Class Assgnment #5.
1. The echo chamber
revisted:http://onthemedia.org/2011/jun/17/echo-chamber-revisited/ The media “echo chamber” is the idea that we
are increasingly able to cherry-pick our news sources and thus reinforce our
worldview.
A. How does the notion of the “echo chamber”
contradict earlier ideas about the availability of information on the internet?
The concept
exposes the user to other ideas online. It does not limit the user to ideas
they are already familiar with – the user wants their own ideas to be
challenged. If the user fails to expose himself/herself to different arrays of
ideas, they end up putting themselves in a confirmation bias. The notion of
echo chamber challenges that mindset by presenting the user with the facts and
not opinions.
B. What does this trend have to do with ideology and
the culture wars?
The trend is
relevant to ideological battles because defendants of a certain position,
whether it be cultural or political, always surrounds themselves with
information that they wish to receive—it prevents the proponent from exposing
himself to the facts of the matter in which they’re addressing. The relevance
of this trend affects how people view the information they need and what
aspects they wish to address.
C. Does this trend reflect your experience? How do you
find news and views on the internet or how does it find you? What effect does
it have on political discourse?
Back when I was a
teenager, my parents surrounded themselves with magazines by organizations like
Focus on the Family—Breakaway, Family Magazine and other magazines. Basically,
the magazines presented a narrow-minded view of how Christians should behave,
sort of creating a confirmation bias. Eventually, when I exposed myself to
mainstream sites, huffingtonpost, yahoo.com, npr, etc. and more diverse
Christian resources (Word on Fire, Redeemer Presbyterian, etc)—I found myself
learning different perspectives, even if I didn’t always agree with those
perspectives all the time.-- Jer
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