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WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE  September 2005

WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE September 2005

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Subject:

Re: googling WDL blog, the dangers of Google

From:

Millie Niss <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

[log in to unmask]

Date:

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 02:45:05 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (162 lines)

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
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> 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
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**********

* 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
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