The 'blogosphere' is abuzz with Google's latest pre-pre-Alpha release, Google Base (the first pre- is in there because the product isn't even released yet, save for http://base.google.com, which is up sometimes, down othertimes, and doesn't really do anything other than generate a fevered pitch among bloggers). Google Base. From a good ArsTechnica article on this pre-pre-Alpha service, “ Google Base is Google's database into which you can add all types of content. We'll host your content and make it searchable online for free.” In a nutshell, purportedly this service will allow Sally Housecoat and Joe Meatball to upload and add their own content to Google Base, which is sort of going to be this online database.
To me, it appears as if the aim of Google Base is to be that big ol' database in the sky. “Have some data? Go ahead and stick up in that cloud up there. Need to search that data? Here are the web service APIs, knock yourself out.” Users will be able to tag their uploaded information with labels, geographic information, and other categories, and the results, one would imagine, would be integrated into other Google services, such as Google Maps, Froogle, Google Local, and so on. (For example, one could say, “Show me all garage sales going on in my zip code in the next two weeks.”)
Some are calling it the craigslist and eBay killer; some see this as the potential end of classified ads in newspapers.
I am not so excited about this product for a couple of reasons. First, it's pre-pre-Alpha... If this is at all like the Google Reader released a month ago or so, then even when Google Base is officially released, it'll still need a lot of work. Second, and more importantly, they're allowing users to add to this database. If they just let any ol' person add any old thing, the quality of Google Base will quickly approach zero. Look at USENET - except in moderated or very specific forums visited only by a small sect of people, a large percentage of the stuff posted there is crap. Google Base will need some sort of moderation or community involvement that will keep this data pure. And how many people are going to keep using Google Base when they do a search for garage sales in their area and show up only to find that they moved it to next weekend, but forgot to update Google Base?
Let's just say I'm pretty pessimistic when it comes to any service that basically trusts the general public to add to their catalog, and I'd hope Google would know this better than anyone else... a-hem. Let's call this the Scott Mitchell theorem: The quality of any piece of information is inversely proportional to how many people contribute to it.”