"net neutrality"
May. 10th, 2011 02:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athousandsmiles posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
therightfangirlI found this on my friend's list. It's just over 9 minutes, but worth the time.
For those who'd rather have the tl;dr version, the internet is tailoring itself, via algorithms, to what it thinks we want to see. As the guy in the vid put it (paraphrasing here), "We may not be getting a balanced information diet." It's disturbing.
And I want to add a comment from one of my friends, which I thought was interesting and relevant, but I want to get her permission first.
At uni we have developed an algorithm once that would lay over google, visible of course that would just blend out certain things based on what string you entered into the search bar. And to be honest it was really easy, because there are certain keywords that get liked with other keywords that would be just blended out. (eg I could google for House and the algorithm would give you results about House, Hugh and so on, but basically ignore everything with RSL in it for example. without you knowing that there was a result with House and RSL)
I think this is the first step into the loss of net neutrality. Which would be fatal! If you are not familiar with that concept, take a look at that link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U
The problem is that all these algorithms are designed to help you get the best of information based on who you are. It's the same amazon uses for "customers also bought" or recommendations, but what happens is that you are pulled inside a bubble, as the commentator said and as a consequence you can't look outside of the bubble, because you don't know that there is an outside.
It's difficult, because it's easier to compare things and show smilier items to you, than completely difficult items, because when you like 1/10 topics, 9/10 topics could be something you like but should the computer give you now 9 completely different, irrelevant (to choice #1) choices? You would think, well what does that have to do with anything... and so on.
I know I'm rambling here but this is such an interesting topic. When does become a recommendation on things you might like, become basically a tool that "forces" you to ignore things that are outside the box? And when do we draw the line on what information (personal) do I, the user, provide to the internet.
Because if you say, no no, don't take any personal information, then things like "you might also like" and so on don't work either.
For those who'd rather have the tl;dr version, the internet is tailoring itself, via algorithms, to what it thinks we want to see. As the guy in the vid put it (paraphrasing here), "We may not be getting a balanced information diet." It's disturbing.
And I want to add a comment from one of my friends, which I thought was interesting and relevant, but I want to get her permission first.
At uni we have developed an algorithm once that would lay over google, visible of course that would just blend out certain things based on what string you entered into the search bar. And to be honest it was really easy, because there are certain keywords that get liked with other keywords that would be just blended out. (eg I could google for House and the algorithm would give you results about House, Hugh and so on, but basically ignore everything with RSL in it for example. without you knowing that there was a result with House and RSL)
I think this is the first step into the loss of net neutrality. Which would be fatal! If you are not familiar with that concept, take a look at that link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U
The problem is that all these algorithms are designed to help you get the best of information based on who you are. It's the same amazon uses for "customers also bought" or recommendations, but what happens is that you are pulled inside a bubble, as the commentator said and as a consequence you can't look outside of the bubble, because you don't know that there is an outside.
It's difficult, because it's easier to compare things and show smilier items to you, than completely difficult items, because when you like 1/10 topics, 9/10 topics could be something you like but should the computer give you now 9 completely different, irrelevant (to choice #1) choices? You would think, well what does that have to do with anything... and so on.
I know I'm rambling here but this is such an interesting topic. When does become a recommendation on things you might like, become basically a tool that "forces" you to ignore things that are outside the box? And when do we draw the line on what information (personal) do I, the user, provide to the internet.
Because if you say, no no, don't take any personal information, then things like "you might also like" and so on don't work either.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-15 03:11 am (UTC)