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SUMMARY
Algorithmic selection of information constitutes the common technological and functional core of various Internet services such as news aggregators, search engines, recommender systems, computational advertising and reputation systems. These applications automatically assess the relevance of web documents, choose the most important news articles, recommend books, songs or movies, display personalised advertising and determine the reputation of companies and scholars.
Nevertheless, a comprehensive and systematic analysis of algorithmic selection as the core of various applications/services and its societal implications is still lacking. This research project seeks to close this research gap through developing a comparative, overall view and thus establishing the basis for further research.
The project is designed as a technology assessment study and is conducted in three, successive modules. The first module focuses on determining, categorising and delineating the Internet applications that are based on algorithmic selection. The second module sheds light on algorithmic selection’s economic implications by way of comparative analyses of market structures and business models. The third module assesses the risks of algorithmic selection and investigates whether there is a need for regulation and what kind of governance options are available.
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SOLUTIONS
- Examining the various applications of algorithmic selection as a central structuring innovation of Internet development
- Showing the technological, economic and political/regulatory characteristics and effects of new Internet services based on algorithmic selection
- Analysing possible generalisations arising from the phenomenon of algorithmic selection and the likely consequences for politics, the economy and communication research
- Sourcing evidence and data from systematic literature reviews, empirical case – and market- structure analysis and governance approaches
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LINK: http://p3.snf.ch/project-137709
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