his work seeks to understand the extent and impact of personalization algorithms in popular on-line forums. In particular, the PI is studying web search engines, social networking sites, and recommendation services like Pintrest, Yelp and Reddit. While it is well known that each of these classes of information sources perform extensive personalization, there has not been a careful analysis on the impact of their efforts on what users see. This effort is working to answer a number of fundamental questions: How different are the experiences of distinct users? What features do the services use as input to their personalization algorithms? How are they gathered, and where are they stored? To the extent that the services display different information to different users, are users aware, and can they - or third parties - manage and exploit these changes? This research project aims to understand the impact of various forms of information manipulation - as opposed to outright censorship - on the Internet. Personalization algorithms in particular are known to have the potential to place users inside filter bubbles, where they see only information that already aligns with their viewpoints. In the worst case, adversaries can actively manipulate how content is produced, discovered, and accessed. This work will develop technologies to give users control over the information that they see to mitigate the effects of information manipulation. Concrete outcomes of this effort include prototype mechanisms to help users normalize personalization technologies and potentially move between alternate on-line personalities.
EAGER: Personalization in the Information Age