How do we pop the bubble?

I don’t know, and this is a phenomenon that frustrates me on a daily basis. There used to be a Google setting that would prevent them from using past searches to guide future search results, but that has disappeared, and its successor does not have the same function. In just the past month, I’ve seen an increase in hits related to previous searches, and I simply don’t know what to do to circumvent that.

As a person who does scientific research, it’s important for me to know that I will get back search results that are most relevant to the search terms that I’m using, not ones based on my location or prior search history. There isn’t even a department to which I can make a complaint to this effect. They simply do not want feedback from their users.

I’ve installed “duck duck go” into my browser search settings. It doesn’t remember search history so when I look for stuff the information is “fresh.” That may help a little… I wonder what would happen if everyone pushed back, you know? Google isn’t popular because it gives good information… It’s popular because it gives information that it thinks people want.

Just look up what you are interested in and follow the leads. It is easy to do on the Internet and you will quickly create your own unique little bubble. You can keep an open mind and be receptive but you can’t escape being in a bubble of awareness as the human mind is limited.

Well, I’m not sure that’s true. Duck Duck Go is bookmarked for me, too – but its usefulness is mainly that they don’t record your searches (as far as they will admit). So, yes, the bias is removed, but we have no guarantee that the search results are as good or better than Google’s. In other words, they may be missing relevant results.

@flutherother “you will quickly create your own unique little bubble.”

Yes… this is what we are discussing as a problem.

@flutherother Do you think people can’t handle the truth? What if you got information you don’t like?

@glacial But at least you can create your own bubble. You don’t have to live in one that is designed for you.

@flutherother True. I even tried searching for things at the library computer. Guess what? Lots of government and “bookie things” popped up in search results. Seems like even the public library has it’s own bubble…

@flutherother That’s the problem. I can’t. I would love to tell Google to stop limiting my search results in specific ways. There is no way for me to do that. It insists on returning more results from my location, even though I’ve not given them my location (it uses a somewhat close major city as a default), and I’ve selected the option that I don’t want them to use my location in searches. I simply can not make it stop using my location for search results. How is that “creating my own bubble”?

@glacial I’ve not noticed this being a problem. If I want to research something I keep at it until I get what I want and I ignore the irrelevant stuff. PS Have you tried using other country’s versions of Google? eg the UK version.

@glacial It’s not better than Google. The reason for that is that it does not incorporate your (search) history into deciding which results are better (among others). (It does allow you to easily search Google if you can’t find what you’re looking for, though – I’ve taken to using both when I really want to find as many sides of a story as I can.)

In any case, Google tries to show you what you want to find. If you were not going to click a link that shows views disagreeing with you anyway, what’s the point in showing it? Vice versa, if you do click links that are “outside your bubble”, Google will continue showing more and more of those.

It’s not that once Google thinks you’re one thing, it won’t show you other results. It will show them less often, but it has to account for mistakes. It’s the classic distinction: exploration vs. exploitation.

@flutherother Sigh. Yes, one can do the same search 20 times using different keywords in order to circumvent the bias, but the point is that we shouldn’t have to outwit our own search engines. It represents a huge waste of time, and pretty much the opposite of “creating our own bubble” – instead, as @DWW25921 puts it, the appropriate analogy is “popping the bubble”.

@glacial Another disturbing trend is google seems to have an addenda. Type in Christianity and you will almost always get negative answers. Type in Obama and you will almost always get positive answers. Now, engaging in culture wars is nothing but counterproductive for a company that prides itself on providing information but that is downright disturbing.

The creepiest one is when I go to Google Maps and it opens up right to the area which I live. I swear they have video cameras of me somewhere. Too bad I live in two different parts of the country. Next thing you know they’ll have taken photos of not only every single street, but the inside of everyone’s house, too. I can run but I can’t hide.

@DWW25921 The reason you get those results… may not be because of bias. ;)

To each their own I suppose…

Obama

This will sound quaint but it is true. I learn a lot by reading questions and comments here on Fluther.

I have been exposed to an amazing number of topics that I would not normally see while living inside my bubble. Topics such as music, gender issues, politics, religion, pet ownership, problems of youth and old age, health. It is astounding actually.

I’ve had pretty good luck with Dogpile, search. Have you tried that, @DWW25921 & @glacial? It will include Google, but indirectly.

Doesn’t anyone remember the tricks of Boolean search?

Why anyone searches a single keyword on Google is beyond me, unless they’re looking for directions.

One of my pet peeves about Craigslist, actually, is that they don’t support Boolean search. Sometimes I want to look for a coffee table, but not a glass one. But no, I have to search every imaginable material other than glass, and manually compile the interesting results.

@DWW25921 I’m pretty sure Google doesn’t have an agenda. The reason you get many of those links is because Google’s view of you is as someone who likes to read those articles. Maybe because you clicked links to such websites, or provided some other data that shows this. When I search for Christianity I get links such as Wikipedia explaining what Christianity is, and pro-Christianity websites.

@dxs There are other ways for websites determining your location – for example, your IP address often says a lot about your location, although it can be spoofed. Or perhaps you set your location on Google+, or some other Google service.

@glacial You should not have to do the same search 20 times. If you’re interested in different views on a subject, and Google’s algorithms work correctly, your clicking on links to opposing views should make Google continue to show different views on a subject.

@Vincentt Maybe. But that brings up another problem. How can people really trust that they’re getting good information knowing it’s filtered according to their world view?

@DWW25921 They don’t – they’re getting the information they’re willing to see. (Assuming Google’s algorithms work right.)

Which is a problem, yeah, sure. But I think people not being open to have their world view challenged was a problem before Google.

@Vincentt True. I think Google is however compounding the problem…

Try dogpile, @DWW25921