Tremblaye’s Weblog

My issue!

Google. The craze itself. What makes Google so popular? Who are the demographics? 

Thesis:

When accessing the wonderful wide world web for the search engine Google one needs to be  an educated user with the newest features but also knowing the dangerous technology that lies within.

Main points:

There are a bunch of great features that help people out.  ex Google maps, Google books.

There are also bad aspects to Google. ex Search data being kept, immediate gratification to a country with no attention spand.

Pagerank background info. Why it works so well when comparing it to other search engine technology

Key quotes and Sources:

Quotes:

Google as a monoply “Don’t be surprised if Google’s wireless division or Google itself begins to face new pressure from FCC, antitrust authorities, or other sympathetic government bodies” (Wu). Slate.com

“Here I find Google and googling to be a metaphor for our encounter with eletronic digital universe which is being  constructed all around us. This electronic universe is doing more and things for us. It  acts with almost instananeuos speed” (Gozzi 445).

Sources:

Slate. com “Yes, Google is Trying to Take Over the World.”

Gozzi “Google (2006)

Goals: To get the point across that Google is not safe as everyone thinks. For people to understand how Google works. It is going to be hard not to write too much because the paper is so much longer. It will be hard to figure out what parts of my argument that I will want to use. Also using the pictures will be hard to get the point across wihtout making the argument less clear.

Outline:
Good yet bad
Android
China
Search results?
Different features

Images:
Picture of Chinese results vs US results
Anti Google campaign
Google maps not working

Argument:
Its is great but very dangerous!

The footage compared with the Youbtube video “Shoes”

The addictive qualties of the video. How people talk about and ref it. There are many viewers and there is a web discussion of it. It is fewed many times a day and their is a following of the creator.

“F:F:F is open there, and she flips back and forth between posts, getting a sense of what’s been going on. Not much, aside from ongoing analysis of #135, which is normal, and discussion of this Vatican story from Brazil. Maurice, interestingly, posts to point out that both the story and the alleged papel interest seem to issue from Brazil, and that there has apparently been no independent confirmation from elsewhere” (90).

1). This quote is about the FFF itself and also Cayce Pollard.
2). Cayce is a user and the FFF is a community.
3). Todd Gitlin’s quote about media and information can describe the FFF forum and the information that is it in, “Ignorance is not bliss; information is.” (5). The information makes people spend hours on the computer making connections within the footage and figuring out themes within. People speculate and spend their time doing this but are completely content with this. The information given is making them happy. It is not their ignorance but it is the information that makes them happy.

“Remember the whiteout, when they kiss?… Meanwhile, exhausted, baffled, but unhealthily excited, I remain, Parkaboy” (170).
1). The speaker in this is Parkaboy, an addicted member of the FFF and friend of Cayce P.
2). Parkaboy is an avid member of the FFF forum and is a well known theorist of the forum. He talks about the forum and is always updating and challenging views of the footage. He is a user of the forum. He is deeply involved within this community.
3). Todd Gitlin’s quote about media can describe Parkaboy’s relationship with the forum”something we call fun, comfort, convenience, or pleasure…. Our prevailing business is the business not of information but of satisfaction” (5). I think that he finds a sense of satisfaction from figuring out the clues and socializing with others to figure out the creator behind the footage.

“Ivy’s wanted a searchable database of the forum almost since the forum began, because the free software that allows her to keep the site up isn’t searchable, and she hasn’t had anyone willing pr able to do the compiling. Posters bookmarked their favorite threads, and swap them, but there’s been no way to trace a particular topic or theme through the site’s evolution” ( Gibson 121).

The person that said this quote was Cayce while on a plane to Japan to continue her search for the maker or makers of the footage. By this time in the book, she had just recently been hired by Bigend to find the makers of the film. She had just received a laptop with technology that had not been at her disposal before. This technology was much like Google but for the FFF only. It allowed to search themes within the posts on the forum. This helps Cayce piece together other peoples opinions and theories to help her figure out this challenge.
I think that it is interesting that before this Cayce thought that no one that was interested in the forum was able to make the technology to perform these tasks. I think that once Bigend and his money became a factor then more technology and help was available. The fact that people who were obsessed could not even figure this out but Bigend did confused me. If people were so obsessed wouldn’t they want this to help them figure out the makers? I think this really would help in understanding different themes and different theories.

“Don’t Surf is full,the food California-inflected Vietnamese fusion with more than the usual leavening of colonial Frenchness. The white walls are decorated with enormous prints of close-ups black and white photographs of ‘Nam-era lighters,engraved with crudely drawn American military symbols,still cruder sexual motifs and stenciled slogans” (Gibson 14).

California-inflected- When i think of something that is California-inflected, I automatically think that it is going to be laid back and very relaxed. I think of a place that is relaxed and not a formal dinning restaurant. When thinking California I can only think of fun in the sun but when it comes to cooking I have no idea. Does California have their own type of cooking? If she is talking about how the restaurant style i, like the relaxed atmosphere than I get the word but if not then I am lost. I can not think of one type of meal that is originally Californian.

Vietnamese- When I think of Vietnamese I think of the war and all of the times that I had to study the Vietnam war. I do not think of food but only the war. I think of the protests that occurred to end the war and all of the hippies that just wanted peace. I also think of the movie I watched about the Vietnam War, Apocalypse Now which dealt with American soldiers in Vietnam. I also associate Vietnamese with a town near by me which has a lot of Vietnamese immigrants.

Black and White photographs- I think of artsy pictures of views from windows and sunflowers. I think of ordinary objects that look beautiful when the pictures are put into black and white. I do not think that taking black and white photos is very hard because it makes anything look pretty. I have discovered this when using my camera or using the camera on my computer.

‘Nam era- The ‘Nam-era brings up a lot of the same things that the word Vietnamese does. This is sad that an entire race in my mind is associated with a war but its the truth. When thinking of ‘Nam-era i think of the draft and how many young American males fled to Canada to avoid the war. I also, think of Agent Orange and the affects this had on American soldiers but also the Vietnamese people. The word ‘Nam-era brings up a lot of history that I have learned in school.

Lighters- When I think of lighters I obviously think cigarettes and cigars. I think of them as a needed tool in order to smoke. I also think about fires and having campfires in the summertime. Lighters bring a positive connotation, summer camp fires, but also a negative connotation, the addictive habit of smoking. The word lighters bring a whole set of preconceived ideas. I also think that the only people that carry lighters are smokers and it would be very strange for a non-smoker to be carrying one around.

American military symbols- I associate this with a sense of national pride. I think that these appear on army uniforms but also on people’s bumper stickers and clothing. People are usually proud to have served or have a child serve this country. I always think of a flag or the symbol being very large but usually in flag form. This flag is waving as the wind blows upon it and I picture it to be a great symbol for this country.

I think in order to understand one of the terms in the passage another term must be there.

Black and White+ Photographs Lighters- I think that this restaurant is trying to portray a upscaled feel with black and white photographs. But the photographs are of lighters from the Vietnam War. This is not the usual art that hangs from the normal traditional place. I think that the photographs of the lighters are suppose to show how the restaurant is a trendy place that pushes the limits. It makes one challenge what is art and it makes me feel like it is one of those seek places in California.

California-inflected+Vietnamese- This is another set of words that makes me feel like this is a trendy place. The new trend is fusion food, when they take old school cuisine and give it a new edge. This makes me feel like famous people would go to this restaurant and eat.

“communities however, are held together through the mutual production and reciprocal exchange of knowledge” (Jenkins 27).

The term “mutual production” is a key term that Jenkins uses. It would not be collective intelligence if it was only one person or one person doing most of the work. This work has to be done by multiple people by the community. The word community could mean everyone or just the online community or the community of users of the website. The idea of “reciprocal exchange of knowledge” is also something important to understand. The fact that groups fall apart when there is no communication is an example of this, this is why coaches are always yelling at their players to talk. The Wiki experience showed me that Jenkins knows what he is talking about. The class was our community and the group was my section of this small community. Without communication my group was not very successful but after we began to talk the ideas were flowing. I think that Jenkins is right that in order to have a functioning community or a functioning Wiki page, there has to be an interaction and swapping of information. This idea of collective intelligence is key in order to have a good Wiki page. I think that collective intelligence is a good way to work. I have never been a fan of group projects because I like to do the work on my own. Now I see a different side of group projects. This is the same concept as the phrase, two heads are better than one. If people pool their ideas together they might understand the subject better. I liked it at times because I got to see different perspective and when I see something a different way I understand the topic a lot better.

“The printed workd remains the most powerful vehicle for conveying complicated information—though the electronic word is starting to give it a run for its money. (Johnson 23) “

This quote is trying to say that actual tangible refrences are more important and than information online. I am not sure if he is talking about eletrical books versus bound books or books in general versus online information. I am not sure how I feel about this opnion. At the moment I think that I agree with him but I am not sure. I think if electronic  sources include written books and journals that are put online then I will have to disagree. Today when writing a research paper students rarely go to the physical library. Most sources are put into the online databases so why go to the library? Libraries are going slowly out of date because of this. This is why I think that the eletronic word is getting more power. The newspaper and magazines have power over the people but the articles also appear online. So there is a big gray area of which has more of an influence. This has a lot to do with my topic because I am doing Google. Google is the main source of eletronic information.