How Googlable are you? Computer dependence.

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the visibility and implications of one's online presence as indexed by Google. Participants explore how their e-trails reflect their identities and how future historians might perceive individuals based on their digital footprints. The conversation touches on themes of privacy, social connections, and the impact of technology on literacy and sociability.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Meta-discussion

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants question whether future historians will categorize individuals as heroes, villains, fools, or nobodies based on their online presence.
  • Several participants share personal experiences regarding the number of Google hits related to their names, revealing varying degrees of online visibility.
  • One participant notes the difficulty of erasing an extensive online presence, suggesting that it may have implications for personal reputation.
  • There are discussions about the nature of friendships in the context of social media, with some expressing discomfort with the exhibitionism of sharing personal lives online.
  • Participants express differing views on the impact of computers on literacy and sociability, with some suggesting that technology may create a false sense of knowledge.
  • Some participants highlight the presence of other individuals with the same name, complicating their online identity.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views on the implications of their online presence, with no clear consensus on whether technology enhances or diminishes literacy and sociability. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the broader societal implications of digital footprints.

Contextual Notes

Participants' claims about the number of Google hits and their implications are based on personal experiences, which may vary widely. The discussion includes assumptions about the permanence of online information and the definitions of friendship in the digital age.

Loren Booda
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About how may hits on Google refer to you? Do you think future historians will judge us - heroes, villians, fools or nobodies - primarily according to our e-trail?

As the printing press standardized language and calculators redefined numeracy, will computers make us more (or less) independently literate, knowledgeable or sociable?
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
Since I use my real name here, I get quite a lot of hits. As it turns out, though, there is someone with the same name who runs a pool/spa business, so about half the hits are of him.
 
Googling on my given name gives 2 relevant links that are not related to my tendency to write letters to the editor. Googling on my nickname and surname yields 15 relevant hits linking to pages relating to my former job running an auction division for a major auctioneer, and to sites featuring my avocations as a rock/blues guitarist and vocalist and tube-amp technician. Our e-trails can be extensive and can be difficult or impossible to erase, so keep your nose clean.
 
Quotes should be placed around your name to get valid hits. I only get 5 hits, all of which are things that I've put up.
 
russ_watters said:
Since I use my real name here, I get quite a lot of hits. As it turns out, though, there is someone with the same name who runs a pool/spa business, so about half the hits are of him.

Oh, darn! And here I was hoping you'd be able to give me a good deal on a pool some day. :biggrin: I think it's somewhat amusing that someone with the name Watters would be in the pool business.
 
My real name gets about 3 hits that are actually me :biggrin:
 
4-5 hits, one of them is me, it's some exam results.
 
592

First page is all me. the fourth hit on the second page is finally somebody else.

Edit: that was without parentheses but English pages only, in parentheses in all languages it drops to 499.
 
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Interesting what one can learn about oneself using Google. :biggrin:

I was trying to figure out how I managed to get on some Executive committee, and I apparently was nominated at some meeting I went to last year. I was so busy don't remember that part. :smile:

Otherwise, there's a few websites, articles, seminars and conferences.
 
  • #10
Googling "George Jones" results in more than a million hits.
 
  • #11
Bad choice of names, George.:smile: If you had chosen to be named Elvis Presley, you would have to wade through almost 4M hits, so you're pretty lucky. :devil:
 
  • #12
russ_watters said:
Since I use my real name here, I get quite a lot of hits. As it turns out, though, there is someone with the same name who runs a pool/spa business, so about half the hits are of him.

Not to mention the fact that I regularly see your site.

I get about .00001 hits a day, mainly since I don't like to use my real name.

MadScientist1000 is all you should know.
 
  • #13
MadScientist 1000 said:
Not to mention the fact that I regularly see your site.

I get about .00001 hits a day, mainly since I don't like to use my real name.

MadScientist1000 is all you should know.

I bet a lot of sites come up when you Google "Mad Scientist" though. :biggrin:
 
  • #14
0

I'm surprised.
 
  • #15
164, most of them not me. (It appears a Maryland gambler, an English golfer, and a German footballer have usurped my name.) All that is truly me are few papers and some old Perl contributions. Thank goodness. My google count was a whole lot higher a few years ago when I was the president of our local soccer club. 600 kids, 1000 parents, far too many commitees.
 
  • #16
Moonbear said:
Oh, darn! And here I was hoping you'd be able to give me a good deal on a pool some day. :biggrin: I think it's somewhat amusing that someone with the name Watters would be in the pool business.
Yeah, clearly I missed my calling. I was in the Navy, though...
MadScientist 1000 said:
Not to mention the fact that I regularly see your site.

I get about .00001 hits a day, mainly since I don't like to use my real name.
Well, most of the hits on my site are due to the fact that I have the URL in my sig on 3 different message boards. The only place my full name actually appears is in my email address (perhaps I should change that...).

In any case, this is a good time to point out that I've been working hard updating my site the past month. I have a lot of good new pictures, including the jaw-dropper of Saturn I posted in the Astronomy forum...
 
  • #17
Looked through 10 pages, and not one reference to me! I'm quite glad actually :)
 
  • #18
55 for me. Got one in russian, even...
 
  • #19
Schrödinger's Dog gets 1 hit, from this web site. My real name get's nothing, which is good as I need anonimity for my work, well I call it work but really it's more of a hobby...:devil::smile:
 
  • #20
I get a few hits, mostly related to my posts on fora. However, there are a number of almost famous people that share my name, most notably Jimmy the Greek. In addition there was a race car driver, a country singer, a bit part movie actor, and a manager of the Seattle Mariners. Also there is an artist with the web page www.jimmysnyder.com[/URL] (it's not me). and the owner of a tanning salon and manufacturer of tanning products (Jimmy Jimmy Coco).
 
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  • #21
For my name (in " " marks), I get "about 11,900"

Lots of the first page point to my work.
 
  • #22
Three of the first ten and 13 of the 101 instances of my name actually relate to me (including a picture of when our volleyball team won the base championship - that brings back good memories :smile: ).

The most exciting one started out, "I was in the shower when it happened...", but it turned out not to be me. :frown:
 
  • #23
Loren Booda said:
About how may hits on Google refer to you? Do you think future historians will judge us - heroes, villians, fools or nobodies - primarily according to our e-trail?

As the printing press standardized language and calculators redefined numeracy, will computers make us more (or less) independently literate, knowledgeable or sociable?
Thirteen hits, all me and all work-related. I think computers make people think they are more knowledgeable and sociable.

What I hate are those sites where you can add people to your 'friends list', every bit of privacy is gone, it is very exhibitionistic. I don't understand why people want to put their personal life on the internet like that, you can go to their profile and follow whole conversations that they have with their friends or partner. If I want to contact someone, I'll use e-mail. I also don't understand the need to call every person you know a friend (people who have over 300 friends), but that is another discussion :-p
 
  • #24
Monique said:
I also don't understand the need to call every person you know a friend (people who have over 300 friends), but that is another discussion :-p
Same here. I define a friend as a person that I would be genuinely pleased to see if they dropped in unannounced, not just someone that I can have a civil conversation with if I meet them on the street, or share a conversation over a mug of beer. By that measure, I probably have about 20 close friends (as opposed to acquaintances). If they called me with a problem (even late at night), I would help them if I could, and I am confident that they would reciprocate if I needed help. As someone who worked with a great number of people over the years, and who performed in taverns and clubs (guitarist/vocalist/drummer) I have a LOT of acquaintances, some of whom I am on cordial, respectful terms with, but I don't lump them together with my real friends.
 
  • #25
Moonbear said:
I bet a lot of sites come up when you Google "Mad Scientist" though. :biggrin:

I got 489 with my actualy name, and turns out that only 20 of them are about me.
 
  • #26
About 23,000 hits. I checked to about the first 1000, they were all about me personally, then I got bored. My name isn't too common, and I've active online for a while.

EDIT : Without displaying "similar links" it's more like 70.
 
  • #27
I have 10 hits on my name, 8 of them are for my son who has my first name as his middle. 1 is for my cousins son's (named for me) myspace page (this is a nice find, unfortunately it is priviate and I need to join to send him a message).

1 is actually me, from classmates.com
 
  • #28
16 haha, o man, i also searched all my user names and found forum questions from when i was like 13 hahaha wow. I don't remember half that stuff.
 

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