WSJ article

["Joseph J. Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

Lee Gomes has an interesting column ("Portals") in today's Wall 
St. Journal on how search engines not only index but actually 
invite the creation of poor and useless information.  WSJ is a 
subscription site, so here is an excerpt:

> My beef, actually, is with the search engines and the economics 
> of the modern Web. Google, for example, says its mission is "to 
> organize the world's information and make it universally 
> accessible and useful." The way that's written, one thinks 
> perhaps of a satellite orbiting high above the earth, capturing 
> all its information but interfering with nothing.
> In fact, search engines are more like a TV camera crew let loose 
> in the middle of a crowd of rowdy fans after a game. Seeing the 
> camera, everyone acts boorishly and jostles to get in front. The 
> act of observing something changes it.
JE:  The "Heisenberg Principle" in the second paragraph is well 
worth pondering.


Joe Esposito