On Algorithms and Reading

How to Think for Yourself When Algorithms Control What You Read   By Marc Zao-Sanders in HBR

With the flick of a switch, a handful of tech giants can change the nature and extent of mankind’s ingestion of information. In 2013, Google took a step towards understanding the intent of their users with the Hummingbird algorithm. Twitter replaced most-recent with most-important tweets when they introduced their algorithmic timeline in 2016. Facebook claimed they’ll be replacing clickbait with more meaningful interactions on their feeds earlier this year.  These changes are almost always met with public uproar for a few weeks, soon after which humanity acquiesces. The ability for an elite to instantly alter the thoughts and behavior of billions of people is unprecedented.

This is all possible because of algorithms. The personalized, curated news, information and learning feeds we consume several times a day have all been through a process of collaborative filtering. This is the principle that if I like X, and you and I are similar in some algorithmically determined sense, then you’ll probably like X too. Everyone gets their own, mass-personalized feed, rationed by the machines. ... "

Misinformation and the Wikipedia

Been a longterm Wikipedia fan.   And have also been directed to many, many examples of misinformation there.  But still use it daily.  So whats the solution?  Apparently Youtube planning to resource credibility with WP articles, among others.    Further curated?   Only as good as the curators.  Bias is all over the place.

Don't ask Wikipedia to Cure the Internet   by Louise Matsakis in Wired.

" .... On stage at the South by Southwest conference on Tuesday, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced that her company would begin adding "information cues" to conspiracy theory videos, text-based links intended to provide users with better information about what they are watching. One of the sites YouTube plans to use is Wikipedia. "We’re just going to be releasing this for the first time in a couple weeks, and our goal is to start with the list of internet conspiracies listed where there is a lot of active discussion on YouTube," Wojcicki said on stage..... " 

A Truth Seal via Predictive Markets

A recent inquiry had me looking at the detection and analysis of 'disinformation'.  Much in and of the news.  That led me to work by Rick Hayes-Roth, who was the CEO of an AI company called Teknowledge that I have written about here before (See tag) .  Teknowledge was one of the AI giants in the late 80s. We used their capabilities, even bought a major equity position with them.  Did some great things, but alas, they are no more.

Around 2011 Hayes-Roth and his colleagues came up with an idea called 'Truth Seals', related to the and driven by Predictive Markets, where you could deliver some measure of the validity of information.  Now needed more than ever.    The startup existed until at 2014 and then folded.  But in my research I noted that Rick, now Prof Emeritus at the Naval Postgraduate School, had written a document that did a post mortem, ala After-Action-Review (AAR) that covered what was done.  Very informative.  Also points to some of the intellectual property developed.    Useful for anyone thinking about the topic.    Reviewing.

I also notice that the idea of 'Predictive Markets' is far less talked about recently, any pointers to work still going on there?