Whenever someone uses a search-function, he expects that the algorithm behind it gives the best fitting set of answers. The user thinks that the answer-set fits best to his search-request while he does not expect that the information gathered the background about him personally influence the search-algorithm. That dangerous digital phenomenon may influence the economy and the politics of the future, so I want my students to be aware of it.

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First of all: As usual it is not as bad as some main stream media outlets represent it. Most search engines want the best user experience and do not employ the data to trick the user.

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For example if you are searching for a dentist you will be happy when you get a local dentist even without explicitly searching for it.

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Although it gets critical when you want to inform yourself about political contexts. A user who watched a couple of videos about data abuse will less likely find videos about negative effects of data protection. He is trapped in the filter bubble.

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Wherever we may search – be it Youtube, Amazon or Google – if we want to have neutral results, we need to log out and delete the cookies from our browsers cache. That is the message I want to deliver that message to my students.

Qustion of the day

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Who of you has ever emptied his browsers cache – please leave me a comment, especially if you do not know what I am talking about.

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Please also take a look at my former post of the #itb8 series

• The content of my IT-Basics Class for my next 8th-graders
• Platform before product
• All about the advertisement banner
• The might of the crowd
• Marketplaces
• Is the better shop online?
• When you click on the link...
• Teaching cryptocurrencies in school
• Own or share?
• How much costs a free app?
• The most sneaky way of marketing in the internet
• Where do the pictures in the internet come from?
• Clickworkers and Digital Nomads
• Industrie 4.0
• Who seeks finds