Global Swarming

When I read this article I was immediately reminded of many of the things I had learned last semester in a telecommunications course entitled "Living in the Information Age", in which we studied terms such as data smog, which that we are living in an age where we have such an enormous access to information that it's nearly impossible to get a clear source of information. For example, when you search nearly any topic on Google you will get millions of hits or possibilities of sites for your searching. Andy Clark's article deals with this towards the end of the chapter, the sorting and collecting of this data into some coherent form. While any effort towards organizing the internet is enormous, the best solution (in my opinion) would be to sort out the sites before even typing anything in on Google. If the websites were sorted before you even searched it would allow for more relevant or reliable results. I remember when I use to play computers games like Simcity and the Sims, I never realized that it actually benefited in my understanding of the complex systems that we all use in multiple forms every single day.
In dealing with the first part of the article, I noticed many references to Google and its ability to sort out what you are searching and then record this data for others to use if relevant.Google does solely do this for our benefit however. Google is a master of targeting audiences. First, Google allows users to customize a front page called MyGoogle. This directly allows Google and other businesses to know what any person's interests are, and advertise accordingly. Google grosses eight billion a year on advertisements alone, so they must be doing something right...or wrong.
I greatly enjoy Andy Clark's writing style, it is descriptive but relatively to the point. The analogy of the slug was my particular favorite. It was very logical and allowed me to grasp the concept of data tracking well. Amazon.com is a key example of this data tracking. Nearly everything we do on this earth is now somehow recorded, especially when shopping online. Online companies such as Amazon and Ebay keep track of everything I buy on their websites. Because of this, they are able to compose a seller profile. This profile works by collecting data from everything a consumer buys, then putting together more possible things they would like to buy based on their previous purchases. We can easily note this through the "People who bought this also bought..." an obvious sign of the data tracking of Amazon and other companies.
This relates to the snails in that we follow other people's tracks in order to make our own decision. I think this is one of the main dangers that is only touched on in Chapter 6. We are no longer independent in nearly anything online. We need others opinions, just as the reference to the "worn thumbed pages" in Clark's article. It seems rather ridiculous that we would need a concept like this online. If we are always looking for those worn thumbed pages we may never have original ideas, instead we will in some form plagiarize others writing. I enjoy the internet because everything is left open for my interpretation, if I don't like what something says I can easily find another source that contradicts it. I've also heard of the interactive paper, which is could be a useful tool...but also does not seem very necessary in the days of laptop computers and palm pilots.