Cyber Caged
The algorithmic filter bubbles and the problems in the query process of online information
There are various issues and limitations to the filter bubbles and the query process when gathering online information. These issues affect our democracy and information literacy by limiting the quality and shrinking the pool of information we access, leading to many ethical dilemmas.
What is Query and Filter Bubble?
According to Merriam-Webster, Query is asking a specific question with a motive for “authoritative information” or to “resolve a doubt.” In online mediums, Merriam-Webster describes filter bubbles as an environment where “people are exposed only to opinions and information that conform to their existing beliefs.”
The Barriers in the Online Query Process
In her article, Susan E. Feldman explains the process of query between a human and a search engine compared to human-to-human. Feldman also elaborates on a search engine’s inability to interact profoundly with humans and narrow down the true meaning of the question to provide a more accurate answer. Fieldman explains when asking a question to a search engine, you must be as accurate as possible. Your question must be clear and concise. While a human-to-human response is more profound due to the ability to quickly examine and determine any ambiguous term in the question, the search engine cannot interact with humans like such.
The query problems between human and search engines identified by Feldman are probe or short queries, lack of user context, misspellings, terms with multiple spellings or multiple meanings, more than one entity sharing the same acronym, diverse punctuation, and diacritics for the same term, and the proper use of case sensitive and nouns. Feldman also explains how word ambiguity puts a damper on the query process. For instance, the search engine might be confused by words with more than one meaning, diversity in synonyms, misuse of terminologies as well as the search engines' inability to understand the proper use of pronouns, irony, sarcasm, and metaphors.
The Barriers of Online Filter Bubbles
In his TED Talk, Eli Pariser warns us about the danger filter bubbles pose to democracy and the freedom to expand our minds, by preventing us from learning new ideas and seeing the world from fresh perspectives. He describes filter bobbles as an algorithmic tool used by major tech companies like Facebook, Yahoo News, Huffington Post, and Google, that edits what we get to see based on what links we have clicked on, creating a bubble of filtered information customized to feed what each individual favors without exploring opposing options when we post our queries. So a group of people who are in different filter bubbles can search for the same question and get different responses that suit their favored preferences. In other terms, this leads to biased responses by search engines. Pariser explains that algorithms are creating these personalized bubbles around us and they filter what information gets in or out. However, these algorithms do not follow the same ethical rules we do.
Ethics, Democracy, and Information Literacy
The relationship between both issues presented by Pariser and Feldman can make it extremely difficult to receive proper information when we explore a query on platforms like Google. This problem poses a threat to democracy and information literacy. While we can be ethically scrutinized for the inaccurate information we propagate, algorithms do not follow ethical rules. Yet, they decide what we learn.
If we combine Google’s inability to interact with the one asking the question due to its limitation with ambiguous language and incapability to converse; the errors we might make as we enter our question; and the filter bubbles we are being pushed into that create biased responses, we become more limited about how we explore and perceive the world from a political, social, cultural, economic, and linguistic point of view. We are also likely to share inaccurate information.
How can better information-seeking behavior help address the "filter bubble"?
I think the first and most important practice is to determine accuracy. We should listen to different political and social groups; we should click on diverse links even if they do not favor our interests, on any platform we use to gather information. To maintain democracy and information literacy we must listen to our opposing speakers and writers for the sake of finding fresh perspectives and creating a pool of information that can burst the individual bubbles we live in for the sake of creating a world that is more connected and growing in synchrony.
References
Feldman, S.E. (2012). The Query Process and Barriers to Finding Information Online. In: The Answer Machine. Synthesis Lectures on Information Concepts, Retrieval, and Services. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02280-7_2
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Democracy. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 12, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Ethic. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 12, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Filter bubble. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 12, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/filter%20bubble
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Query. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved February 12, 2024, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/query
Pariser, E. (2011, March). Beware online “filter bubbles.” Eli Pariser: Beware online “filter bubbles” | TED Talk. https://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles
