p2pnet - rss feed: Google trawls for student data
p2pnet.net news:- Speaking of online surveys, “Help us simplify your life,” says Google in a blatant trawl to get a stack of of information from American students, going on, “five questions, should take less than two minutes.” It also says:
You spend your life dealing with information. A lot is academic, tons more is personal, all of it matters.
Google Apps Education Edition can simplify the information overload. Communicate better, coordinate easier, and collaborate more.
Oh. OK.
So what’s it all about, this survey?
Student email. To take part, you have to provide Google marketeers with priceless personal data. And when you get to the actual survey, here’s what you see:
How satisfied are you with your school’s current email system, compared to other systems you’ve used (like your personal mail)?
Very dissatisfied
Dissatisfied
Neutral
Satisfied
Very satisfied
What would you like to change about your school’s current email system? (choose up to three)
Can’t get my mail from my mobile phone.
Tough to access when I’m not on campus or don’t have my computer.
Not enough storage space, so I need to delete mail or files that I want to keep.
No IM or calendar functionality.
Slow to send or receive my mail.
Complicated interface.
Frequent downtime and periods when the system is unavailable.
Other
I would prefer to use Gmail, Google Talk and Google Calendar instead of my school’s current systems?
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
What’s the primary way that Gmail, Google Talk and Google Calendar could be better than your school’s current systems?
Mobile access
Storage capacity
User interface
Integrated email, calendar and IM capabilities
Speed
I don’t believe that they would be better
Other
Do you have a Gmail account?
Yes
Yes, but I don’t use it
“Hm,” says Michael Chui on The Chronicle of Information’s Wired Campus. “Google doesn’t ask it, but I use email primarily as an asynchronous organizer. I always prefer that people who need to drop me a note email me, so that I can reference it multiple times and be constantly reminded by its presence in my inbox.
“Their survey looks useless to me; it seems to be a dataset geared towards convincing universities to use Google Apps. While I would agree with such a move, especially on my campus, is pushing them with this a good thing?”
“I’m with you, Michael,” says Logan Hazen. “I was hopeful this was intended to produce some meaningful (global) data on where students are with email. Instead it seems to be a multitiered marketing tool for Google - to get data to leverage individual schools to partner with gmail; to get students who don’t have gmail to subscribe; etc. Like you, I think Google has a good product, but this represents Google poorly.
And, “Google doesn’t do anything without a purpose,” says Malcolm Mccallum. “Its like the Langoliers (stephen King), Google is purpose personified! Certainly they have a reason, and I guarantee it will be big bucks for the Google empire!”
Also See:
Wired Campus - Weighing in on E-Mail, April 13, 20057
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at thIs the endSurvey: How Did Copyright Infringement Become Equated with Robbery? (of the Net) nigh?zze University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php | | And use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!
April 16th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Perhaps Google will use this data. Perhaps they will discard results, having used this survey to stir the pot and make students consider Gmail vs. whatever their schools use.
I graduated college a year and a half ago and was forced to juggle a 10MB mailbox for 4 years. All I know is that Google Apps charges $50 per year per seat and each student gets 2GB of email. The only real disadvantage of this, and it’s a big one, is that the servers are the on-site property of Google in the USA. This shouldn’t really matter to students, however, since their emails would be privy to inspection by the school anyway.
Regardless, this is an opt-in survey that will somehow be used by Google to make them money. They’re not twisting anyone’s arm to fill it out, and if students happen to prefer Gmail then this survey will open the eyes of educational IT administrators. Is there a problem with this?