Gobo: A System for Exploring User Control of Invisible Algorithms in Social Media
Name
3311957.3359452.pdf
Description
Gobo: A System for Exploring User Control of Invisible Algorithms in Social Media
Size
2.62 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
b827dc5f96bd6b3165a64c409e0ee0d8
Author(s)
Bhargava, Rahul
Chung, Anna
Gaikwad, Neil S
Hope, Alexis
Jen, Dennis
Rubinovitz, Jasmin
Saldías-Fuentes, Belén
Zuckerman, Ethan
Date Issued
2019
Publisher
ACM CSCW '19: Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an unprecedented growth in content that is shared and presented on social media platforms. Along with this growth, however, there is an increasing concern over the lack of control social media users have on the content they are shown by invisible algorithms. In this paper, we introduce Gobo, an open-source social media browser system that enables users to manage and filter content from multiple platforms on their own. Gobo aims to help users control what's hidden from their feeds, add perspectives from outside their network to help them break filter bubbles, and explore why they see certain content on their feed. Through an iterative design process, we've built and deployed Gobo in the wild and conducted a pilot study in the form of a survey to understand how the users respond to the shift of control from invisible algorithms to themselves. Our initial findings suggest that Gobo has potential to provide an alternate design space to enhance control, transparency, and explainability in social media.
Subjects
Computing methodologies, Artificial intelligence, Human-centered computing, Field studies, Information systems , Open source software, Human-centered computing, Social media, Algorithmic Transparency, Algorithmic Accountability
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Civic Media
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