My Own Experiment Testing "4 Factors" of Algorithmic Bias
After reading Medium’s article about algorithmic bias, I decided to see how many of the factors I could spot in my own Instagram feed by searching a trending topic about beauty and fashion. As background information, I follow very few fashion-centric accounts and influencers. However, the celebrities or public figures I follow do have strong intersections with the world of fashion and beauty. For example, I follow Selena Gomez (actor, also CEO of Rare Beauty), and Koshiba Fuka (actor, also spokesperson of CanMake Beauty). These underlying factors may influence my feed. I first searched the trending topic, “Coachella outfits,” into my search bar. I selected this topic because it is relevant now, and includes the subject of fashion and beauty. It is also a topic that I have not previously searched before, so it should provide fresh data. Here is a screenshot of my results: Visual Appeal: It comes as no surprise that all of the posts that I was given are visually appealing. An inter...
