Whether you're searching online for the best shoe sales or driving directions, chances are good that the first thing you do is "Google it." And why wouldn't you? With its recent foray into social media and services offering everything from out-of-print books to cell phones, Google is fast becoming a one-stop shop for, well, everything. But could the search engine be too good at what it does?
Friday in an encore broadcast from September, author and University of Virginia professor of media studies Siva Vaidhyanathan joins Steve Kraske to discuss his book The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry), and why he thinks Google is great for shopping - but bad for learning.
Siva Vaidyhanathan is the Robertson Professor and the Chair of the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. He also teaches in the University of Virginia School of Law. Vaidhyanathan is the author of The Googlization of Everything And Why We Should Worry (University of California Press, 2011), Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity (New York University Press, 2001) and The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System(Basic Books, 2004). He also co-edited (with Carolyn de la Pena) collection, Rewiring the Nation: The Place of Technology in American Studies (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007). Vaidhyanathan has written for many periodicals, including American Scholar, theChronicle of Higher Education, theNew York Times Magazine, MSNBC.COM, Salon.com, openDemocracy.net, Columbia Journalism Review, BookForum, Slate.com, the Washington Post, and The Nation. He is a frequent contributor to National Public Radio and to MSNBC.COM and has appeared in a segment of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart. After five years as a professional journalist, Vaidhyanathan earned a PhD in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught previously at Wesleyan University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Columbia University, New York University, and Universiteit van Amsterdam. You can follow him on Twitter at @sivavaid
