Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles"
“A squirrel dying in front of your house may be more relevant to your interests right now than people dying in Africa.” (Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook). Eli Pariser in his 2011 presentation: Beware online "filter bubbles" grasped my attention with this alarming comment.
Pariser's reference to Zuckerberg's
concept paradigms a shift in interest among Internet users. This I could agree
with. Eli Pariser capitulates that along with that shift of user interest is an
even more disquieting shift. That is, the transference of Internet behavior
towards the user.
Motivators
Motivators apply to everyone;
according to BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model there
are 3 core motivators, with two sides two each. The core motivators, and their
two sides identified by Fogg are: Anticipation (hope/fear), Sensation
(pleasure/pain), and Belonging (acceptance/rejection).
Eli Pariser definitely motivated me
through this speech through the sensation of fear. The fear of the Internet
having an algorithmic, robotic ‘gate keeper’ of information that filters
information from my basic searches, even my Facebook posts worried me. I
anticipated a solution on both levels; that of fear of consequence and hope for
a solution that I could take part in.
Abilities
One of the main elements to Fogg’s Behavior Model is Ability. According to Fogg a person must have the ability to
perform the target behavior a persuader desires in order for the behavior to
take place. Ability is the vehicle for change. Upon viewing this Ted Talks
Video, I was initially disappointed in Pariser’s speech because he motivated me
to change, but didn’t provide the ability to do so. Ultimately however, I
discovered that his speech was directed to the engineer’s and developers of
search engine protocol, such as Google. It is in-fact an effective speech.
Triggers
The third element of Fogg’s Behavioral Model is Triggers. Triggers serve the same purpose in behavioral change as
they do in firearms. They set the course in ‘action’, so to speak. The
behavioral ‘trigger’ is compartmentalized into three types by BJ Fogg;
Facilitator, Signal, and Spark. Facilitator is a trigger that exists in an
environment where motivation is high, but ability is low. Signal, is a trigger
that happens when both ability and motivation are high. Spark, is the trigger
which works best when ability is high and motivation is low.
Eli Pariser: Beware online
"filter bubbles" was closest to a Facilitator trigger for me. I was
highly motivated to participate in change; still, I had no ability to make this change. This presentation of his used media
and rhetoric adequately enough to produce a Spark trigger for his target
audience. Overall, this was a well put together presentation.
Yep. User doesn't mean what it used to. Thanks for the analysis.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy! This speech made me think about the stereotype about communism where you don't have access to everything you want - only things are selected for you.
ReplyDeleteApparently, even living in a free country the information we get is being presorted for us, and there is no way to find out what we are missing. It is kinda scary because I don't see anyway to change it, only to raise the awareness.
Great analysis. You really understand Fogg's model. I too noticed that this speech was directed at a different audience than the normal everyday person, but he did a great job addressing his audience. He really focused on the fear and pain created by this problem. That helped move him to the solution.
ReplyDeleteGreat work here.
I can't help but be irritated by the control over our lives from every angle. It makes me feel like a little child who doesn't know what is best, so someone else has to decide what I can listen to or read. We wouldn't accept only being allowed to eat 1 or 2 items from a buffet, yet we will allow our information to be preselected and we accept what is fed to us never demanding to see what is on the rest of the information buffet. Where are we headed with this level of apathy? It's like the Hillary Clinton email story, all the news outlets are reporting that there has not been anything in the emails, so far, that would suggest any inappropriate behavior on her part. Well, duh! Do you really think she would turn over anything that would point a finger at herself? Why are we not asking what was in the emails that were not turned over and were wiped from that server?
ReplyDeleteIts crazy what they can do now with the internet and our likes. It makes me wonder what is it going to be like in another 10 years? This was a great talk and analysis of it. I like how you noted Fogg's 3 core motivators and acknowledged fear as a motivator. Because I too am feared for what is to come and what they will do with technology in the future, but like you said what are we to do? What can we do to change what the makers of Google and Facebook filter us to see? Don't use the internet anymore? Yet we use it everyday, we are using it now for school! What are we to do?! This was a great analysis and topic choice.
ReplyDelete