Perspective-based search: a new paradigm for bursting the information bubble

Abstract

Nowadays, individuals heavily rely on search engines for seeking information. The presence of information bubbles (filter bubbles and echo chambers) can threaten the effectiveness of these systems in providing unbiased information and damage healthy civic discourse and open-minded deliberation. In this paper, we propose a new paradigm for search that aims at mitigating the information bubble in the search. The paradigm, which we call perspective-based search (PBS), is based on the intuition that in a fair search the user should not be limited to the results corresponding to a specific perspective of the search topic. Briefly, in PBS, different perspectives of the search topic are identified and presented to the user and the user can select a perspective for the search results. In this paper, we focus on the paradigm itself, why it is an appropriate solution, and how it differs from other solutions. We raise new questions and call for research on the paradigm and on providing solutions for implementing its required components. We do not aim at providing any specific implementation for it, although we provide some hints on implementing it. We also provide a survey of the related concepts and methods and discuss their differences with PBS.

We the swarm—Methodological, theoretical, and societal (r)evolutions in collective decision-making research

“…Finally, research using both theoretical and real-life social networks clearly showed that the structure of the network itself as well as the algorithm responsible for selecting the information displayed to the users have an important role in the progressive isolation of communities online (Bakshy et al, 2015; Epstein and Robertson, 2015; Lazer, 2015), although individuals themselves also tend to deliberately limit their exposure to ideologically adverse content (Bakshy et al, 2015). Recent results suggest that diversifying the sources of information users are exposed to rather than tailoring them to their preferences may help combat community isolation and the formation of opinion bubbles (Tabrizi and Shakery, 2019).…”

Turning Filter Bubbles into Bubblesphere with Multi‐Viewpoint KOS and Diverse Similarity

“…To address this challenge, Tabrizi & Shakery (2019) recently proposed a multi‐perspective search paradigm that enables the bursting of the filter bubble. According to this paradigm, users are made aware of the bubble problem, informed about the existence of different perspectives on the topic, and provided with tools to control which perspective to view the results from.…”

“…The authors argue that the proposed solution increases the system's transparency and trust and can prevent individuals from moving to extremes, promote critical thinking, and prevent belief in falsehoods. Other solutions presented in the literature, such as avoiding personalization, intentionally exposing users to less popular content, diverse topics, and serendipity (Amrollahi, 2021; Tabrizi & Shakery, 2019; Geffet & Feitelson, 2001), seem to be less effective, as many users may be frustrated by receiving irrelevant content with no ability to control their information preferences (Tabrizi & Shakery, 2019; Munson & Resnick, 2010). However, the authors left the implementation of the proposed paradigm to future research (Tabrizi & Shakery, 2019).…”