Google Broadband

Hmmm- ubiquitous broadband – what would that mean for libraries?
The U.S. president has asked that the entire U.S. have broadband connectivity by 2007. There are reports that this is ahead of schedule. Our Gartner reports show that this will be a transformative development. North American is starting to catch up.
Then, along came Google’s $150 million plus investment in broadband connectivity through the electrical grid. Interesting – just plug in a wireless POP into any home electrical outlet and you’ve got a personal or home wireless broadband network. Cool. And if it was free – Google could own a pretty rugged commercial network for e-commerce and retailing. Free works well for the frugal (or is that Froogle) customer.
Now if Google chooses to default its search pages to a local town or city presence (like it does for national versions) . . . then we’ve got an interesting environment in which to play. Local libraries would need to make sure they had a virtual presence in this localized space. See the initial view of it here. And academic libraries shouldn’t feel too safe. Look here and remember that Google (and the others) knows your longitude and latitude too! Either way it broadens Google’s advertising base to include local ads just like Yellow Pages and newspaper classifieds. As Google Local is populated with enterprises and businesses, it’s worth your time to check to see how you and your books, libraries and information services turn up in Google Local for your area.
Stephen