I was nominated to take part in this course right before it started. So I had no idea what to expect and I am still struggling to exactly figure out what the outcomes are. But I am sure it will be beneficial. So far I have been introduced to all kinds of new online tools. Some that I have never even heard of before. But I love change, so it is all very interesting and I am enjoying it. The challenge to me, however, is, I have not been able to figure out how I am going to use what I have learned so far as a part of my teaching and learning. Bearing in mind that I am in the accounting discipline. But… I am sure it will come as we progress into the course. Our School of Accounting is situated on multiple campuses across the country. And I think for communication purposes the tools that we have learnt so far might be very beneficial.
The most fascinating thing to me from the first topic was definitely the thing about the filter bubbles. According to Wikipedia: “A filter bubble is a result of a personalized search in which a website algorithm selectively guesses what information a user would like to see based on information about the user (such as location, past click behavior and search history) and, as a result, users become separated from information that disagrees with their viewpoints, effectively isolating them in their own cultural or ideological bubbles.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filter_bubble)
This basically means that if I search a word, Eli Pariser used the example of the word “Egypt” in his video on filter bubbles, on the internet, and someone else searches the exact same word, we will not get the same search results. The reason for that being our location, search history, even the type of device we are searching from. This means that I will only see what this algorithm thing thinks I want to see and agree with. It’s like only wanting to be around people you like and hearing stuff you believe in.
I don’t know about you, but I do not only want to receive information that I like and that I agree with, I want to receive information that will challenge my beliefs. So now the problem is – what can I do about this? I came across this website (http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/07/are-we-stuck-in-filter-bubbles-here-are-five-potential-paths-out/) that suggests five potential paths out of filter bubbles. Very interesting. Not all of them are things that we can do ourselves, but there are two things we can do – 1) we can stop speculating and start looking and we can 2) figure out what we really want. So I guess if we really use the internet to gain information and not only for playing around, and if we are being really specific in terms of what we need, we can side-step this filter bubble. I hate being trapped!! It will be my challenge to get out of it – accepted!!
October 16, 2016 at 8:08 pm
I agree that filter bubbles are troublesome. To be able to have a critical thinking one need to know whether one get the full picture. If one get a nice and smooth version of the topic that suit you one cannot use the critical thinking because one don’t get both sides. /Henrik
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October 18, 2016 at 8:53 am
I had to smile when I read your post because I think (maybe without realising it) you have answered your own question; “I am still struggling to exactly figure out what the outcomes are”.
Digital Literacies are essential 21st century ‘life skills’ (rather than being limited to any one aspect of our lives), and your closing sentence, “I hate being trapped!! It will be my challenge to get out of it” proves that you have discovered something that you were previously unaware of (personalised filter bubbles) and are determined to change. This is EXACTLY one of the outcomes of the ONL162 programme! 🙂 – discovering new things about the digital world we live in and to decide how we feel about that (do we love it, or do we wish to distance ourselves from it?).
I thinks all that is left to say is, welcome to your “outcomes journey”!!
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October 18, 2016 at 9:21 am
Thanks Liesl. Looking forward to the journey!
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October 18, 2016 at 1:45 pm
Thank you for interesting reflections on topic 1. I totally agree with you concerning the “filter bubbles”. As you mentioned, me neither want to be kept in a bubble of: things that I already know a lot about, persons with the same opinions as myself, and on so on.. I didn’t know about the term “filter bubble” before this course, but I had my suspicion especially since Netflix always suggest films that I have already seen as “especially chosen for Kaisa”..
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October 18, 2016 at 5:30 pm
Agree.. Filter bubbles are like shady villains with a nice smile 🙂 I also experienced the same thing on Netflix!
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