Lightspeed Systems

The Online Filter Bubble

Personalized search is intended to make knowledge acquisition “faster, better, cheaper!” As Internet content (good and bad, relevant and irrelevant) grows rapidly, “finding the good stuff” is one of the new holy grails.

But as Eli Pariser describes the existence of online filter bubbles in this TED Talk, he explains that the automated tools designed to help us may actually be limiting our exposure to relevant, but unfamiliar information.

He calls on the software makers for more sophisticated filters – but what else can we do to prevent unintentional information isolation?

One option is to actively seek diverse Personal Learning Networks. For our teacher friends, we are working on building a much more robust ability into My Big Campus to, for example,  make it easier to connect with teachers from other districts with similar interests. Hopefully, this will bring people together that have diverse ideas, experiences, and resources. Connecting in a PLN within My Big Campus with a plethora of information at your fingertips is one way I think we can pop the so called “online filter bubble.”

What do you think of how Pariser’s explains the online filter bubble? Does a diverse PLN make sense? What other options should we pursue?

Tags: online filter bubble, professional learning networks

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 10:47 pm and is filed under 21st century learning, Collaborative learning, My Big Campus, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.