It’s often said that “Google is your friend.” But is Google really your friend?
Thank you Julie for the marvelous banner for this assignment.
Rather than speculate whether this data-omnivorous corporation is a friend, foe, sinister evil entity, or benevolent dictator, or whether it embodies any other humanizing characteristics, we will try to measure to what degree we are actually dependent on it.
In the coming week, starting from the end of this class, we will attempt to make it through a whole week without using any Google service. Not Google Search, not Gmail, not Google Talk, not Google Docs, not Google Maps, not Google Earth, not Google News, not Google Groups, not YouTube, not Blogger, not Picasa, not Google Calendar, not Google Checkout, not iGoogle, not Google Translate, not Google Voice, not Google Latitude, not Google Chrome, not Google Wave, not Google SideWiki. If you have an Android phone, you are not allowed to use Google services with it, talk and text only … you get the point. (For a partial list of what you are not allowed to use, check your google dashboard here. . . while you still can.)
Stick to the rules set in class for when we are ambushed by an embedded YouTube video or a Google Map; what tips and tricks can you come up with for protecting yourselves?
Every time we trip up and use a google service you are to write a post describing your defeat, how and why it happened.
STARTS AT MIDNIGHT!!
Google search alternative:
https://search.yahoo.com/
http://www.bing.com/
https://duckduckgo.com/
http://www.ask.com/
Options for email:
– forward to another account
– set up autoreply explaining the situation.
For auto pop ups of YouTube and Google Maps -> you have to back up and exit the site.
Options for Maps:
– Apple maps, Bing maps, Openmaps, mapquest.
Alternatives to Google Chrome:
– Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer?!?!?!
Here are all the services that Google has acquired and are therefore out of bounds!
(thanks to Mushon Zer Aviv who originally came up with this incredibly difficult assignment).