Eli Pariser 称推荐算法「为每个人创造了一个独特的信息宇宙...从根本上改变了我们与信息互动的方式」。在前期调研中，我分析了一些已有的项目并展示给身边的朋友。我发现这些项目大多基于学术研究，需要海量数据处理。而对于非学术背景的用户，「信息茧房」这一概念显得既熟悉又陌生。她们更关心日常的信息获取如何受到影响。破解信息茧房的第一步是明白它的存在和原理。
这是我的第一个 side project，和工作项目有着明显差别。在项目里最大的挑战是如何找到一个易于理解但模型，并将其转化成故事脚本和可实现的原型。这绝非易事，但通过不断访谈、试错、快速制作原型，我还是找到了满意的方向。探索过程中学到的编程知识，让我有自信尝试更多数据可视化和创意编程的设计。持续寻找效果和能力之间的平衡也锻炼了我对项目中不确定性的把控力。
非常感谢 Massimo Conte 在 Italian Festival of Complexity 2021 中介绍此项目，希望能为研究设计、媒体、科技的社区带来一点贡献。
Bubble Trouble
Visualizing how the filter bubble works
Overview
Nearly every products and service we used had embed personalized algorithm. It selectively presents information based on our preferences and therefore creates “filter bubble”. his experimental project is an exploration to visualize the “filter bubble”, to get us thinking about our relationship with the online media and algorithms.
Eli Pariser, descripes that personalized algorithms create “a unique universe of information for each of us … which fundamentally alters the way we encounter ideas and information.” My first instinct was to design a product to solve it, but only to find some existing conceptual projects that require massive data processing. However, although those projects are amazingly inspiring, I found them rather incomprehensible for most people around me, especially without explaining what a filter bubble is.
Therefore, I decided to appropriate Nicky Case's Explorable Explanations to interactively explain this complex theory, providing a dynamic experience for a non-academic audience.
The first step to burst the filter bubble is to know how it works.
Storyboard and Paper Prototype
After clarifying the goal, I started creating scripts and paper prototypes to test my ideas. In one iteration, I found that it was difficult to explain all the details, and that a coherent model and simple rules would help reinforce the audience's understanding. I finally adopted a bubble view that fits the "filter bubble" metaphor to represent the user's information cocoon, with colourful dots representing information types.
Storyboard of filter bubble explanation
#1 Move info out after user’s click#2 Add two info of the same type to simulate “recommendation”#3 Randomly remove an info of other type to maintain the total number
Coding and visual design
I built the storyline with an example of reading news, and combine a black background with bright colours to echo Eli Pariser's description of the 'information universe'. To achieve the interactive effect, I learned D3.js, a JavaScript library for data visualisation, to implement nodes, gravity, and eventually running the automated simulation of “mere exposure effects”.
Counting the typesAdding and removing nodesAutomatic calculating
Final Design Demo
Here’s the project demo. Feel free to play around on desktop end or open in new tape！
What I learned...
This was my first side project and it was significantly different from a work! The biggest challenge was to find a comprehensible model and translated it into a script and a realizable prototype, which is not an easy task. I was luck to find a satisfactory direction via interviews, making mistakes and rapid prototyping. The coding knowledge I learned gave me the confidence to try more data visualisation and creative coding designs. I also learned how to manage uncertainty from finding a balance between creativity and realisation
Many thanks to Massimo Conte for presenting this project at the Italian Festival of Complexity 2021. I hope this could make a small contribution to the research community of design, media and technology.
