Mass media communications theory
- Origins in social psychology
- Gatekeeper makes decisions about what should be passed on and to whom
- A form of social control
Digital gate keeping
- Platforms gate keep by managing information flows in many different ways
- Non-human agents participate through algorithmic filtering (e.g. upvoting content)
- See centralization of Internet through search
Differences from censorship
- Censorship is all about blocking
- Gate keeping is more about access and quality control
Personalization as a form of gatekeeping
- Information flow and filtering is based on individual and/or group profiles
- Bozdag (2013): personalization leads to more bias rather than less
- Cass Sunstein: “information cocoons”
- Serves a sort of invisible auto propaganda, indoctrinating us with our own ideas, amplifying our desire for things that are familiar
Potential dangers of personal software