I was just watching a fascinating talk by Eli Pariser on TED.com. It was on a topic that I have been pondering for a while now. Like his experience, I used to log on to the internet to discover, and be surprised by, information that I did not have before. Uncurated and ransom to the vagaries of the internet and the eccentricities of fellow users, I would start a search and a few hours later, pull myself out of maze of random ideas.
It is Pariser’s contention that search engines like Google and social networking sites such as Facebook have been using statistics culled from our browsing usage to deliver results that are ‘relevant’ to our requirements. In effect, the algorithms have been so tweaked so as to give us edited internet searches based on parameters like our previous queries, geographical location, etc. While this may seem ‘convenient’ to users on some level, it means that we are becoming more isolated and compartmentalized. It is the very antithesis of what I signed up for when I ‘joined’ the internet.
Like in life, I want to continue to be surprised, amused, amazed and not taken for granted. I don’t want to be considered predictable. Even if I am.
Update 22 June ’11 : I now know of search engines like Duck Duck Go at www.duckduckgo.com (I had to ‘google’ them!) that attempt to offer non-bubble, non-personalized results. Is this really required?
Do we, as users, find it more advantageous to receive ‘filtered’ results based on our search/ browsing history? Or are we creeped out and feel like ‘someone’ knows a little too much about us?
