Today, one of the communication professors presented Googling Ourselves To Death. A few things that were mentioned in his lecture were:
- His concern regarding "the decline of intellectualism and democracy" around the world since the world wide web became a necessity.
- How Google has way too much power with information on the internet and webusers don't question their search engines.
- Search engine has become a way to make money instead of providing necessary and accurate information.
I already knew the lecture was not about how great Google was; and I have accepted the fact that many people out there are cynical and annoyed since Google and search marketing "mythically" became so significant (the same way they used to criticize television ads until everyone got tired of hearing it). However, it was disappointing that the examples and statistics given by the professor were not at all persuasive, and that he was not able to answer any of the questions regarding search engine and information sorting.
Being a college student with nothing but a willingness to learn and question what is thrown at me, I have no better way to challenge his points of view than through blogging. (Partially because I have attempted but he did not answer my question, and partially because I am not into changing anyone's opinions, at least not until I fully understand how Google does things).
A few comments I have about what was said:
- His concern regarding "the decline of intellectualism and democracy" around the world since the world wide web became a necessity: The professor provided statistics of how the SAT scores have declined for the past few years even with the rapid growth of information resources on the internet and the assistance of Google index. As bad of a test-taker as I am, I agree that SAT can be a great indicator of how intellectual people are. However, I do not see the relevancy between people doing worse in SAT and Google or the internet becoming more and more powerful. There are way too many factors involved for the statistics to work. Secondly, he stated that democracy declined and the evidence was that people didn't go out to vote anymore.Hmmm...I guess the increased numbers of people who voted for the last election, offline and especially online, must not be enough (not yet considering how the President has done much of his campaign online).
- How Google has way too much power with information on the internet, and web users don't question their search engines enough: Yes it's true that Google has a lot of power, but Yahoo, AOL, and Ask are search engines, too. Why aren't they being criticized as much? I swear I am not paid to defend Google, but just because Google has so far been used the most does not mean it has to be malicious and evil. Doesn't mean it is good or bad, just what works best for now. Yes it is scary that Google might know so much about you but isn't that the cost of exchanging information on the internet anyway? How about watching less movie like Eagle Eye and creating a better solution to replace search engines? And I am sure there are plenty of web users out there who question them.
- Search engine has become a way to make money instead of providing necessary and accurate information: The professor seemed to think it was all about who paid the most money for their key words to be on top. If only he could do a little more research about SEM to know that the higher quality scores that your keywords have, the less you would probably have to pay. There is a myth that big corporations lobbying Google for their keywords to be on top (pay the most money), but I don't think Google would accept that kind of money when what they might have in return is a bunch of irrelevant keywords and no growth potentials. Believe it or not, information is not free, and I accept the fact that I have to look at a bunch of ads to be able to get necessary information. Haven't we been through this already with TV ads?
I think that is enough writing for today. I am just glad I got it out of my system. Now I really wonder if the professor "googles" and finds this post...:)
- His concern regarding "the decline of intellectualism and democracy" around the world since the world wide web became a necessity.
- How Google has way too much power with information on the internet and webusers don't question their search engines.
- Search engine has become a way to make money instead of providing necessary and accurate information.
I already knew the lecture was not about how great Google was; and I have accepted the fact that many people out there are cynical and annoyed since Google and search marketing "mythically" became so significant (the same way they used to criticize television ads until everyone got tired of hearing it). However, it was disappointing that the examples and statistics given by the professor were not at all persuasive, and that he was not able to answer any of the questions regarding search engine and information sorting.
Being a college student with nothing but a willingness to learn and question what is thrown at me, I have no better way to challenge his points of view than through blogging. (Partially because I have attempted but he did not answer my question, and partially because I am not into changing anyone's opinions, at least not until I fully understand how Google does things).
A few comments I have about what was said:
- His concern regarding "the decline of intellectualism and democracy" around the world since the world wide web became a necessity: The professor provided statistics of how the SAT scores have declined for the past few years even with the rapid growth of information resources on the internet and the assistance of Google index. As bad of a test-taker as I am, I agree that SAT can be a great indicator of how intellectual people are. However, I do not see the relevancy between people doing worse in SAT and Google or the internet becoming more and more powerful. There are way too many factors involved for the statistics to work. Secondly, he stated that democracy declined and the evidence was that people didn't go out to vote anymore.Hmmm...I guess the increased numbers of people who voted for the last election, offline and especially online, must not be enough (not yet considering how the President has done much of his campaign online).
- How Google has way too much power with information on the internet, and web users don't question their search engines enough: Yes it's true that Google has a lot of power, but Yahoo, AOL, and Ask are search engines, too. Why aren't they being criticized as much? I swear I am not paid to defend Google, but just because Google has so far been used the most does not mean it has to be malicious and evil. Doesn't mean it is good or bad, just what works best for now. Yes it is scary that Google might know so much about you but isn't that the cost of exchanging information on the internet anyway? How about watching less movie like Eagle Eye and creating a better solution to replace search engines? And I am sure there are plenty of web users out there who question them.
- Search engine has become a way to make money instead of providing necessary and accurate information: The professor seemed to think it was all about who paid the most money for their key words to be on top. If only he could do a little more research about SEM to know that the higher quality scores that your keywords have, the less you would probably have to pay. There is a myth that big corporations lobbying Google for their keywords to be on top (pay the most money), but I don't think Google would accept that kind of money when what they might have in return is a bunch of irrelevant keywords and no growth potentials. Believe it or not, information is not free, and I accept the fact that I have to look at a bunch of ads to be able to get necessary information. Haven't we been through this already with TV ads?
I think that is enough writing for today. I am just glad I got it out of my system. Now I really wonder if the professor "googles" and finds this post...:)
1 comment:
This professor is what many would call "old school." If your paraphrases of his lecture are true, as a Search Engine Marketer, I feel that he refuses to understand the inner workings of search engine algorithms.
While the professor may have extensive experience in old media, i.e. TV, he places search engine usage in a 2001 context. A lot has changed since then. So much relies on relevancy of indexed data. Nevertheless, web users should still use some judgment and common sense in using sources online. Obviously, Wikipedia is not a reliable university essay reference!
SAT vs. Internet data availability via crawling as a correlation for the decline of "intellectualism and democracy" is a loaded, BS supporting argument.
Rubbish...
Post a Comment