Googlezon

To start, McLuhan's Laws of Media are:

1. Enhance

2. Reverse

3. Retrieve

4. Obsolesce

The short video we watched in class was mostly about Google taking over the world, and how that affects our lives. Or that's what I got out of it.

We know from our application of McLuhan's Laws that Google enhances information, communication, and participation. Google obsolesces traditional research, the printed word, and communication. Google retrieves multi-dimensional thinking, and awareness to event around the world. Google reveres print, new video media, and privacy.

The video, "Googlezon" illustrates these examples in the following ways:

1. Enhance. Technology has enhanced our lives in many different ways. This video illustrated several different ways both Google and Amazon both enhanced our lives by showing us what we want to purchase from what we previously purchased. Google purchased Picassa so that we can share our pictures in better ways, and various social media sites become available for public access.

2. Reverse. The newspaper starts going out of business. Not only is it hard to get a hold of in print, the NY Times becomes a print only newsletter for the elite. It is really hard to get real news online; no journalists are working in the field anymore.

3. Retrieve. The Googlezon makes a good point to show the positive aspects of Google and Amazon at the start of the video. People are able to retrieve information that is specific to them, and them alone. Personal news feeds and personal shopping advice based on pages previously visited by the web browser.

4. Obsolesce. Googlezon obsolesces the print. Magazines, newspapers and maps become obsolete. The video did a good job at illustrating this too, which I mention with reversal. The NY Times becomes available only to the elite and the elderly.

I hope this isn't where our Google is headed.

I love you, Google.