Tag: Google

 

In Module 1 for INF 532 we were introduced to the foundations of the philosophy of information. We had to read De Saulles’, New Models of Information Production. In reading, the whopping 40 something pages of information, we had to focus on two key questions:

• What are some of the defining characteristics of the Internet and world wide web that have stimulated the creation for new models of information production?
• What are some of the challenges that these models present to educators and/or information professionals.

I have taken notes on this reading (paraphrased as best as possible) and tried to compile my understanding:

The catalyst for the creation of new models for information production is Web 2.0 content. Individuals producing blogs has allowed for the opening up of debates and discussions about topics away from the control of commercial and state media. In the existing information sphere, online newspapers have adopted, for example, live blogging as a means of engaging users. Whilst it has advantages: users can contribute to the stories, connect it to social media and the story can include a live feed, the blogs can sometimes be difficult to navigate. Other problems include journalists feeling threatened by user content. These contributions need to be validated as credible as well, otherwise it is difficult to build and maintain user trust. Users as well do not feel as though they are appropriately credited for their contribution. Therefore, news teams need to be educated around how to utilise user generated content and the quality of user content needs to be cognisant that it may be used in a journalistic capacity.

The online sphere has also meant that people expect their information to be freely available. It is not valued as highly because of the ease of access. As such, newspapers are struggling for survival because most users will try as best as possible to get their information without a subscription. Thus, attempting to include live blogs on newspaper websites. News agencies have had to think creatively about how to obtain revenue. One means is through the establishment of an advertising based revenue model. They have adapted the size of the paper to fit smartphones and added social media sharing functions to entice younger, tech-savvy users. Despite these measures, if the revenue issue is not addressed and effective solutions put in place, newspapers will be unable to fulfill their societal role and democracy will inevitably be weakened. Blogs should not be solely relied upon as a source of news but rather as supplementary to the outputs of traditional newspapers.

Some of the other factors contributing to information production include collaborative platforms such as Wikipedia. Challenges in the collaborative space include ensuring that the pages are credible but also that there is a balance in the topics that are explored. For example Pokemon vs. female novelists. The farming of data by search engines like Google has also had implications on how search results are then filtered to users. Google Analytics has provided website owners with the ability to link articles to key words that are commonly used search terms to ensure they feature in search results. This is great for visitor stats but if the quality of information is poor that is problematic. Google have also had the power to change the search algorithm meaning content farms that are created for clicks and quick advertising revenue are filtered from results. There are questions around the ethics of this. There is also a ruling called the “right to be forgotten” in which a link can be hidden from search results. This brings with it its own challenges. Overall, Google has become incredibly powerful in this regard. They need to consider carefully how they use this data. For what good or betterment of society? By taking out selected search results does that then limit freedom of speech, are the public not being given the full scope of a situation that may be in their best interest? Corporate interests need to align with users. Otherwise users become the source that needs to monetized.  Either way, data is changing rapidly so it is difficult to make strategic business decisions. For educators and information professionals the challenge is ensuring that a wide scope of information is still accessed and this needs to come through the skills that are specifically taught.