[Web4lib] Filter Bubbles and Libraries' Public Computers?

[Cindy Harper]

Wouldn't this be a bonus if we could convince Google to exempt library
workstations from such personalization, so that libraries were places that
users could get really unbiased results?

Wishfully thinking,
Cindy Harper, Systems Librarian
Colgate University Libraries



On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 9:20 AM, Dan Ream <dream at vcu.edu> wrote:

> I attempted to post this on June 13th, but it apparently never went
> out--trying again.
>
> Web4Libers-
>
> I've been reading and viewing with interest about Eli Pariser's book,
> "The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding from You" and highly
> recommend
> his 9-minute TED talk summary about it at
>
> http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_**pariser_beware_online_filter_**bubbles.html<http://www.ted.com/talks/eli_pariser_beware_online_filter_bubbles.html>
> (also on YouTube).
>
> I don't recall this being discussed here before on Web4Lib, but if it has
> already,
> please point me to that discussion.
>
> My questions concern how do the personalized search features that Google
> uses
> effect the shared public computers in our libraries. Beyond personal search
> history, Pariser estimates that Google uses 57 criteria to shape your
> results.
> Google hasn't publicly shared what those 57 are, but here's one search
> expert's guess..
>
> http://www.rene-pickhardt.de/**google-uses-57-signals-to-**filter/<http://www.rene-pickhardt.de/google-uses-57-signals-to-filter/>
>
> These are thought to include browser type, computer type, and many other
> factors
> that would seem chaotic, but influential to search results on a shared
> public computer
> in a library or campus computer lab.
>
> Beyond the obvious difficulty this presents for teaching librarians to
> explain how
> Google results are found, I'm wondering what steps a library can take to
> reduce
> the personalization functions of Google so that your next Googler's search
> results
> aren't overly influenced by the twenty others who last sat at that same
> library workstation.
>
> Thoughts or suggestions?
>
> Dan Ream
> Director, Outreach and Distance Education
> Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
> Richmond, Virginia , USA
>
>
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