Blog Assignmen Post #3

Here is your Week 4 blog assignment. This should be posted on your individual blog by Friday, September 16th at 5pm. The title of the post should be "Last Name Blog Post #3". A good blog post will reference discussions from class as well as the assigned readings for that week (and from earlier weeks if applicable). All blog posts should be in complete sentences and show evidence of real thought. It's pretty easy to tell if you wrote it at 4:55pm on Friday. You don't have to answer all of the questions listed under each number, but you should attempt to answer the questions fully. You may write in paragraph essay form, or you can respond to each question listed by number.

This week's blog post will allow you to connect with the claims that Eli Pariser makes in the introduction to his book The Filter Bubble. This post should be between 250 and 500 words (if you go over, that's ok).

1. For the first part of this assignment, think of a phrase, issue, item, etc that is important to you. Some examples may be Virginia Tech, a cause that you are passionate about, a current event, even yourself! Google that term and note what the first three websites. Check out the websites, what are they? Are the websites relevant? What kind of information is presented on the website? Are the first three results similar to each other?

2. Next, ask someone you know to also Google the same term. What are the top three hits for their search? Check out those websites as well and note any differences or similarities. What are the differences between you and the person you asked to Google the term? Are you surprised by the differences or similarities in your search results? Why or why not?

3. Connect this experiment to Pariser's argument. Do you think this individualized search is a good or bad thing? Why or why not? What does this mean for knowledge distribution on the Internet (as in, if the Internet is what we use for research these days, how does personalized search impact our research)? Is the Internet actually a space for free knowledge and exchange of ideas?