Warburton Blog post 3

I chose the word Chevrolet to plug into Google because I am a collector car enthusiast and Chevrolet happens to be my favorite car maker.  When I pressed the search button the first result I got was a link to the official Chevy website which had a list of the new 2012 cars and the history of the company over its 100 years in business.  The second link on Google’s list was a list of all the 2011 models that Chevy currently offers and their specifications such as gas mileage, horse power, and consumer reviews.  The third website in my search browser was a tab that showed the Chevrolet dealership in Blacksburg.  I then had my roommate Google “Chevrolet” in his computer and his results were identical to the ones I received.  I was personally not surprised that his results were the same as mine because of the large size of the company you can almost always be certain the first website that appears is the company’s official website.  We are also both living in the same area which explains why we both received results for car dealerships in the town of Blacksburg.  I personally believe that Google and other sites use personalized search technology but I find it hard to believe that it is gone to the extent Eli Pariser claims it to be.  There is no doubt that search engine technology used today can locate your geography and your interests based on your previous searches.  However I find it difficult to believe that Google would completely filter out prevalent information such as the BP oil spill from your search window.  I think the individualized search is a good thing as it is used today because it does not think for you but it simply suggests sites you may like.  This personalized technology can be trouble if it becomes too prevalent and is used to block cites from view completely because this is essentially censorship.  If the internet becomes any more personalized than it is today it will have a negative effect on research and the internet as a whole because it will limit the information that is available to each internet user and affect those individuals’ findings.  I believe that the personalized internet searches are a helpful tool but should not replace the functioning of the human mind.