Journalism Research and Random Meanderings


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Thursday, July 13, 2006

Welcome to Free Book Zone - Engineering, Technical, Medical, Maths, Physics eBooks

I like books and I love free. here's the best of both.

Welcome to Free Book Zone - Engineering, Technical, Medical, Maths, Physics eBooks: "Welcome to FreeBookZone, your one stop solution for free eBooks
What's Inside

FreeBookZone lists free computer science, engineering books, programming manuals, lecture notes and coursewares, all of which are freely available over the internet. Most of the contents are not provided by us, but we do provide materials that are published under GNU General Public License. See the program policy for uptodate details.

* Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body "

	Posted by: NetScr1be at/ 7/13/2006 01:25:00 PM
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Wednesday, July 12, 2006

The Problem with Automatic Tools

I'm sure neither Google nor the Globe and Mail intended this to happen (and hopefully both will take steps to ensure it won't again) and I'm quite sure the advertiser doesn't want to be placed here but it's an excellent case in point for the inherent problems with tools like Google's AdSense that "read" the site they're working on and generate ads related to the text on the page.

The following Globe and Mail story Waterslide mishap costs boy his legs had ads by Google;

"[by] TU THANH HA

MONTREAL -- A seven-year-old boy lost both his feet after he was swallowed through a submerged intake pipe at a waterslide near Montreal this week, raising questions about the self-regulated nature of the water-park industry in Quebec. A screen normally covering the intake pipe at the bottom of the slide wasn't in place, police said. Investigators believe Alexis Auclair was sucked through seven metres of pipes until he hit the pump's turbines, which crushed his feet. ..."

Unfortunately the ad was for another water park;

Google does make an effort to prevent this as stated in the AdSense FAQ on Google AdSense Help Center ( Can I filter the ads that are displayed on my site?) by combining "an editorial team and filtering technology to maximize the quality of the Google ads on Google and publisher sites" and reviewing ads "using a combination of human and automated processes before they are shown on publishers' sites. The review process takes into account a variety of factors, including the quality of the ad and whether the ad is suitable for all audiences" and by employing "Sensitive content filters" that attempt to "automatically filters out ads that would be inappropriate on a news page about a catastrophic event."

However Google asks us to please "note that Google does not commit that all ads for the websites that you add to your competitive ad filter list or ads containing objectionable content will be prevented from display on your site."

Details on Google's ad filter are available in the Filtering Ads section of the AdSense FAQ.

At this point I have no comment from The Globe, Google or the advertiser yet. I do make a point of telling subjects they've been blogged and allowing them a chance to comment.

--PB--

	Posted by: NetScr1be at/ 7/12/2006 08:05:00 AM
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