BigDataFr recommends: Not Even the People Who Write Algorithms Really Know How They Work

Sometimes there’s a little crack in the web that is just big enough to catch a glimpse of who the robots running the show think you are.

You might deduce, for example, that the tracking software that watches you browse has figured out you’re shopping for a Halloween costume. Lo and behold, ads for gorilla suits and fairy wings start popping up in the margins of every other website you visit. Or maybe you just rewatched a bunch of Twilight Zone episodes on Netflix. It makes sense that the site then recommends Black Mirror and Quantum Leap.

But much of the time, there’s no way to tell why information is filtered the way it is online. Why is one person’s status update on Facebook prioritized in your News Feed over another’s? […]

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By Adrienne LaFrance
Source: www.theatlantic.com