1
00:00:03,634 --> 00:00:07,363
[Behind the screens:
Who decides what I see online?]

2
00:00:08,376 --> 00:00:09,526
Hi, my name’s Taylor.

3
00:00:09,526 --> 00:00:11,778
I study the internet and journalism,

4
00:00:11,778 --> 00:00:16,077
and how we as citizens receive
information about the world.

5
00:00:17,389 --> 00:00:19,628
In the olden days 
when people got information,

6
00:00:19,778 --> 00:00:22,688
it was mostly decided by people.

7
00:00:22,688 --> 00:00:25,381
There were humans that decided
what we needed to know.

8
00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:28,550
So when we opened the newspaper
or turned on the evening news,

9
00:00:28,550 --> 00:00:32,570
it was a person that decided 
what we heard and saw.

10
00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,546
The result of that is
that we all knew similar things.

11
00:00:38,059 --> 00:00:40,742
Now the internet has changed everything.

12
00:00:41,090 --> 00:00:44,017
When you go online,
when you open an application,

13
00:00:44,486 --> 00:00:47,224
what you see is determined not by a person

14
00:00:47,489 --> 00:00:48,710
but by a machine.

15
00:00:49,589 --> 00:00:51,820
And this is awesome in a lot of ways:

16
00:00:51,984 --> 00:00:54,053
It allows you to use Google Maps;

17
00:00:54,053 --> 00:00:56,523
It allows you to order food online;

18
00:00:56,523 --> 00:01:00,162
It allows you to connect
with friends around the world

19
00:01:00,162 --> 00:01:01,870
and share information...

20
00:01:02,290 --> 00:01:04,911
But there are aspects of this machine

21
00:01:05,221 --> 00:01:07,511
that we need to think
really carefully about

22
00:01:07,741 --> 00:01:11,618
because they determine
the information that we all receive

23
00:01:11,793 --> 00:01:15,050
as citizens in a society
and in a democracy.

24
00:01:15,489 --> 00:01:17,029
So when you open up an app

25
00:01:17,179 --> 00:01:20,531
and you’re shown a picture
in your Snapchat feed,

26
00:01:20,764 --> 00:01:24,420
all of that information
is determined by this machine,

27
00:01:24,465 --> 00:01:28,951
and that machine is driven 
by the incentives of the company

28
00:01:28,951 --> 00:01:32,251
that owns the website
or owns the application.

29
00:01:32,684 --> 00:01:36,540
And the incentive is for you 
to spend as much time as possible

30
00:01:36,540 --> 00:01:38,080
inside that application.

31
00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:42,087
So they do things that make you feel
very good about being there.

32
00:01:42,250 --> 00:01:44,553
They allow people to like your photos.

33
00:01:44,975 --> 00:01:47,943
They show you content
that they think you want to see

34
00:01:48,066 --> 00:01:50,850
that will either make you
really happy or really angry

35
00:01:50,850 --> 00:01:53,880
that will get an emotional response
from you to keep you there.

36
00:01:54,260 --> 00:01:57,173
That is because they want
to show you as many ads as possible

37
00:01:57,173 --> 00:01:58,173
when you’re there

38
00:01:58,173 --> 00:02:00,160
because that is their business model.

39
00:02:00,897 --> 00:02:04,414
They’re also taking that same
opportunity of you being in their app

40
00:02:04,414 --> 00:02:06,140
to collect data about you.

41
00:02:06,370 --> 00:02:08,005
And they use these data

42
00:02:08,005 --> 00:02:11,553
to create detailed profiles
of your life and your behaviour,

43
00:02:11,845 --> 00:02:13,924
and these profiles can then be used

44
00:02:13,924 --> 00:02:16,930
to target more ads back to you,

45
00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:19,700
and that then determines
what you see as well.

46
00:02:21,470 --> 00:02:25,170
But all of this isn’t just about
the business model of these companies,

47
00:02:25,614 --> 00:02:28,277
it actually has an impact on our democracy

48
00:02:28,735 --> 00:02:34,509
because what we each see on the internet
is highly customized to us,

49
00:02:34,990 --> 00:02:36,183
to what we like,

50
00:02:36,453 --> 00:02:37,843
to what we believe,

51
00:02:38,253 --> 00:02:41,203
to what we want to see or want to believe.

52
00:02:41,523 --> 00:02:43,498
And that means that as a society,

53
00:02:43,756 --> 00:02:47,500
we no longer all have
a shared set of knowledge

54
00:02:47,500 --> 00:02:50,197
which is hard for a democracy
that requires us

55
00:02:50,197 --> 00:02:52,621
to work together and know the same things

56
00:02:52,851 --> 00:02:55,171
to make decisions
about our lives together.

57
00:02:55,391 --> 00:02:57,030
When we all know different things

58
00:02:57,030 --> 00:03:01,059
and we’re all being siloed into
our own little bubbles of information,

59
00:03:01,567 --> 00:03:04,860
it’s incredibility difficult for us
to get along with one another.

60
00:03:04,860 --> 00:03:07,670
We have no shared experience
or shared knowledge.

61
00:03:08,241 --> 00:03:11,335
I think it’s really important
that we think critically

62
00:03:11,545 --> 00:03:13,897
about the information we receive online,

63
00:03:14,247 --> 00:03:17,167
and about the companies
and structures that determine

64
00:03:17,337 --> 00:03:19,455
what we see on the internet.

65
00:03:21,504 --> 00:03:24,702
[NewsWise is a project of CIVIX&
The Canadian Journalism Foundation]

66
00:03:25,172 --> 00:03:27,595
Subtitles by Claudia Contreras
Review by Carol Wang