The Agenda at TVO.org examined the influence of Google on our lives today in It's Google Earth, We Just Live On It. (Dec 5)
Steve Paikin interviewed a panel that included Eric Morris of Google Canada, Mathew Ingram - new media reporter at the Globe and Mail, Leila Boujnane, CEO of Idée Inc. in Toronto, and from the US, Alexander halavais at Quinnipiac University and Siva Vaidhyanathan of University of Virginia.
Topics:It began with the statistics on the market share of search and revenue from paid search (Google's revenue is $16 billion a year - after only 10 years in business). There was some discussion about whether Google is invincible - others have lost ground (Yahoo and Microsoft being two examples). Does Google live up to its motto to do no evil? What about privacy? Do people appreciate how much data Google collects on their habits and that there is some risk. One of the liveliest parts was on whether Google is making us more stupid because we can so easily look things up. Leila Boujnane thought it might be making us lasier. Mathew Ingram wouldn't say dumber since people are able to get answers to questions but they might get the wrong information or be overloaded - people need new research and literacy skills. From the US, Siva Vaidhyanathan opined that Google is making us smarter. Is Google Americanizing the world? Of interest - over 50% of searches at Google are from outside North America. Google chat can be translated.
Video is worth watching - 39 minutes. Available from http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/ for a couple more days. There is also an audio file.
Posted by Gwen at December 10, 2008 12:56 PM