Dear all,
From tomorrow on, LIRa switches to an online-only format, due to the corona virus restrictions and the possibility of many talks getting cancelled. We will use the platform zoom.us, which is easy and intuitive to use for e-seminars, conferences etc. We suggest that you download the platform, if you're interested in the talk. The organizing team will have a small trial today, using the pro-account purchased by the ILLC. Following this, we will contact you again with detailed instructions on how to join this e-seminar, so we suggest that you keep track of e-mails send by LIRa today and tomorrow.
The details of the talk can be found below:
Speaker: Michael Mäs (Department of Sociology and the ICS, University of Groningen)
Date and Time: Thursday, March 12th 2020, 16:30-18:00
Venue: ILLC Seminar Room F1.15, Science Park 107.
Title: Do Filter Bubbles Foster Opinion Polarization?
Abstract. Political events such as the Brexit referendum, the election of Donald Trump, and the success of populists in democratic elections have sparked public and scholarly discussion about the effects of online-communication technology on public debate and collective decision-making. In particular, it has been warned that personalization algorithms installed in online social-networks, and search engines contribute to the formation of so-called “filter bubbles”. These bubbles isolate users from information that challenges their views and expose them to content that is in line with their opinions. It has been warned that this contributes to opinion polarization, a dynamic where competing political camps develop increasingly opposing political views. Here, I summarize research on the relationship between personalization and polarization. While I echo the warning that personalization can affect societal processes, I demonstrate that we leap to conclusions when we propose that personalization is responsible for increased polarization. Based on results from formal modeling work, I argue that we lack crucial empirical insight into the microprocess of social influence and the aggregation of repeated influence to macroprocesses of opinion polarization. I call for more research on communication in online environments, pointing to the potential of approaches that combine rigorous theoretical modeling with the emerging field of computational social-science.
The LIRa team