 |
 |
Bob -- First, I tried your search "WDL AND blog" and was told that "AND" was unnecessary as it is included by default as an operator in every search. This is what I had previously thought was the case, but I was worried, as a result of your post saying how users do not know how to use Google properly, that I had been missing something. However I was not missing anything. Perhaps you should refrain from criticizing people as an aggregate and me in particular until you properly check your own information. Secondly -- far more importantly -- Google obviously returns different results to different users, at least assuming you are not lying about the results you got. (I wonder what their algorithm is, and what determines the differences or whether there is a probabilistic aspect. I don't think they have any way of knowing who exactly is using their search engine -- if the user doesn't log in to a Google service that has membership -- so I don't think it can depend on who the user is precisely, and in any case if Google were giving me personalized results, presumably it would bring up the WDL blog as the first result because each time I search for "wdl blog" that is where I click next, assuming the choice is available... Google could of course know the IP address users came from or what site they were on last, as this information is carried by the HTTP service and is available to server-side scripting languages such as ASP or PHP that Google might be using behind the scenes...): When _I_ searched "WDL AND blog" (and I also tried "wdl and blog" which I believe is the same for Google but the variation was worth trying), the WDL blog was not on the first page of results (I did not look at further pages). When I searched "wdl blog" which should have given identical results if it is really true that the "AND" opertaor is included by default in every search, I got slightly different results: the blog was the 9th out of 10 results on the first page returned. This is acceptable, but not a great result since I believe many users only look at the first few results returned. The first few results were a mixture of links having nothing to do with our blog and links that referenced the blog but did not give a link to it on the first page one got to, probably because these pages were from discussions which happened before the blog was actually established. The anomalies in the Google results -- and the fact that my results were different than yours -- are a major part of why I worry about the influence Google is having on information retrieval in general and published research in particular. As I was careful to point out, I know of no reason to blame the Google corporation for this -- they have a reputation as corporate "good citizens" and I don't believe that the problem is that their search engine is deficient (it is pretty good and I would not seriously expect there to be a better general purpose search engine) but rather that people are beginning to rely on it as their unique research tool, displacing not only other search engines but also conventional library research and the use of professional reference librarians (I am not, nor have I ever been a librarian, but I know a little about the profession, and I attended the university where Dewey taught many years ago -- the Dewey who was influential in library science and for whom the Dewey Decimal System was named -- and many years later the graduate library school was closed down because there were not enough applicants and funding to support it, despite its position as one of the best library schools in the U.S.). This Googlization of research is a dangerous trend, and one which relates to "The Digital Life" in a broad sense, quite apart from questions about the technology or business practices of the Google company, which is a narrower subject. I point out the anomalies in Google results only as a concrete example to show why we shouldn't rely on Google as our only source of information, although we ought (as a society) to know for deeper reasons than how easy it is to find the WDL blog that we shouldn't trust ourselves to a single index into the world's vast information sources. We would be wrong to rely on Google in the way which I fear is happening even if it were such a perfect search engine that I could not find anything to criticize in its functioning. Millie P.S. I won't take the bait and get into a detailed fight about Microsoft, complaining in detail about how their business practices are unfair to other companies or (as is more relevant to me) how their practices have adversely affected the process and diversity of digital interactive art, which is my field (I have personally had my creative options seriously restricted by Microsoft's business and technical decisions). I will only point out that I am hardly the only person or entity to object to Microsoft's business practices, and while my opinions are hardly infliuential, events such as the European Union's decision a few months ago to punish Microsoft for its anticompetetive practices by fining it, requiring it to license code to independent developers in the EU, and requiring it to release a version of its Windows XP Operating System in Europe which does not include the Windows Media Player, at least SUGGEST that Microsoft is widely felt to engage in anticompetetive practices, and that after lengthy investigations of Microsoft by various governements, many have decided that the company really did bad things. (There also, as you know, has been substantial regulatory intererest in curbing Microsoft's ambitions by various state governments in the US and also the federal government, at least before Bush took office.) Added to that, you are no doubt aware of several major lawsuits brought by major companies against Microsoft (e.g. Sun) in which the other company won damages or a settlement that harmed Microsoft. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue Thomas" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 5:37 PM Subject: Re: [WDL] googling WDL blog, the dangers of Google > Hi Bob > Yes it is in the page copy. I don't think that I have access to the metatags > in Typepad > sue > > > > From: Bob Maxey <[log in to unmask]> > > Subject: Re: [WDL] googling WDL blog, the dangers of Google > > >>>I have now secreted the enchanted phrase WDL somewhere on the blog. We > probably need to give it a few hours to 'take' at Google.>>> > > > > > > Actually, you should have "WDL" or a phrase incorporating "WDL" in your page > copy, on any page you are using WDL in the meta tags. > > > > > > Bob > > > ... > > > > > > > Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com > ********** To alter your subscription settings, log on to Subscriber's > Corner at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html > To unsubscribe, email [log in to unmask] with a blank subject line and > the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF > WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE > > ********** > > * Visit the Writing and the Digital Life blog http://writing.typepad.com > * To alter your subscription settings on this list, log on to Subscriber's Corner at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html > * To unsubscribe from the list, email [log in to unmask] with a blank subject line and the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE ********** * Visit the Writing and the Digital Life blog http://writing.typepad.com * To alter your subscription settings on this list, log on to Subscriber's Corner at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html * To unsubscribe from the list, email [log in to unmask] with a blank subject line and the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE