Facebook's flawed study proclaims "It's not our fault!" "Facebook: It's not our fault."
http://socialmediacollective.org/2015/05/07/the-facebook-its-not-our-fault-study/ Alarm bells are ringing for me. The tobacco industry might once have funded a study that says that smoking is less dangerous than coal mining, but here we have a study about coal miners smoking. Probably while they are in the coal mine. What I mean to say is that there is no scenario in which "user choices" vs. "the algorithm" can be traded off, because they happen together (Fig. 3 [top]). Users select from what the algorithm already filtered for them. It is a sequence.**** I think the proper statement about these two things is that they're both bad -- they both increase polarization and selectivity. As I said above, the algorithm appears to modestly increase the selectivity of users. The only reason I can think of that the study is framed this way is as a kind of alibi. Facebook is saying: It's not our fault! You do it too! - - - Do we look *that* stupid, Facebook? --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com _______________________________________________ nnsquad mailing list http://lists.nnsquad.org/mailman/listinfo/nnsquad
