Seminar: The Dark Side of Personalization (summer 2012)

Google, Facebook, news pages, and other platforms use personalization algorithms in order to filter the vast amount of information of todays WWW. As a result, each user only sees what the respective content provider regards as interesting for him or her. On the one hand, such personalization algorithms have proven to be helpful means in order to overcome information overload. On the other hand, such personalization has some disadvantages: it can restrict the perspective of a user; questions about information security of personal data can occur; the user may have less control and feels patronized; the personalization algorithms are a possible goal of manipulating attacks; etc.

This seminar lays the focus on this “Dark Side of Personization”. The students should write a seminar paper and prepare a talk about one topic out of this thematic area.