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Journal ArticleDOI

Bias in algorithmic filtering and personalization

01 Sep 2013-Ethics and Information Technology (Springer Netherlands)-Vol. 15, Iss: 3, pp 209-227
TL;DR: This paper uses the existing literature on gatekeeping and search engine bias and provides a model of algorithmic gatekeeping, showing that both human and technical biases are present in today’s emergent gatekeepers.
Abstract: Online information intermediaries such as Facebook and Google are slowly replacing traditional media channels thereby partly becoming the gatekeepers of our society. To deal with the growing amount of information on the social web and the burden it brings on the average user, these gatekeepers recently started to introduce personalization features, algorithms that filter information per individual. In this paper we show that these online services that filter information are not merely algorithms. Humans not only affect the design of the algorithms, but they also can manually influence the filtering process even when the algorithm is operational. We further analyze filtering processes in detail, show how personalization connects to other filtering techniques, and show that both human and technical biases are present in today's emergent gatekeepers. We use the existing literature on gatekeeping and search engine bias and provide a model of algorithmic gatekeeping.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper makes three contributions to clarify the ethical importance of algorithmic mediation, including a prescriptive map to organise the debate, and assesses the available literature in order to identify areas requiring further work to develop the ethics of algorithms.
Abstract: In information societies, operations, decisions and choices previously left to humans are increasingly delegated to algorithms, which may advise, if not decide, about how data should be interpreted and what actions should be taken as a result. More and more often, algorithms mediate social processes, business transactions, governmental decisions, and how we perceive, understand, and interact among ourselves and with the environment. Gaps between the design and operation of algorithms and our understanding of their ethical implications can have severe consequences affecting individuals as well as groups and whole societies. This paper makes three contributions to clarify the ethical importance of algorithmic mediation. It provides a prescriptive map to organise the debate. It reviews the current discussion of ethical aspects of algorithms. And it assesses the available literature in order to identify areas requiring further work to develop the ethics of algorithms.

990 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This research offers a significant and timely contribution to both researchers and practitioners in the form of challenges and opportunities where it highlights the limitations within the current research, outline the research gaps and develop the questions and propositions that can help advance knowledge within the domain of digital and social marketing.

588 citations


Cites background from "Bias in algorithmic filtering and p..."

  • ...Bozdag (2013) explored the algorithmic gatekeeping bias that is affecting the filtering protocols of recommendation systems....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The notion of algorithmic accountability reporting as a mechanism for elucidating and articulating the power structures, biases, and influences that computational artifacts exercise in society is studied.
Abstract: Every day automated algorithms make decisions that can amplify the power of businesses and governments. Yet as algorithms come to regulate more aspects of our lives, the contours of their power can remain difficult to grasp. This paper studies the notion of algorithmic accountability reporting as a mechanism for elucidating and articulating the power structures, biases, and influences that computational artifacts exercise in society. A framework for algorithmic power based on autonomous decision-making is proffered and motivates specific questions about algorithmic influence. Five cases of algorithmic accountability reporting involving the use of reverse engineering methods in journalism are then studied and analyzed to provide insight into the method and its application in a journalism context. The applicability of transparency policies for algorithms is discussed alongside challenges to implementing algorithmic accountability as a broadly viable investigative method.

448 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
23 Apr 2018
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identify the two components in the echo chambers: the opinion that is shared, and the chamber that allows the opinion to echo, and examine closely at how these two components interact.
Abstract: Echo chambers, i.e., situations where one is exposed only to opinions that agree with their own, are an increasing concern for the political discourse in many democratic countries. This paper studies the phenomenon of political echo chambers on social media. We identify the two components in the phenomenon: the opinion that is shared, and the »chamber» (i.e., the social network) that allows the opinion to »echo» (i.e., be re-shared in the network) -- and examine closely at how these two components interact. We define a production and consumption measure for social-media users, which captures the political leaning of the content shared and received by them. By comparing the two, we find that Twitter users are, to a large degree, exposed to political opinions that agree with their own. We also find that users who try to bridge the echo chambers, by sharing content with diverse leaning, have to pay a »price of bipartisanship» in terms of their network centrality and content appreciation. In addition, we study the role of »gatekeepers,» users who consume content with diverse leaning but produce partisan content (with a single-sided leaning), in the formation of echo chambers. Finally, we apply these findings to the task of predicting partisans and gatekeepers from social and content features. While partisan users turn out relatively easy to identify, gatekeepers prove to be more challenging.

269 citations

References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a method to solve the problem of the "missing link" problem in the context of Haifa University, Israel, and their Ph.D. dissertation.
Abstract: of Ph.D. dissertation, University of Haifa, Israel.

7,638 citations

Proceedings ArticleDOI
22 Oct 1994
TL;DR: GroupLens is a system for collaborative filtering of netnews, to help people find articles they will like in the huge stream of available articles, and protect their privacy by entering ratings under pseudonyms, without reducing the effectiveness of the score prediction.
Abstract: Collaborative filters help people make choices based on the opinions of other people. GroupLens is a system for collaborative filtering of netnews, to help people find articles they will like in the huge stream of available articles. News reader clients display predicted scores and make it easy for users to rate articles after they read them. Rating servers, called Better Bit Bureaus, gather and disseminate the ratings. The rating servers predict scores based on the heuristic that people who agreed in the past will probably agree again. Users can protect their privacy by entering ratings under pseudonyms, without reducing the effectiveness of the score prediction. The entire architecture is open: alternative software for news clients and Better Bit Bureaus can be developed independently and can interoperate with the components we have developed.

5,644 citations


"Bias in algorithmic filtering and p..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Keywords Information politics Bias Social filtering Algorithmic gatekeeping...

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  • ...Even though personalization technologies such as Grouplens (Resnick et al. 1994) have existed for a while, the rise of social networks and the exponential increase in produced and shared information in online services are changing the impact this technology has....

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Book
13 May 2011
TL;DR: The amount of data in the authors' world has been exploding, and analyzing large data sets will become a key basis of competition, underpinning new waves of productivity growth, innovation, and consumer surplus, according to research by MGI and McKinsey.
Abstract: The amount of data in our world has been exploding, and analyzing large data sets—so-called big data— will become a key basis of competition, underpinning new waves of productivity growth, innovation, and consumer surplus, according to research by MGI and McKinsey's Business Technology Office. Leaders in every sector will have to grapple with the implications of big data, not just a few data-oriented managers. The increasing volume and detail of information captured by enterprises, the rise of multimedia, social media, and the Internet of Things will fuel exponential growth in data for the foreseeable future.

4,700 citations


"Bias in algorithmic filtering and p..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In 2010, 30 billion pieces of content were shared every month with 5 billion mobile phones contributing to it (Manyika et al. 2011)....

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  • ...This shifts the online world to a model of collaboration and continuous data creation, creating so-called ‘‘big data’’, data which cannot be processed and stored in traditional computing models (Manyika et al. 2011)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing--and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves.
Abstract: With the radical changes in information production that the Internet has introduced, we stand at an important moment of transition, says Yochai Benkler in this thought-provoking book. The phenomenon he describes as social production is reshaping markets, while at the same time offering new opportunities to enhance individual freedom, cultural diversity, political discourse, and justice. But these results are by no means inevitable: a systematic campaign to protect the entrenched industrial information economy of the last century threatens the promise of today's emerging networked information environment. In this comprehensive social theory of the Internet and the networked information economy, Benkler describes how patterns of information, knowledge, and cultural production are changing--and shows that the way information and knowledge are made available can either limit or enlarge the ways people can create and express themselves. He describes the range of legal and policy choices that confront us and maintains that there is much to be gained--or lost--by the decisions we make today.

4,002 citations