Googlescape

I'm not the kind of person who has a ready opinion about everything. Mostly, because I prefer being a non-entity and don't necessarily savour being the center of attention.

Recently, I've also started feeling that you should form an opinion, come to a conclusion, *only* after you've a) heard both side of the stories b) experienced the said thing yourself.

The only problem with 'a' is the way the story is written *is* coloured by that particular side's bias - which is understandable. However, b is also not possible in every situation.

Anyway, I digress.

I came across a very interesting website. The aim seems to be to uncover the affect that evolving technology with its video & audio offshoots is having/will have on the written, printed word.

You can see more at: : http://www.futureofthebook.org

I personally think the new medium that is evolving will not replace the printed word. Instead, it will be one more form to choose from, adding to the existing bouquet of creative expressions.

The second very interesting link I discovered from this very project is: http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/

While I love my google search as much as the next person, the author poses some interesting questions which definitely set one thinking: "How does using Google alter our perceptions of the world? Are Google’s search algorithms inherently conservative, i.e. do they favor the establish and thus limit the dynamism of the Web? How has the corporation altered the rules and practices that govern other companies, institutions, and states? Will advertising ever be the same? Will Google’s relationship with the brutal government of the People’s Republic of China be its undoing? Will China change Google more than Google changes China?"

In its transition from a noun to a verb, google has certainly picked up lots of admirers & fans on its way (including me :). The project/website seems to balance the Google hyperbole by providing an alternative perspective.

One thing which has always puzzled me is how the heck does Google make its millions & billions? Advertising, sure - but that seems too vague. Intangible. How can it be profitable just on the basis of a few clicks?

The following paragraph struck home, especially because most of the news headlines that appear at the top of my Gmail account *do* interest me (*and* I click a couple of them on a daily basis):

"One of the great attractions of Google is that it appears to offer so many powerful services for “free,” that is, for no remuneration. But there is a non-monetary transaction at work between Google and its users. We get Web search, email, Blogger platforms, and YouTube videos. Google gets our habits and predilections so it can more efficiently target advertisements to us. Google’s core business is consumer profiling. It keeps dossiers on all of us. Yet we have no idea how substantial or accurate these digital portraits are. This project will generate a better sense of what is at stake in this “gift” transaction and will generate new theories of corporate surveillance that get beyond the trite “Panopticon” model."

Check it out.

conversations

subtexts to a conversation I

sometimes
what is not said
is the most important thing
that is spoken

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subtexts to a conversation II

sometimes
silence is empty
and needs words to fullfill it
to complete it