In Search Of

I learned how the new source of media, that is Google and Yahoo, fail to provide a stable platform of knowledge for people. What I mean is that there is little exposure to opposing ideas in there are any, or maybe to any ideas at all. With the example used in the TED talk of the two users searching Egypt, one didn't even receive any information on the riots and rebellion in that region. This is outrageous.

If I wanted to get information on a subject, say Shakespeare, how do I know I was given every possible source of information and view?

How can we trust anything on the internet anymore. The original intent of the internet was to unite the world into one cosmopolitan society. But now it's isolating people to their own realm of thought. An article posted on amerika.org, brings up the idea of entropy over the internet (http://www.amerika.org/technology/the-entropy-of-reddit/). The article talked about a cycle that almost everything goes through. First, an idea is born and it is amazing. Everyone loves it and uses it. But then when the creator of the original idea discovers the popularity of it, they realize the economic viability of it and begin marketing it. This leads to the idea either being retarded in it's format or intent, or the entire idea is changed and moved in a new direction. Thus the people that originally liked it leave to go somewhere else, and the idea dies. Right now we are in the third faze of the cycle where the idea is simplified.

To know if you got all the information that could possibly be afforded to you, it's going to take some work. And by some work, I mean not any at all. Be sure to just check every other search engine out there. I hear that dogpile is a good source that provides a good basis of information. Just bear in mind that any website could be employing the use of algorithms to customize your searches. With this in thought, you will be able to find what you want.

When researching Shakespeare I first search via Google. I got an assortment of websites that would be beneficial to a student in school. That's good to me. I decided to do a little experiment and try the same search on as many search engines that I could. With every one of them, including Dogpile, I got the same exact results. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for me. In fact when I think about this, why does it really matter if I didn't get the information that I didn't really need in my search. I wouldn't have used it. And if someone else would research Shakespeare they would get whatever they needed as well. The matter of filtering information through algorithms doesn't really apply to say a research paper on a well known historical figure, as much as it does for a current event research paper. It's relative to the intent.