Friday, August 29, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Google is a Tool
What did we do years ago before the Internet became popular? How did we get the information for a project or research paper? What about just wanting to resolve our curiosity on a particular subject? What did we rely on? Yes I agree, the library, encyclopedias. Back when I a was a kid, before my brain was flooded with countless information from the Internet, I can remember spending hours at a time reading encyclopedias about species of snakes that I heard about on television. It was fascinating to me at the time that information on nearly every specie of snake that I was looking for can be found in the encyclopedia. But I wanted to know more then the encyclopedia was able to provide. So I began going to the library and checking out books that had more specific information on these charming snakes. I just wanted to know all that there was to know. Then Google entered my life and made this possible.
All it took was a few keywords, “Red-tail Boa Constrictor ”, and a click of the search button. I was immediately overwhelmed by massive amounts of links. So I began clicking on links after links, each time discovering something new, something I wouldn't find in a normal book at the library- images, videos, care information, every detail that there was to know. Practically everything that I would want to know about a particular subject can be found on websites through the Internet. Google is just a tool that's helps us find those websites. It is like a gigantic advanced library.
In the article titled Is Google Making us Stupid, Carr describes how the Internet has changed the way he takes in information, “a swiftly moving stream of particles”. He interprets this as the way he now reads, no longer being able to read long lines of text- skimming or “surfing” for information. But that's what the Internet is for right? Finding information. Researching. So who's fault is it if we get distracted and start to stumble on to other links? Google's? Is Google actually making us stupid? I thought Google's search engine was a way of finding information, so how can that make us stupid? Google in my opinion is like a tool, helping us to accomplish specific tasks.
Carr states, “the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.” “The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought.” It seems that Carr interprets Google advertising as a bad thing, but is it really? I mean how else is Google going to make money and keep its business from crashing? I would be crushed if that ever happened. Google is the most useful tool I have. However, I do agree with Carr that Google would not want to encourage slow reading on their site, but maybe Google is not the place for slow reading. I searched the word “Book” in Google and what came up was not surprising. Barnes and Nobles and Amazon, both websites that sell Books. So maybe Google is telling us that if wanted leisurely reading, maybe we should read a Book instead of being on Google.
So to answer the question, “Is Google Making us Stupid”. In my opinion I would have to say no. Like any other tool, Google helps us accomplish specific tasks by finding the information we need. We can not have all the information in the world stored in our brain. It is just not possible. After all, “The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.” Right?
All it took was a few keywords, “Red-tail Boa Constrictor ”, and a click of the search button. I was immediately overwhelmed by massive amounts of links. So I began clicking on links after links, each time discovering something new, something I wouldn't find in a normal book at the library- images, videos, care information, every detail that there was to know. Practically everything that I would want to know about a particular subject can be found on websites through the Internet. Google is just a tool that's helps us find those websites. It is like a gigantic advanced library.
In the article titled Is Google Making us Stupid, Carr describes how the Internet has changed the way he takes in information, “a swiftly moving stream of particles”. He interprets this as the way he now reads, no longer being able to read long lines of text- skimming or “surfing” for information. But that's what the Internet is for right? Finding information. Researching. So who's fault is it if we get distracted and start to stumble on to other links? Google's? Is Google actually making us stupid? I thought Google's search engine was a way of finding information, so how can that make us stupid? Google in my opinion is like a tool, helping us to accomplish specific tasks.
Carr states, “the more links we click and pages we view—the more opportunities Google and other companies gain to collect information about us and to feed us advertisements.” “The last thing these companies want is to encourage leisurely reading or slow, concentrated thought.” It seems that Carr interprets Google advertising as a bad thing, but is it really? I mean how else is Google going to make money and keep its business from crashing? I would be crushed if that ever happened. Google is the most useful tool I have. However, I do agree with Carr that Google would not want to encourage slow reading on their site, but maybe Google is not the place for slow reading. I searched the word “Book” in Google and what came up was not surprising. Barnes and Nobles and Amazon, both websites that sell Books. So maybe Google is telling us that if wanted leisurely reading, maybe we should read a Book instead of being on Google.
So to answer the question, “Is Google Making us Stupid”. In my opinion I would have to say no. Like any other tool, Google helps us accomplish specific tasks by finding the information we need. We can not have all the information in the world stored in our brain. It is just not possible. After all, “The human brain is just an outdated computer that needs a faster processor and a bigger hard drive.” Right?
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Advertising Works
Last summer I tried experimenting, making a website of my own, which I gave up on after a week. If you visit it, you can see that all I really have on the homepage is a couple of Google ads. If these ads were to be clicked, Google would probably pay me about 20 cents or so. In a year long term, about forty people actually visited my page and clicked on the ads, and I ended up making a whopping fifteen dollars. So you could imagine how much Myspace makes on advertising. I also have open source or “free” software that I installed, such as chat and an media player. I even installed a free forum software which I later uninstalled because of multiple spamming and advertising of pornographic websites that were posted on it. I couldn't believe that other websites would actually take the time to spam my forum with advertisements. If websites are willing to advertise on a small site like mine, that practically has no visitors, then why not pay a popular website like Myspace a few bucks to advertise their website to the world.
Many websites are paid to put advertisements on them, including Myspace. Whether a fan page or self made, nearly everyone that is famous has some sort of Myspace page. Many Artists or Musicians uses their Myspace page as an way to promote their music, and it works. Just look at Coldplay's Myspace page, they have over 20 million views and over 400 thousand friends. In my opinion, it was a smart move on Cartier's part to pay Myspace for a page on their massive network. Cartier is promoting their jewelry the same way artists are promoting their music. Myspace is a huge networking website that has millions of users nation wide, and Cartier is just taking advantage of the Myspace technology, and using it as a form of media to communicate to consumers . So by paying Myspace to advertise their products, Cartier's name will spread like chain letters throughout the Myspace world.
In our discussion about open source software, John enlightened us on what open source software actually is and mentioned that there is an open source version of word that is available for download free of charge. Kara brought up a good question, “Do you think Microsoft would be mad?”. This was really interesting. At first I thought that Microsoft would be mad, why wouldn't they?. I mean who would want to pay a hundred dollars for something, when they can practically get the same thing for free. Microsoft would be losing valuable consumers and money to open source software. Then I realized that Microsoft like Myspace is well known. I've never heard of OpenOffice.org until John mentioned it in class and doubt that many people actually uses OpenOffice.org. The fact is that whether its software, music, or jewelry, if its not well known then people won't pay attention to it.
Many websites are paid to put advertisements on them, including Myspace. Whether a fan page or self made, nearly everyone that is famous has some sort of Myspace page. Many Artists or Musicians uses their Myspace page as an way to promote their music, and it works. Just look at Coldplay's Myspace page, they have over 20 million views and over 400 thousand friends. In my opinion, it was a smart move on Cartier's part to pay Myspace for a page on their massive network. Cartier is promoting their jewelry the same way artists are promoting their music. Myspace is a huge networking website that has millions of users nation wide, and Cartier is just taking advantage of the Myspace technology, and using it as a form of media to communicate to consumers . So by paying Myspace to advertise their products, Cartier's name will spread like chain letters throughout the Myspace world.
In our discussion about open source software, John enlightened us on what open source software actually is and mentioned that there is an open source version of word that is available for download free of charge. Kara brought up a good question, “Do you think Microsoft would be mad?”. This was really interesting. At first I thought that Microsoft would be mad, why wouldn't they?. I mean who would want to pay a hundred dollars for something, when they can practically get the same thing for free. Microsoft would be losing valuable consumers and money to open source software. Then I realized that Microsoft like Myspace is well known. I've never heard of OpenOffice.org until John mentioned it in class and doubt that many people actually uses OpenOffice.org. The fact is that whether its software, music, or jewelry, if its not well known then people won't pay attention to it.
Monday, August 4, 2008
My First Blog Post
I have never written a blog before now. However, being a runner, I do keep a daily log of all my runs, workouts, and mileage progressions and then write a brief description about how my run went. Unlike a blog, instead of posting my log online for others to read, I keep it on my hard disk for future references. I have read blogs of other athletes to get their perspective on things such as training and workouts. To me, a blog is kind of like someones online Journal that the public is allowed to access and read. I believe that by reading someones blog, a lot can be learned about that persons personality and the way that person thinks and writes.
Some of the fears I have with blogging is that anyone can read online blogs without the blogger knowing who exactly is doing the reading. I am also afraid of the comments I may receive from people who does read my blog and what they might think of my opinion on things. For the most part, blogging doesn't seem too bad. It is new to me, but I am excited and looking forward to writing more blogs for this course and reading blogs that other students write.
Some of the fears I have with blogging is that anyone can read online blogs without the blogger knowing who exactly is doing the reading. I am also afraid of the comments I may receive from people who does read my blog and what they might think of my opinion on things. For the most part, blogging doesn't seem too bad. It is new to me, but I am excited and looking forward to writing more blogs for this course and reading blogs that other students write.
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