The Internet has made available a massive amount of information and, through social networks and forums, also enabled its immediate and wide-ranging debate. These ingredients promised to revitalize democracy and set the grounds for a true knowledge society. However, the democratic debate of divergent views is supplanted by the polarization of opinions that social networks seem to promote. Two main suspects are often mentioned: ‘filter bubbles’ and ‘echo chambers’. The Personalized Web: A unique universe of information explores these phenomena, addressing some of the alleged side effects of personalization algorithms.

Personalization algorithms, used in search engines or social networks, create filter bubbles that narrow the diversity of information to which we are exposed and lead us to a state of intellectual isolation. On the other hand, the tendency to interact online according to an affinity of interests or beliefs puts us in an ‘echo chamber’ that, ultimately, fuels the radicalization of opinions. Inherent to these phenomena is the way algorithms dictate what we encounter online or, in the words of Eli Pariser, create “a unique universe of information for each of us”.

Through a selection of reflections on the topic, this project seeks to raise awareness of the potential side effects of personalization. It stages an interactive reading that suggests a unique and personalized path through the information. The typographic configuration of the excerpts intends to visually express the effects of concealment, omission, partiality or, ultimately, the very opacity of the algorithmic filtering of contents.

All contents extracted from:
Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble - What the Internet Is Hiding from You, 2011

Cláudia Castela
Projeto II and Laboratório II
Master in Communication Design 2021
FBAUL