Another Word For It

The Filter Bubble: Algorithm vs. Curator & the Value of Serendipity by Maria Popova.

Covers the same TED presentation that I mention at On the dangers of personalization but with the value-add that Maria both interviews Eli Pariser and talks about his new book, The Filter Bubble.

I remain untroubled by filtering.

We filter the information we give others around us.

Advertisers filter the information they present in commercials.

For example, I don’t recall any Toyota ads that end with: Buy a Toyota ****, your odds of being in a recall are 1 in ***. That’s filtering.

Two things would increase my appreciation for Google filtering:

First, much better filtering, where I can choose narrow-band filter(s) based on my interests.

Second, the ability to turn the filters off at my option.

You see, I don’t agree that there is information I need to know as determined by someone else.

Here’s an interesting question: What information would you filter from: www.cnn.com?

On the dangers of personalization

From the post:

We’re getting our search results seriously edited and, I bet, most of us don’t even know it. I didn’t. One Google engineer says that their search engine uses 57 signals to personalize your search results, even when you’re logged out.

Do we really want to live in a web bubble?

What I find interesting about this piece is that it describes a data silo but from the perspective of an individual.

Think about it.

A data silo is based on data that is filtered and stored.

Personalization is based on data that is filtered and presented.

Do you see any difference?