<nettime> Out now: Ippolita's The Dark Side of Google

[Geert Lovink <geert@xs4all.nl>]

(some parts published earlier on nettime, long time ago, and now
updated! /geert)

Ippolita, The Dark Side of Google, Theory on Demand #13, Institute of
Network Cultures, Amsterdam, 2013.

http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publication/no-13-the-dark-side-of-google-ippolita/

In The Dark Side of Google Italian writers' collective Ippolita
provides a thorough, fresh analysis of what is behind the universe
of Google and the metadata industry. In recent years Google has
established itself as a major point of Internet access. We have
progressively adapted to its sober, reassuring interface and its
advertisements (discretely off to the side, yet always present). We
have adopted its services and the habit of using it to the degree that
'googling' has become a form of behavior: 'If you don't know what it
is, Google it!'

Google shows mastery in taking advantage of our need for simplicity.
We sit in front of a colossus, an incredibly pervasive system of
managing knowledge, comprising aggressive marketing and shrewd
management of its own image, and the propagation of highly
configurable interfaces that are still implacably recognizable. What
is more, Google co-opts methods for developing Free Software, the use
of futuristic systems for gathering and storing data. What lies behind
the most consulted search engine in the world?

First published in Italian, 2007 English edition revised and updated,.
August 2013                                                          .

Author: Ippolita. Translation: Patrice Riemens. Editorial support:
Miriam Rasch. Design: Katja van Stiphout. DTP: Margreet Riphagen
& Katja van Stiphout. Available on Lulu, Scribd, Issu and as pdf
. Publisher: Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam 2013. ISBN:
978-90-818575-6-7.





#  distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime>  is a moderated mailing list for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l
#  archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org