has also been changed by computers. When writing in silence, with nothing but the sound of your pen against the paper, words tend to be more personal and elegant. In contrast, when typing on a keyboard, words have a tendency to be computerized. They lack style and emotion, instead they sound like they could have been put together by a cyborg or robot.
Overall computers and the Internet have changed the way we understand the simplest of words. What we learned in grade school has never been more useful.
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