This document summarizes Nicholas Carr's 2008 article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" which argues that the internet is changing how people read and process information. It presents an experiment where students had trouble concentrating while reading online. However, there is little scientific evidence so far to support Carr's claims. The document also discusses how search algorithms and Google's dominance shape the way people find and consume information on the internet.

1. MDIA5004 – Assignment 4 Student: z3318730

2. Reading: Carr, Nicholas (2008). “Is Google Making us Stupid?”, Atlantic.com. Washington D.C: The Atlantic http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/ 2

3. WhyGoogle Is Making Us Stupid Carr (2008) argues that he has concentration problems when it comes to reading long texts and book Internet has become the universal medium Immediate access to information Shape the process of thought (McLuhan) The mind obtain information in the same way the Internet distributes it 3

4. Now 4 Before

5. ClassQuestion Have you experienced any difference in concentration when it comes to reading books? 5

6. Lack Of Scientific Evidence There is not sufficient research to back up Carr’s claims One study of online research habits done by University College London Study over 5 years Two popular research sites for journal articles and e books Skimming “Power browse” 6

7. Class Experiment Raise you hand when your mind drift off http://www.news.com.au/features/federal-election/kevin-rudd-denies-latest-leak-accusing-julia-gillard-of-opposing-paid-parental-leave/story-e6frfllr-1225897807744 http://www.smh.com.au/federal-election/abbott-pledges-to-cut-company-tax-rate-20100728-10v34.html 7

8. Read More, But Different Internet texts and SMS read more? Different kind of reading and different kind of thinking Wolf: “We are how we read” Reading is not an instinctive skill What we read shape our brains 8

9. New Tools, New Ways - Old School 9

10. New Tools, New Way - 2010 10

11. Internet = The Almighty Internet as map, clock, printing press, typewriter, calculator, telephone, radio and TV Traditional media has to adapt to new expectations The absorbed medium re created in the Net’s image Communication system with multi roles Reprogramming? 11

12. Algorithm & Google Google’s search engine Definitions (provided by Google) a preciserule (or setofrules) specifyinghow to solvesome problemwordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn algorithmic - of or relating to or havingthecharacteristicsof an algorithmwordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn the set of simple instructions that combine to accomplish a task. Computer codes are algorithms.rredc.nrel.gov/solar/glossary/ An established and well-defined step-by-step method used to achieve a desired mathematical result. Example: The addition algorithm for the sum of two two-digit numbers where carrying is required. -- The procedure used in long division.www.numbernut.com/glossary/index.shtml 12

13. Does It Work? How many of you uses Google as their only search engine? Have you tried others? Do you still use them? Why/Why not? 13

14. Why It Works Brin and Page: “For us, working on search is a way to work on artificial intelligence” Desire to use technology as motivation Our surfing provides information to Google and advertising companies 14

15. Class Discussion Do you agree with Carr (2008)? Is Google making us stupid? How often do you use the other Google pages (e.g. Translate, Scholars, Map, News, Satellite, Books, Images, Gmail). 15

16. Online Resources John Battelle’s search blog John Battelle is a journalist as well as founder and chairman of Federated Media Publishing. He has been a visiting professor of journalism at UC Berkeley and also maintains Searchblog. The blog covers search, technology, and media. http://battellemedia.com Search Engine Watch Search Engine Watch works as a guide for web search. Moreover, they also provide analysis and can assist site owners to improve their sites to make them easier to be found in search engines. http://searchenginewatch.com 16

17. Online Resources Search Engine Land Search Engine Land led by Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman and is one of the leading online publication for news regarding search. They also provide research, anaylsis, commentary and expert advice. http://searchengineland.com/ Mashable Mashableis a source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture. They report breaking web news in addition to trend analysis, web site review and offers social media resources and guides. Their uses range from entrepreneurs, marketing, PR and bloggers and social media users. http://mashable.com 17

18. Relevant Readings Battelle, John (September 2005). “The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture”. New York: Portfolio Brabazon, T. (2006).”The Google Effect: Googling, Blogging, Wikis and the Flattening of Expertise”In Libri(2006, vol.56, pp. 157-167). Germany Caufield, J. (2005)“Where Did Google Get Its Value?”. In Libraries and the Academy (Number 4, October 2005, pp. 555-572).The Johns Hopkins University Press Conti, G. (2006). “Googling considered harmful” in New Security Paradigms Workshop archive (2006, pp. 67-76) New York: ACM Del Corso, G. M. Gulli, A. Romani, F. (2005) ”Ranking a Stream of News” in International World Wide Web Conference archive (2005, pp. 97-106). New York: ACM Evans, M. P. (2007) “Analysing Google rankings through search engine optimization data” in Internet Research No. 1 (2007, pp. 21-37). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Finkelstein, L. et al. (2001). “Placing search in context: the concept revisited” in International World Wide Web Conference archive (2001, pp. 406-414). New York: ACM Goldberg, M. A. (2005) “Googling of Online Privacy: Gmail, Search-Engine Histories and the New Frontier of Protecting Private Information on the Web”. In 9 Lewis & Clark Law Review (2005, pp. 249-262) Goldman E. (2008)“Search Engine Bias and the Demise of Search Engine Utopianis”, In Spink, A. and Zimmer, M. (2008) Web Search . Berlin: Springer Kilgarriff, A. (2007) “Googleology is Bad Science” in Computational Lingustics No. 1 (pp. 147-151) Liu, Y. et al (2008) ”BrowseRank: letting web users vote for page importance” in Annual ACM Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval archive (2008, pp. 451-458) New York: ACM 18