Website Analysis

The site that i have chosen to analyse is the Google homepage website. (http://www.google.co.uk/) It has been said that 'Google is not just an Internet search engine, but has become something of a phenomenon.' (http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jun04/piper.shtml) And indeed i believe it has.

When you first enter the site the structure is pretty basic. It states the name of the site and has a text box for you to enter the subject you want to know more about - the search engine. However, there are more choices for you to make you can enter the subject you want to know more about either in the web search engine, image search engine, map search engine... the list goes on and on. Anything you want to know more about, Google will most definitely have a link about that certain topic.

In a way you could say that the user is in control for the fact that they type in the subject in which they want to know more about, however Google decides as to what links they want to show to you. Due to the fact that this generation of web users are subject to web 2.0 or arguably the beginning of web 3.0, these users are subject to what Lister would describe as a 'multi linear experience'. And indeed it can be argued that Google enhances this experience. This is because not only does the search engine provide you with links, but those links then also provide you with other links, again which Lister would describe as being 'Hypertext'. 'We may define a hypertext as a work which is made up from discrete units of material in which each one carries a number of pathways to other units' (Lister pg 24)
One positive aspect for the user is the fact that the site is only there to help you, there are no advertisements, no pop ups, nothing there that the user doesn't want to know, this the re-enforces the fact that the user is in control of what they wish to see.

On a cultural level, the site functions as a search engine which allows many different users to search what they want to search. However it could be argued that the company itself has a 'finger in every pie'. With that, i mean that it has something to do with everything. If you take a look at this website http://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/options/ you will see how many different options there are for google. Therefore on a cultural level you could argue that the name Google has created itself a 'cultural niche' (http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/jun04/piper.shtml). However, expanding on what Turkle's said about computers - 'computers are not just changing our lives but changing our selves.' You could apply that to the fact that the company Google is not only changing our life's, providing quick and easy access to information, but also changing ourselves because maybe we relay upon these types of search engines too much. Could there a debate in the fact that we, as humans, are becoming lazy? And if so, does it matter?

However, for me, as a user this site enables me to access information quick and easy something which as a student i appreciate. And, as i said above with the use of 'hypertext', i can sometimes find myself accessing a completely different site, about something completely different. Although with this it allows me to access even more knowledge. In addition, taking what Turkle said about 'freedom', Google allows me to have the 'freedom' to search what i want to search, consequently being who i want to be.