Blog #4

 When the Algorithm Becomes Too Personal

    At the end of this week we were discussing what different algorithms can look like on different individuals devices. We participated as a group by searching different topics on google, then we compared and contrasted what was displayed on each person's device. However, one point of view I wanted to add was when we were searching the non-fiction books on Amazon, I decided to search that topic on both my laptop and my iPhone. I wanted to compare those two side-by-side because the Amazon account on my laptop is my own Amazon account that I share with my husband; however, the one that is on my iPhone is an account that I share with my mom, aunts, and myself. Basically it is full of women and their purchases. When I looked up non-fiction books on my laptop I found a lot of different historical non-fiction books, some books that were turned into movies, and then other random suggestions. When looking at the same topic but on my iPhone, the entire result were women based non-fiction posts. 

    Another topic that I wanted to discuss based on algorithm is the fact that sometimes my algorithm will show feed of subjects that I had only thought of or spoke about. I always want to joke and say that I feel like all of our electronics are listening to us, but sometimes I actually think that is the case. On more of a realistic note I do think that our algorithms really pay attention to what is occurring during our lives. One specific example is pertaining to a google search I made one time in search of a heating pad for cramps. When I searched that not only did multiple heating pad recommendations pop up all throughout my social media via different ads, for awhile during or close to the time I would get cramps, the same ads would pop up. My device and algorithm can sometimes be very specific like that. It's almost a little scary how accurate it can predict when I might need a heating pad...