Recommendation Frustration: The Algorithms of Filterworld

Who do you go to for recommendations on movies, books, or music? A family member? A friend? A complex math equation?

For the longest time, if you wanted the scoop on that new lesser-known movie, mind-blowing new song, or that book that all the cool book groups are reading, you’d ask whoever in your life was in the know on that topic: maybe a knowledgeable friend, a movie buff coworker, music fanatic family member, or hip-and-with-it local librarian.

In his book Filterworld, Kyle Chayka explores how this once human activity of curation and recommendation is now often replaced with online algorithms. These algorithms use a complex mathematical equation to make recommendations based upon things you may be interested in, combined with whatever is most popular with the general public. The success of these formulaic recommendations vary, and Chayka argues that algorithms have an adverse effect on culture by homogenizing individuals’ tastes and removing aspects of uniquity.

The book examines how algorithmic formulas have become commonplace online in social media, music, video streaming services, and elsewhere. Watch one romantic comedy on Netflix, and soon, you’ll be recommended enough movies for a multi-day Rom-Com film festival.

Chayka investigates how these algorithms create uniformity not only in the content we consume online but in real-world environments, like how coffee shops across the world all came to have the same generic aesthetics of white tiled walls, reclaimed wood furniture, hanging Edison bulbs, and tidy potted plants. Another example the book details is how the algorithmic popularity of Iceland’s scenic landscapes captured in Instagram posts led to such an increase in tourism for the small European country that certain “Instagrammable” landscape spaces were reduced to overcrowded, muddy messes.

Filterworld also delves into how we can define our “taste, " how algorithms cause anxiety and possible alternatives to our reliance on algorithms for recommendations.

Mid-Continent Public Library is excited to host the Filterworld author and The New Yorker staff writer as part of our Facing the Future series. Kyle Chayka will discuss his book at the Auditorium at Woodneath on Wednesday, October 2, at 6:30 p.m. Attendees will receive a free copy of the book while supplies last, and there will be a book signing following the event. Many of our author events have filled up quickly, so register today!

Brad Smith
Digital Innovation Department