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Another shrouding tactic is to use the search engine DuckDuckGo, which distinguishes itself with a "We do not track or bubble you!" policy. Bubbling is the filtering of search results based on your search history. (Bubbling also means you are less likely to see opposing points of view or be exposed to something fresh and new.) *I don't particularly care about my privacy (nothing to hide and honestly don't care whose watching), but I do care about the information being fed to me through search engines. I pride myself on doing all the research I can before supporting or criticizing a position. If google is simply feeding me what I want to hear, how do I know I have the full story? This seems like a particularly nefarious form of censorship--one that makes sense in an age of "truthiness" and pandering to ignorance. Bad google. No bubbles.

Google's New Search Algorithm to Crack Down on 'Black Hat Webspam' By Ars Technica By Matthew Braga, Ars Technica Nefarious search engine optimizers be warned. Google is coming for you-again. Following previous changes to Google's ranking and page layout algorithms, the search giant is pushing yet another update to its algorithm this week with the hopes of curbing "black hat webspam" from creeping into search results. * Google thinks that by increasing the complexity of its algorithms, it can weed out malicious intent. Funny thing about complexity is that it tends to breed more complexity. This reminds me a bit of Bogost's book on games. This cat and mouse scenario between Google and fake SEO creators seems to lead to ever evolving code much like in natural systems where the adaptations of the prey animal to take advantage of an environment are eventually matched by a predatory animal with adaptations designed to match or exceed the prey's abilities...

A neat -WIRED- blog documenting new developments in software (mostly Internet based), also offering some tips-and-tricks kinds of features too.

Whoops

Interesting in terms of issues of ownership. Once our identities are "published" online, who owns them? Who "owns" our search histories? Google owns most of mine, I'd say, but it also allows me to supposedly delete items. Are our search histories too public now to be hidden? And who ever said we had a right to privacy on the world wide web? It does seem contradictory to the nature of a "web."

an amusing infographic comparing the benefits of search media versus social media

An article about Inbound Writer, software that helps writers revise their content to maximize search engine optimization. The author's conclusion: "Just like the Internet it is served across, InboundWriter is just an information source, and it can be used for good or evil."

In our last class (I think it was last class), Sandy mentioned the Electronic Book Review. This is the search results for "Electronic Literature Collection" on the website. As he mentioned, not all works deal with electronic literature; however, a huge majority of the essays engage in discussions that are highly relevant to the discussions we are having in class. I'll also bookmark a couple of key essays and give a short blurb as to why I think you all might want to check them out.

A report on the popularity of Chinese search engines from Xinhua-China's official news agency.

I know we would all have access to this via our reading and a Google search, but I thought I would throw it up here for easy access in case anyone was interested in checking it out.

Codecademy is the easiest way to learn how to code. It's interactive, fun, and you can do it with your friends.

I have messed around with this, and I think I came near graduating the free class that they offer. It was useful, but I didn't find that it got me too far into javascript. I did find that I liked the points and badges. Did you see the pay option alternative site (I think linked off Code Academy somewhere ... or it comes up when you search Google for Code Academy) where you can learn various coding languages as you play games? One of them teaches you CSS or Javascript as you fight zombies. If you didn't have to pay ... I would totally get into that. :)

My new favorite Firefox add on that combats all the new privacy stuff unearthed about the big internet titans.