Google’s mission statement is all about organising the world’s information and making it accessible and useful. It’s a theme I’m very much on board with. As somebody who grew up in the pre-internet era (well, pre-available-to-the-public, at any rate), I’ve seen various innovations hit the world. I still remember the first time I saw Streetview, when it was first beta tested on a single US city and my colleague and I marvelled over the pictures and wondered how it was done.
Google has gone from strength to strength since then, and I’m very happy to help support their goals. People ask me what I get out of it, incredulous that I’m not being paid to provide information, but the way I see it is that if I can use information somebody else supplied, doesn’t it make sense to pay it forwards? Maybe I’m helping somebody who never gives it one moment’s thought, or perhaps I’m helping people who aren’t in a position to feed back to the map. And perhaps, in fact, almost certainly, I’m feeding useful information out to individuals who would never dream of giving their own information and data out for nothing. But that’s how society works - we each play a different part.
I spend a lot of time just answering questions as a Local Guide, sometimes being amused at the concepts invoked: “No, Google,” I mutter, “London Zoo’s cafeteria is not a romantic place!” Another time I might inform it that yes, it is indeed ok to go for “just dessert” at the ice cream shop, or that the Indian restaurant doesn’t serve a traditional Sunday roast. But there’s a far more serious side to it all, particularly when it comes to assessing whether a shop, restaurant, or entertainment venue is wheelchair accessible. By day, I’m a web developer, working hard on accessibility on the web, and I’ve got a good appreciation of the way the world is built to make things difficult for those who don’t fit the standard template, which is often that of a fit young male. It’s good to be able to feed back to Google, and the world at large, where people have worked to remove unnecessary barriers, and what places might be welcoming and friendly. But that’s not my sole focus: I don’t concentrate on a single thing in my contributions to Google maps, so I can’t proclaim how proud I am of anything in particular. And yet… I sit here in London, making my knowledge available, helping visitors to understand what’s what, and I feel good that I’ve made a difference, no matter how small, in this locality, this city, and this world.
