Annotated Bibliography

Auletta, K. (2009). Googled: The end of the world as we know it. New York: Penguin Press.

This book discusses how Google has grown and how it has changed the way people live and how corporations are run. Auletta outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the company, specifically the company’s “Don’t be evil” mission statement and how it has grown to include Gmail, Google maps and Youtube alongside the traditional search bar. The book also discusses the future of the company as well as concerns that users and the government have over whether Google’s goal to store 100 percent of user’s information will be an invasion of privacy.

Bermejo, F. (2009). Audience manufacture in historical perspective: From broadcasting to
Google. New Media & Society. 11, 133-154. doi: 10.1177/1461444808099579. Retrieved online from http://ezproxy.hamline.edu:2286/content/11/1-2/133.full.pdf+html.

In this article, Bermejo analyzes empirical research and historical comparisons to define new media and determine how audiences are manufactured. He pays particular attention to the ‘blindspot debate,’ which argues that audiences become a commodity when exposed to advertiser-supported communication media (137) such as search engines. Bermejo examines how Google’s adwords program works, observing that advertising depends on keywords entered by the user and is not necessarily controlled by the advertiser (149). Based on this, Bermejo argues that in new media, online advertising has shifted to a market of words and cannot be measured by amount of exposure.

Hellsten, I., Leydesdorff, L., and Wouters, P. (2006). Multiple presents: How search engines rewrite the past. New Media & Society. 8(6),901-924. Doi: 10.1177/1461444806069648. Retrieved online from http://ezproxy.hamline.edu:2286/content/8/6/901.full.pdf+html.

The purpose of this study was to determine how search engines perform in searching and finding websites that have continuously been updated or changed. The researchers argue that as search engines update their algorithms and lose older website, large periods of time and information are lost when users attempt to conduct academic research. The study was conducted by searching for a piece of information using Alta Vista and Google at different increments of time. It was found that over time the results of the search and the structure of the desired information had changed or eroded. Although this affects how users are affected by their searches, the researchers agree that search engines are still beneficial if users are taught to effectively retrieve information from specific periods of time.

Pan, B., Hembrooke, H., Joachims, T., Lorigo, L., Gay, G. & Granka, L. (2007). In Google we trust: Users' decisions on rank, position, and relevance. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(3), article 3.

The purpose of this case study is to determine how trustworthy users believe Google is in ranking their search results. Google was chosen for its popularity in modern culture as well as the subjects’ previous knowledge and experience in using it. The researchers of the study were interested in discovering whether the site’s success is due to the efficiency of its ranking as opposed to the users’ trust in the results provided to them. The intentions of the results are to provide information on designing better search engines as well as research the influence search engines have on society and culture today.

Stross, R. (2008). Planet Google: One company’s audacious plan to organize everything we
know. New York: Free Press.

Planet Google outlines the founding of the Google Corporation and the history as a growing company. The book discusses Gmail, Google books, Google earth, Google scholar and YouTube and discusses how these different technologies have contributed to make Google a globalized source and gatekeeper of information. It also examines Google’s present and future business strategies, specifically the company’s “cloud computing” plan, with the goal of users eventually storing all of their personal data on a single Google server.

Thurman, N. (2007). The globalization of journalism online: A transatlantic study of news
websites and their international readers. Journalism. 8 (3, June), 285-307. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.hamline.edu:2184/content/8/3/285.full.pdf+html.

Thurman analyzes the role and popularity of online news sources, specifically BBC news, Fox news, USA today, etc. He argues that demand for these sources depends largely on the popularity of indexes, such as Google News searches, that promote them to internet users. He discusses the relationship between these news sources and their audiences, demonstrating that some news sources view an international audience as an unstable source of revenue while others welcome the opportunity to sell advertisements to a larger demographic. Thurman argues that this globalized audience is able to connect with journalists through feedback and an immediate connection.

Tomlinson, R., et al. (2010). The Influence of Google on Urban Policy in Developing Countries. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. 34(1), 174-189. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00933. Retrieved online from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00933.x/pdf.

In this case-study, Tomlinson, et. al argue that because Google provides information about urban policy analysis in developing countries a hegemonic policy perspective is formed when urban policy issues are googled in the company’s search engine. The researchers believe that Google organizes this information in a way that contributes to this hegemonic behavior and limits information on alternative policy viewpoints. These claims are explored through googling certain search terms and three claims are made: that the World Bank, Cities Alliance and UN Habitat dominate explanations of urban policy, that googling these issues contributes to the dominance, and that Google serves these interests when these institutions own the concepts that the public uses for keywords in their search.

Van Dijck, J. (2009). Users like you? Theorizing agency in user-generated content. Media,
Culture & Society. 31, 41-58. doi 10.1177/0163443708098245. Retrieved online from http://ezproxy.hamline.edu:2638/content/31/1/41.full.pdf+html.

In this article, Dijck looks at the role of users in new media. He argues that this is a complex relationship because users take on cultural and economic roles as producers, consumers, data providers and participators in online media. Dijck demonstrates this complex relationship between user and medium using Google’s YouTube as an example, stating that YouTube has become a company that focuses on the integration of “search engines with content, social networking and advertising” (43). He argues that in order to understand the relationship between new media technologies and society, researchers should find a new approach that uses ideas from cultural theory and addresses economic and labor relations (43).

Van Dijck, J. (2010). Search engines and the production of academic knowledge. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 13(6). doi 10.1177/1367877910376582. Retrieved online from http://ezproxy.hamline.edu:2492/content/13/6/574.full.pdf+html.

The purpose of this study was to examine how Google Scholar and other search engines have become significant tools in conducting academic research and obtaining general knowledge. Van Dijck argues that new users commonly trust search engines to provide them with correct information, without a “basic understanding of the economic, political and socio-cultural dimensions of search engines” (576). Van Dijck suggests that as these technologies are used as basic tools for research it is detrimental that students are taught how to evaluate and effectively use the information they find (587).

Wiley, J, et.al. Source evaluation, comprehension, and learning in internet science inquiry tasks. American Educational Research journal. 46(4), 1060-1106. Doi: 10.3102/0002831209333183. Retrieved online from http://ezproxy.hamline.edu:2253/content/46/4/1060.full.pdf+html.

In this case-study, researchers conducted two experiments to determine the importance of users evaluating sources obtained using search engines. Subjects in the first experiment were told to find and explanation for the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. The results showed that there was a positive relationship between source evaluation and learning outcomes. In the second experiment, users were asked to determine the reliability of the sources. This study showed that students who had previous instruction in evaluating sources comprehended the information for effectively. The researchers concluded that evaluation of sources is crucial to successful learning.

Have [Google Maps], Will Travel

Today my friend and co-worker took me to his house and showed me around his hometown - right from behind the front counter at which we work. Who knew Google maps could be so entertaining?

Just when I think Google has exhausted its supply of innovative ideas it ends up surprising me. Now not only can Google provide a bird's eye view satellite image of the places we want to see, but if you zoom in far enough you can actually virtually stand and walk along still images of highways or county streets and turn in a circle to view your surroundings.

After my friend showed me this I got curious. So, via Google maps, I ventured down the street in my home town and stood in front of my house. I walked down the street for awhile before I realized I could get crazy. So I typed in "Times Square, New York" and walked down Broadway for awhile. Then I went to Dublin, Ireland. I even viewed Tokyo, Japan at night.

Of course, technology like this comes with its problems. Just a few weeks ago, Nicaraguan military used Google maps to determine its borders against Costa Rica. Unfortunately, Google had accidentally mislabeled a Costa Rican river as Nicaragua territory,causing an invasion by Nicaraguan troops. Fortunately the mistake was caught, but this incident goes to show how depend the world is on Google and its resources (especially if it's being used to direct military tactics).

It also comes with its questions. The first question that comes to mind is whether Google maps technology is an invasion of my privacy. Do I really want anyone in the world have the ability to see where I live? It's a scary thought, especially considering how easy it is to access a person's address simply by typing in their name or land-line phone number into Google search.

Despite its ethical implications, t astounds me that now, thanks to Google, I can not only read about any place in the world I want, but I can virtually tour that place as if I'm really there. Now, the next time I travel I can see where I'm going before I even get there.

Of course, Google maps is no substitute for actually being in these places, but on a cold, snowy day in Minnesota I wouldn't mind a virtual tour in Hawaii.

Living Without Television

This past week, my mass communication class was engaged in an assignment during which we could not watch television for 72 hours.

Needless to say, this proved to be more difficult that I could have originally imaged.

At the beginning of our 72 hour period, I admit I allowed myself to feel a little too over-confident. I don’t watch a lot of television during the school year – at least not compared to many college students I know – so in my mind this “fasting” of TV was going to be a piece of cake. No problem.

Yet isn’t it always the same story: you never quite know how much you depend on something until you can’t have it anymore.

The very day that the assignment began, I found out that there was going to be a recount of votes for the governor’s election in Minnesota, where I go to school. Whenever I would return to my dorm room after a class, my roommate would be nestled on our futon in front of our beautiful flat screen TV, listening to the commentator reflect on the candidates, the close race and the recount that was unfolding before her. Yet I had to force myself to turn my head as a walked past, arguing against the tiny little part of me that wanted to throw caution to the wind and break the terms of the assignment…

But I prevailed. Instead, I listened sullenly to the newscaster relaying the events, and then I kept myself informed by frequently visiting online news sources and bothering my friends with requests for updates on all the drama. In fact, I realized that without television I depended on the people around me for a lot of my information, whether it was the election or a plot overview of my favorite shows.

Probably the hardest part of the experiment was how it affected my social life. I never realized how central TV is when I am in a social situation. When I was babysitting one night, I realized that Bob the Builder is the most interesting show in the world when it’s in front of me and I’m not allowed to watch it. During my friend’s birthday party, I had to hope and pray that we would end up playing a game instead of watching his favorite movie (thankfully we did…).

One day, I was looking up music on YouTube with a friend, and it wasn’t until I was 30 seconds into a music video that I realized I had been absorbed in the moving images without even considering that I shouldn’t be. Situations like this are so fundamental in my everyday life, and I that fact that I had to purposefully avoid them tells me that TV is more constant than I had previously believed.

For three days, I survived by using the internet, newspapers and word of mouth as my new favorite mediums. It was more difficult than I thought it would be, but in a way it was nice not having that distraction.

I sure got an awful lot of homework done.