Three University Media Studies professors spoke about the positive and negative impacts of Google Friday in the panel "Google, the New Media: the Present and Future." The event was part of the 17th annual Virginia Festival of the Book, a program of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities which lasted from March 16 to 20.
Media Studies Prof. Andrea Press, Media Studies Prof. Bruce Williams and Media Studies Prof. Siva Vaidhyanathan spoke in front of an audience of University community members and Charlottesville residents and visitors.
Co-authors Williams and Press began by discussing their most recently published book, "The New Media Environment."
"All of us understand that we live in a world where the media that we live in is really changing," Williams said. "Today, it is impossible for us to live without e-mail, phones and a million channels on our cable TV."
Williams, however, also explained "the new media environment is not just about the new - it is about the old as well." A large majority of people no longer read newspapers or watch the nightly news every evening like they did nearly 10 years ago, mostly because all the news is available online and can be accessed at any moment, he said.
One consequence of the online movement is journalists' loss of authority, he said, adding that the Internet provides access to "more information that is diverse and high-quality," though how many people are actually going to take advantage of that opportunity remains a question.
As a sociology professor, Press offered a different perspective on the changing media environment. She studied social inequalities in the media, uncovering surprising statistics. Only 33 percent of television show speaking lines go to women, and there is a three-to-one ratio of male to female actors in Hollywood, Press said.
Vaidhyanathan's newly published book, "The Googlization of Everything: And Why We Should Worry" focuses on "Google's work in the world and our relationship we have with it."
Google has been moving incredibly fast during the past several years, and human reliance on the search engine has been increasing just as quickly, Vaidhyanathan said. "We love Google - it's a mystical force that guides us through the world ... but it doesn't ask much of us."
Vaidhyanathan quoted Google's mission statement while emphasizing that Google has gone above and beyond the realm of services provided by typical businesses.
"'Google's mission is to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful,'" he said. "That is a huge responsibility and mission to take on. Google is the lens through which we explore the world - it's the starting point."
In addition to this panel, the festival also included programs such as traditional author readings, book signings, a StoryFest day of children's authors and storybook characters, a panel on how to publish a novel, discussions on how to run a book club, a workshop on book-binding and discussions about freelancer's rights, said Susan Coleman, director of the Virginia Center for the Book, a program of the Virginia Foundation of the Humanities.
"Along with the staff, almost every aspect of the festival is organized and generated by festival committees consisting of community volunteers who generously contribute their time and energy," Coleman said. "We are always grateful that the University ... has so many scholars writing on so many topics of interest to the general public"
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