Seeker of Truth
05-19-2003, 03:02 AM
Is Google too powerful?
Is it time to set up Ofsearch, a regulator of search engines asks technology consultant Bill Thompson
Everyone's favourite search engine now owns the world's most popular blogging tool.
With its purchase of Pyra Labs, Google now runs Blogger and with it the weblogs of hundreds of thousands of opinionated net users.
The story of the buyout was, appropriately enough, broken on a weblog by journalist Dan Gillmor, shortly followed by an 'official' announcement on his personal blog from Prya Labs co-founder Evan Williams.
Then the blogs and technology news sites went wild, making this the net news story of the week, if not the month.
Not journalism
-Often blogs are as far from journalism as it is possible to get, with unsubstantiated rumour, prejudice and gossip masquerading as informed opinion
Bill Thompson
Fame or misfortune for weblogs?
We should not get carried away by all this.
Ridiculous comments, such as Dan Gillmor's claim that "with the advent of weblogging, the readers know more than the journalists" only stoke the fires of hyperbole and do not help us understand this new tool.
Blogging is not journalism.
Often it is as far from journalism as it is possible to get, with unsubstantiated rumour, prejudice and gossip masquerading as informed opinion.
Without editors to correct syntax, tidy up the story structure or check facts, it is generally impossible to rely on anything one finds in a blog without verifying it somewhere else - often the much-maligned mainstream media.
The much-praised reputation mechanism that is supposed to ensure that bloggers remain true, honest and factually-correct is, in fact, just the rule of the mob, where those who shout loudest and get the most links are taken more seriously.
Much more @ BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2786761.stm)
Is it time to set up Ofsearch, a regulator of search engines asks technology consultant Bill Thompson
Everyone's favourite search engine now owns the world's most popular blogging tool.
With its purchase of Pyra Labs, Google now runs Blogger and with it the weblogs of hundreds of thousands of opinionated net users.
The story of the buyout was, appropriately enough, broken on a weblog by journalist Dan Gillmor, shortly followed by an 'official' announcement on his personal blog from Prya Labs co-founder Evan Williams.
Then the blogs and technology news sites went wild, making this the net news story of the week, if not the month.
Not journalism
-Often blogs are as far from journalism as it is possible to get, with unsubstantiated rumour, prejudice and gossip masquerading as informed opinion
Bill Thompson
Fame or misfortune for weblogs?
We should not get carried away by all this.
Ridiculous comments, such as Dan Gillmor's claim that "with the advent of weblogging, the readers know more than the journalists" only stoke the fires of hyperbole and do not help us understand this new tool.
Blogging is not journalism.
Often it is as far from journalism as it is possible to get, with unsubstantiated rumour, prejudice and gossip masquerading as informed opinion.
Without editors to correct syntax, tidy up the story structure or check facts, it is generally impossible to rely on anything one finds in a blog without verifying it somewhere else - often the much-maligned mainstream media.
The much-praised reputation mechanism that is supposed to ensure that bloggers remain true, honest and factually-correct is, in fact, just the rule of the mob, where those who shout loudest and get the most links are taken more seriously.
Much more @ BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2786761.stm)