Holy Google Universe Batman!!

Wow...I had no idea that the Google Universe is an actual universe. It's big, it's HUGE, it's too difficult to even comprehend.

So, what do I like about this brief exposure I've had? I can really learn a lot. Yep, in my futile attempt to make my pea-sized head bigger I can try to cram as much knowledge and learning into my noggin that I can THINK it is actually increasing in size. We'll all know differently, but it'll FEEL bigger. Today I learned how to make yarn from any old piece of fabric...from beloved silk skirts and your hubby's worn T-shirt to regular old muslin.

One thing in particular that I like is Google Books. I don't know about you, but I was a HUGE user of My List. I tried a few other sites to help me manage the shocking amount of material that I am interested in, but nothing seemed to be able to keep up. Then I discovered Google Books and it was as if the heavens opened up and welcomed me in. Here I can make a list of books I have read (as well as review them) and books I want to read (sort of replaces My List). You can also share your reads with your friends.

And I just fell in love with the translate feature...should help me brush up on my Japanese!!

Another aspect of the whole universe thing that I really appreciate is the whole "umbrella" phenomenon. You can enter this universe with one email account and one password. I really can't stand having to remember several usernames and make up so many passwords. Then I forget which password goes with which account and god help you if you ever have to change your password because you have forgotten it. That's how I lost access to my first Facebook account and now my account is floating around cyber space completely unattended.

What do I dislike about the Google Universe? It's all too much. I have travelled in many different places, trotted for hours through un-navigatable Asian markets, driven on more foreign highways and bi-ways than I have in my own country, but never have I ever felt so lost, with the possible exception of Delicious, as I did in the Google Universe. I felt completely adrift in this bottomless sea of information without anything remotely maplike. I'm a map-turner so maybe it might not help me that much, but seriously, my poor little brain was completely overwhelmed.

Also it seemed that there are a lot of places you can't go unless you pay or subscribe (with an attached cost?) Even in cyber space there is an economic divide.

All of this access to information also begs the question:

How much is too much? We all seem to be so "BUSY" these days that it does intrigue me that we would pile even more on top of what we already do. I guess it's part of our culture to consume ravenously (goods, resources, food, information, technology, knowledge)...put it on our plates and we will lick them clean.

I would recommend Google Universe to anyone more tech savvy than me (that would be most people), however they are probably already using this universe, or to people who are interested in learning more about what is out there on the web. I will venture forth boldly into this universe again when I have regained my sense of equilibrium.

kuri