PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWERS! Itty-bitty living space!

Chapter 8 of Carr's The Big Switch just saved my grade.  I chose to do my Issues Paper on Web 2.0's effect on an individual's world view.  Chapter 8: The Great Unbundling was all about this!  In some of my other classes I was introduced to the idea that although the internet is this PEHNOMENAL thing with so many opportunitites to get information about what ever you want from anywhere in the world, the scope of what a you actually do learn is very limiting because of personalized algorithms and filters. 

My first view of the internet was very idealistic, much like Nicholas Negroponte's (head of MIT's Media Lab), as quoted in Carr:

"While the politicians struggle with the baggage of history, a new generation is emerging from the digital landscape free of many of the old prejudices.  Digital technology can be a natural force drawing people into greater world harmony." (p. 159)

This, too, is what I thought:  the limitless opportunities of the internet to meet new people and learn new things!  And although I still hold on to some of these ideals, I know this is not the case.  In fact, it is practically the opposite.  Here are some more quotes that really hit home:

"Greatly amplifying the polarization effect are the personalization algorithms and filters that are so common on the Internet and that often work without our permission or even our knowledge. ... The effect, in the short run, can be to expose us to items we wouldn't otherwise have come across.  But over the long run, the more we click, the more we tend to narrow the information we see."  (p. 160)

"We would click our way to a more fractured society." (p. 160)

"As the tools and algorithms become more sophisticated and our online profiles more refined, the Internet will act increasingly as an incredibly sensitive feedback loop, constantly playing back to us, in amplified form, our existing preferences." (p. 161-2)

Of all of the tragedies of the Internet, I think this is the greatest.  I highly value the importance of knowing and associating with people who are different than me.  I am well aware that I am a flawed individual, that we all are, and the only way to improve this is to increase our awareness of other people, beliefs, circumstances, and  ways of life.  Not only are we not getting these things from the Internet like we could, but we are not even aware of how limiting our online experience is! 

The implications for libraries, I believe, are huge.  I think libraries are a major force to combat this misinformation.  We can help people search the internet in a more objective way.  We can advocate for privacy and transparency in these algorithms.  We can bring members of the community together physically in a way they may not get to experience online.  And we can even start by just being aware of it ourselves.  I am looking forward to this Issues Paper, and I really hope to find ways to counteract the Internet's effect on shrinking our world-view. 

AMY