An interesting contrast has come up in our readings and discussions about the Internet. In Carr's Chapter 5, he points out that one of the Internet's unique points is its multimedia presentation of information. The user is able to get text, video, music, and images all in one place. Consumers no longer need to use their radios, TVs, books, phones, and DVD players simultaneously - all of these services can be accessed from within a web browser. The amount of information that exists without an Internet copy is dwindling quickly as libraries are digitized and new articles are published exclusively online. With these considerations in mind, one can appreciate the unprecedented wealth of information available on the Internet. Easy access to this information warehouse should give everyone the opportunity to expand his/her mind, right?
Eli Pariser describes a problem with this universal information in his TED talk. Because of the user customization used by information gatekeepers such as Google and Facebook, different users see different sets of results. These customization algorithms are designed to increase site traffic by improving user experiences. However, a (possibly) unintended consequence of these algorithms is the censoring of information deemed unimportant to the user. Pariser says that the remaining, unfiltered information is contained within "filter bubbles," which are unique to each user's characteristics. Because only some information is available, the Internet doesn't always help with expanding minds and broadening horizons.
Here lies the split: the Internet has made more information quickly available than ever before, but not all of it is not easily accessible to everyone. It will be interesting to see how far these customization services progress before there is widespread negative consumer reaction. Or, it will be interesting to see if everyone ever notices the information censorship.
2 comments:
I personally hate the customizations of internet searches. The only prefernece that I think makes the search better is location. But today's search engines like Google, Ask, and Bing all take into account irrelevant details such as info from your Facebook, and worst of all is your previous searches. I use search engines for academics as well as for fun, and this becomes a problem. when i'm searching for scholastic articles for homework, thanks to these algorithums i get articles that are irrevelent to my school subject and relate more to my personal searches.
Your last few comments are enlightening. Your comments have made me conclude that the Internet is becoming reduced as a source for worldwide information if the information is being curtailed by the search algorithms. How are we to access all the information available to us if it is being customized, and therefore limited? As Carr pointed out in his book, Google is becoming more concerned with producing the latest information instead of producing the best results for the search query. Producing the fastest and latest results is replacing the quality of information. In these ways, we are not accessing all of the information available, opposite to the Internet’s original goal.
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