AESTHETICIZING GOOGLE CRITIQUE RICHARD ROGERS

GOOGLEGOOGLEGOOGLE GOOGLE

1. Google Objects & Subjects - Dark Web, A.D.D., Databody

2. Googlization - Front page, Results page, Back-end

3. Google Information Politics - Censorship, Spammy Neighborhoods

4. Google Derivatives - Licensing

GOOGLE OBJECTS & SUBJECTS

Dark Web. Engines include and exclude by not indexing orphans; by burying sites. ADD. Engines encourage attention deficits. Users rarely look past result 10. Databody. Google keeps search engine histories, called flecks.

Google as dark web-maker, attention deficit disorder, databody generator

ON TOP OF GOOGLE SHMOOGLE & SCROOGLE

Dark Web. Engines include and exclude by not indexing orphans; by burying sites. >ADD. Engines encourage attention deficits. Users rarely look past result 10. Databody. Google keeps search engine histories, called flecks.

On top of Google as dark web-maker, attention deficit disorder, databody generator

ENGINE USERS' ATTENTION

.Half of all users entered only one search query

.54 percent viewed just one page of search results per visit

.Searchers typically visit only the top three search results

.19 percent went on to the second page

.Fewer than 10 percent accessed the third page of results

.More than 80 percent stopped after looking at three results - Jansen & Spink, 2003

User behavior

ON TOP OF GOOGLE SHMOOGLE & SCROOGLE

Dark Web. Engines include and exclude by not indexing orphans; by burying sites. ADD. Engines encourage attention deficits. Users rarely look past result 10. >Databody. Google keeps search engine histories, called flecks.

On top of Google as dark web-maker, attention deficit disorder, databody generator

GOOGLE DATABODY (AOL CASE)

AOL user 311045 apparently owns a Scion XB automobile in need of new brake pads that is in the process of being upgraded with performance oil filters. User 311045, possibly a Florida resident, is preoccupied with another topic as well:

>how to change brake pads on scion xb 2005 >us open cup florida state champions >how to get revenge on a ex >how to get revenge on a ex girlfriend >how to get revenge on a friend who f---ed you over >replacement bumper for scion xb >florida department of law enforcement

Stored Search Engine Queries (anonymized) - Flecks of a Databody

DE-FLECKING

Scroogle.org - An Google search proxy which prevents the searcher's data being stored by Google. TrackMeNot - A Firefox extension that periodically issues randomied search-queries to popular search engines, e.g., AOL, Yahoo!, Google, and MSN. It hides users' actual search trails in a cloud of 'ghost' queries, significantly increasing the difficulty of aggregating such data into accurate or identifying user profiles.

Answers to Stored Search Engine Queries (anonymized) - What to do?

GOOGLE GOOGLEGOOGLEGOOGLE

1. Google Objects & Subjects - Dark Web, A.D.D., Databody

>2. Googlization - Front page, Results page, Back-end

3. Google Information Politics - Censorship, Spammy Neighborhoods

4. Google Derivatives - Licensing

FRONT-PAGE GOOGLIZATION

Everybody loves using Google. Therefore, doesn’t everybody want the same simple design on every site they visit? (…) People are calling this approach Home Page Googlization (Spool, 2006).

What would Google do?

The Politics of Tabs

OCTOBER 2000 - MAY 2007 THE RISE OF THE DIRECTORY TO FRONT-PAGE TAB STATUS THE FALL OF THE DIRECTORY TO 'MORE' AND 'EVEN MORE' AND ITS EVENTUAL DISAPPEARANCE

TEN YEARS OF THE GOOGLE FRONT PAGE (TABS)

AND THE FALL OF THE DIRECTORY (AND THE EDITORS AND LIBRARIANS)

THE BACK-END

"One of Google's main revenue generators is the "Adsense" program:It places hundreds of thousands of little Google text-ads on websites around the world. Now we have set up a vast amount of such Adsense-Accounts for our hidden Web-Sites. Each time someone visits a Web-Sites within our network of sites, he/she triggers a series of robots. For each click we receive a micro-payment from Google. Google pays us monthly by check. Each time we collect enough money, we buy the next Google share."

Google Will Eat Itself - Ubermorgan.com

GOOGLE GOOGLEGOOGLEGOOGLE

1. Google Objects & Subjects - Dark Web, A.D.D., Databody

2. Googlization - Front page, Results page, Back-end

>3. Google Information Politics - Censorship, Spammy Neighborhoods

4. Google Derivatives - Licensing

SPAMMY NEIGHBORHOODS

"[T]here are sites where our algorithms had very low trust in the inlinks or the outlinks of that site. Examples that might cause thatinclude excessive reciprocal links, linking to spammy neighborhoods on the web (…)” (Cutts, 2006)

Not all links are equal

GOOGLE GOOGLEGOOGLEGOOGLE

1. Google Objects & Subjects - Dark Web, A.D.D., Databody

2. Googlization - Front page, Results page, Back-end

3. Google Information Politics - Censorship, Spammy Neighborhoods

>4. Google Derivatives - Licensing

GOOGLE DERIVATIVES

In exchange for search engine results or other services, the user acknowledges and agrees to a great many terms, including the promise to access Google only through its interface (5.3), and the agreement not to make derivative works from the content of the results (8.2), or from the software code (10.2).

Agreeing to the Terms of Service

Source: Five of top ten search results from http://images.google.com.

“Apartheid Wall” and “Security Fence”: Image Search Results, Google images, July 2005

Security FenceApartheid Wall Security FenceApartheid Wall

“Image Clash”

RFID Imagery: Wet and Dry Associations Compared

Research Question_How “wet” is the RFID imagery according to Google?Findings_According to Google Images, the RFID imagery is dry insofar as associations to the biological are limited, e.g., human tagging, animal chip implants, etc. Associations with machines and machinic diagrams predominate.

Product_of the Digital Methods Initiative, dmi.mediastudies.nl. Analysis_by Anne Helmond, Richard Rogers, Laura van der Vlies and Esther Weltevrede. Recalling RFID Icon_by Loes and Leon. RFID Icons_by Timo Arnall. Design_by Anne Helmond.

CC_BY:NC:SA

Source_images.google.comMethod_Scrape top 100 results from Google Images and visualize as 'dry' and 'wet' assocations turned on or off.Query_RFIDTools_Google Image Scraper and Tag Cloud GeneratorDate_20 October 2007

RFID's 'dry' associations

RFID Imagery: Wet and Dry Associations Compared

Research Question_How “wet” is the RFID imagery according to Google?Findings_According to Google Images, the RFID imagery is dry insofar as associations to the biological are limited, e.g., human tagging, animal chip implants, etc. Associations with machines and machinic diagrams predominate.

Product_of the Digital Methods Initiative, dmi.mediastudies.nl. Analysis_by Anne Helmond, Richard Rogers, Laura van der Vlies and Esther Weltevrede. Recalling RFID Icon_by Loes and Leon. RFID Icons_by Timo Arnall. Design_by Anne Helmond.

CC_BY:NC:SA

Source_images.google.comMethod_Scrape top 100 results from Google Images and visualize as 'dry' and 'wet' assocations turned on or off.Query_RFIDTools_Google Image Scraper and Tag Cloud GeneratorDate_20 October 2007

RFID's 'wet' associations

GOOGLEGOOGLEGOOGLE GOOGLE

1. Google Objects & Subjects - Dark Web, A.D.D., Databody

2. Googlization - Front page, Results page, Back-end

3. Google Information Politics - Censorship, Spammy Neighborhoods

4. Google Derivatives - Licensing