Rob Styles wrote:
>It contains a section on serving their users well, taking a stand on
>issues that affect their users, respecting each other at work and not
>letting personal issues become a conflict of interest; all in all it
>seems to me to be very similar.
Except that "users" to Google means something rather different than
"users" to libraries, I think:
"...our users, whether they're simple search users or advertisers,
large companies or small companies. We have many different types of
users but one primary goal for serving them all. "Is this useful?" is
the one question every Googler should keep in mind during every task,
every day. "
So when the *advertiser* is asked "is this useful?" don't you think
that there might well be considerations affecting the response
compared with when the *simple search user* (i.e., Joe Q. Patron) is
asked? Particularly when compared to the ALA's:
"We do not advance private interests at the expense of library users,
colleagues, or our employing institutions."
It seems to me that Google wants to blanket nearly everyone with the
"user" label (perhaps as a way to do whatever they want and justify
it with "just serving the user") but in the library many of those
would be under the "private interests" label. And as the ALA states,
"Ethical dilemmas occur when values are in conflict." How convenient
to have nothing conflict because both the advertiser *and* the simple
search user are *all just users*. (But some users are more equal than
others, no?) The "personal issues" part of Google seems to put "you
[Google employee] or your friends or family" into a separate category
from everyone else (the users). I just don't see why making money for
an advertiser should be any different than making money for you or
your friends or your family. But in the Google world, the former is
"serving the user" and the latter is a conflict of interest.
But maybe I'm ascribing too much holiness to libraries and there are
all kinds of deals of which I'm not aware.
Mike
Received on Thu Jan 03 2008 - 22:27:12 EST