Ch. 6 Global Swarming

As I began to read this article, I wasnt exactly sure where it was going with the whole snail analogy. It seemed quite ambiguous to be specifically describing how a snail makes its mucus to move around and form trails. But as Andy Clark's article progressed I realized the slug was refering to the a bigger meaning. Since we live in a time where there is more information than ever before, arranging it into a meaningful way has become the most difficult task at hand. And with all the technological advancments of our time, vitually everything we do can potentially be tracked and monitored. Whether it be phone calls, car movements through GPS, television channels, or snail tracks people want to record whats happening in our world to learn from certain experiences. Andy Clark brings up websites such as Amazon.com and Ebay.com who can track what people buy to customize and tailor thier websites to fit specific peoples needs. Its essentially business marketing research to help thier companies learn patterns in thier customers. I find this concept to be very intersting, in fact, its quite like some of the things I am studying in other classes right now. By recording what customers buy each time they visit these websites, the businesses can create profiles that can identify what these customers are most likely to buy. Through this data, companies can advetise certain products that customers are more likely to buy togther. For example, I recently learned that when middle aged males buy diapers they are highly likey to also buy beer. Because customer data showed this correlation, grocery stores placed beer and diapers closer together so that it is more likely that if a middle age male with a family goes to buy diapers he will also purchase beer. Marketing data drives lots of business decision and Its amazing how much it spills over into informatics. After completing the reading I understood why the artcile started off wih the snail reference. Humans leave trails and similarly follow the same patterns, much like that of the slugs. In a way this worries me because whos to say the trails some people are making is the right one to follow. Sometimes it seems like we are loosing are freedom in a sense that everything is tracked but at the same time other people make more educated decisions. I enjoyed this read and look forward to more of Andy Clarks thoughts.