i realize that it may seem that i have a bit of a google fetish. perhaps it is an inevitable side effect of my chosen profession... i can't count the number of times someone has said to me (jokingly, i hope!) that no one needs librarians these days when they have Google!
i think this column raises some important issues about google's pervasiveness and cultural power.
i'm especially interested in the concept of Google as "library" , and the grey market of links that is being perpetuated by google's search mechanism.
here's a blurb that seemed especially thought provoking to me:
"Like Microsoft, Google makes what is essentially a software utility. But whereas Microsoft's Windows operating system is more or less confined to the box on your desk, Google is everywhere.
Google is a library and a marketplace, an instrument of democracy and commerce, the long-sought primary portal. Windows is a toaster.
Google is the de facto editor of the World Wide Web, with the power to boost, bury or block anything on it. True, you don't have to use Google. But you do. To the tune of 200 million searches a day.
Google is a time machine, able to summon Web pages according to date. With its 100,000 computer servers, Google is a spy and a mind reader, bringing eerily relevant ads to go with your searches and now even your e-mail. Google is the Alexandrian library of the 600s, the CBS Evening News of the 1960s and the Wal-Mart of the 2000s"
here's a link to the full article:
Posted by Melissa at April 28, 2004 12:50 PM