I received an email from Goggle telling me I had posted objectionable content on this site (when I hadn't posted for several months). Their response was to shut down my blog and my access to it and to cut me off from Google mail.
Without warning I found myself unable to communicate on multiple levels.
I had to Google search for others to whom this has happened to find that I could appeal my case to Google. Eventually they reinstated my mail and much later, to my surprise, I regained access to this blog. Using it, however, became a big question mark.
In the past, when I taught about Google and Google products I would say "Google wants to take over the world. Should we care?" This is becoming more apparent as Google+ sends its tendrils throughout personal networks, seeking but one more way to take over. And now I care more than I used to.
Professionally everyone is creating their Personal Learning Network, expanding their connections exponentially on sites like Linked In, inviting people into their Google+ circles, following and being followed. It's the smart thing to do, right? The more the world becomes divided into the haves and the have-nots, the more important it is to belong, to get the current information, to be recognized, be recommended, and to be made valuable, to be "liked."
The alternative, technological isolation, feels like professional suicide. Right?
But remember who holds all the cards, and can fold your hand without warning.
With Google, Apple, Microsoft and so many major players driving us toward the Cloud, I find myself more and more resistent, wanting to keep my feet firmly planted on the ground, holding on to my own content, my own gathered resources, hoping, perhaps in vain, that I won't lose it all again because.... I never did find out why.
