week 5
Week 5: I’ve been looking a few weeks ago at how data exists in society, At the beginning, my understanding of data was not so strong, and it was still superficial. This week, my understanding of data has been overturned, and I know how it affects our daily life and study. In our specialized courses, I realized that data are biased. Data can help reduce inequality in the society because of the purpose of users, and it can also be aggravated by people who have intentions to fabricate data. Of course, quantitative and qualitative data can also help us understand and analyze inequality.
During this week’s literature reading, I found the power of algorithms. I looked into the Chinese platform Douyin, known overseas as TikTok, which is a popular short video app. The reason why he is so popular cannot be separated from the powerful video recommendation mechanism made by his algorithm. He can be fascinated by his wonderful content when users just start to contact this software, and push the next video according to users’ preferences. The endless wonderful video push and convenient operation often make people spend a lot of time to watch short videos every day, which affects people’s quality of life and learning efficiency to a certain extent.By the time people are aware of the problem, they may be addicted to short videos and have a withdrawal reaction. This is a striking example of the impact of algorithms on human life.
In addition, short video software is also an interdisciplinary invention. It includes not only computer science, but also user psychology, economics and other aspects of knowledge.Only after fully considering all aspects of knowledge and make good use of, this short video software can do so successfully. It can be seen that in the complex environment of today’s society, we need to consider all aspects and accept the diversity of society. From the perspective of solving problems, taking into account the interests of stakeholders, and making use of interdisciplinary knowledge, continuous adjustment and integration can better solve problems.
Hi Haiqing,
There is something magical about Tiktok’s algorithm, isn’t there? Many came before and died early deaths. Here’s an article about Vine (an early pre-Tiktok attempt at a social video platform) and something called Byte that I’ve never heard of but sounds kind of like the anti-Tiktok: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/22/style/byte-vine-short-video-apps.html?unlocked_article_code=DOpIDhisCXKruRaP79cX-i8M_Hw_whKGPbu7_j5KTYmSeYuwe_Nh8Clm9AlsQWwoYdxZJi5HFZDGMG3-vwCfFIJKLlrMTRVjk6NB4dAYBpJJWHk3MdHmwQvlISNuxvGr4tvt1bX3WqKsg9rUR5t6oIQW839iRsf-NwOPdup-poHTEiogQEhHm5Tbve-rcOL1LDvCmOuxfArJ6Sbg0uAiKof0hkq7NtmbGucJs3x_uybL0VTrs7FwXsUD2RPadjMfbF-wuien9JQUu8XkYWz3HZz1iAt5q1J3CeEACF2NDmyEcpttJXZabuAbTRFj1cojzMD2iamPv2eSv2dUnPtufsNy&smid=share-url
(Sorry about the crazy long link–the New York Times paywalls its stuff, so I’m trying to offer you a gift link that should allow you free access to the article through my subscription)
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on algorithms because I like how optimistic you are about their potential to reduce inequality. For me, I have trouble approaching this positively. I don’t see how everyone can be suitably served by a single algorithm; I feel like some group or another will always be overlooked or left out. I guess maybe if you had a diverse variety of algorithms created by a diverse variety of groups and each person could consciously pick which algorithm they would like to serve them during a given time, then I could kind of see some possibilities. Maybe something along the lines of the computer telling the person, “I have noticed this and this and this about you today, so I would normally be tempted to serve you x algorithm which will do , but I also have other algorithms you can pick from if you would prefer. Here is a list of them and what they do.” Would the internet be a better or worse place if we had some control and transparency over the algorithms we interact with?
Hi, Theresa. Thank you for your sharing. This is an interesting article. And this is also something I havn’t heard before. As for my view to Tiktok algorithm. I am still hold a positive view, because I think the society is always development, It is ok for the society to get into the wrong way. Nothing cannot be changed. Once we found out the problem, we can make change right now. I have learnt that many university have started to create account on Tiktok not only to market but also cooperate with the platform in order to inprove student’s interest in learning and realize the diversity of teaching methods. This case just tell us sometimes it is hard for us to defend the trend, we can make fully use of it. Although at the beginning, the feedback would not be as well as we expect, but once we start to go ahead, we can always find the way to achieve our goal and finally figure out the problem.
To answer your question, if we had some control and transparency about the algorithms we use, I think the Internet would become more complex. This will lead to many other problems that we cannot anticipate. First of all, from the perspective of the company, the algorithm of an Internet company is very advanced in the market. If its algorithm can become transparent in the interaction process, its competitors can easily crack its algorithm, which is a strong threat to the company. At the individual user level, increased transparency and choice can be both good and bad for them. The upside is that you’re saying if I don’t like this algorithm, then I can switch to another algorithm that I like better, and maybe increase their choice. However, this goes against the original intention of Douyin, which is to give people the easiest and easiest way to access a variety of short videos. If there is more transparency and selectivity, it will mean that it will be more difficult for people to get happy. So my view is that the disadvantages of increasing transparency and interactivity in algorithms outweigh the advantages.
Hello! I have also read something about the TikTok algorithm recently, which is indeed a topic worth thinking about. I fully agree with you. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you Jiayi, If you are also interested in TikTok algorithm, you can share more of your idea to me and then we can have an interesting discussion.
Hi Haiqing, thank you for sharing a bit of your learning journey. This makes me think of the datafication of teens/young people who are growing up in a time when it is ‘normal’ to constantly carry a tracking device (phone) that enables thousands of people and companies everything you do, where you are, who you contact, what information you seek, where you spend your money, etc. I wonder if young people think much about life 30 years ago, where there was no company or entity that knew anything about you through your digital activity – NOTHING – unless you made a credit card purchase (in a physical store) or landline phone call. And still that information would be contained within the company’s records, not linked to 2nd, 3rd…20th parties. It’s truly frightening to me how much power we are willing to give up and I’m glad you are optimistic about course correcting.