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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
Author's bio matters, this is so wonky and lacking in human flavor. Don't trust a Comp Sci major-type to deliver an interesting read.
informative
informative
medium-paced
I wrote a long review about him calling Taylor Swift an "ironic brushstroke" via the DJ he was writing about, but then Safari deleted it.
I'm taking this as a sign to just say the 1/4 star is for his misunderstanding of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish's well-accoladed and respected artistry, and that I enjoyed his definition of curation, etc.
And the reminder that so much of our consumption is not of our own choice; and if we were to make more of that, and to do so offline, we'd find it much more enriching.
"To resist FIlterword, we must become our own curators once more and take responsibility for what we're consuming. Regaining that control isn't so hard. You make a personal choice and begin to intentionally seek out your own cultural rabbit hole, which leads you in new directions, to yet more independent decisions. They compound over time into a sense of taste, and ultimately into a sense of self."
I'm taking this as a sign to just say the 1/4 star is for his misunderstanding of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish's well-accoladed and respected artistry, and that I enjoyed his definition of curation, etc.
And the reminder that so much of our consumption is not of our own choice; and if we were to make more of that, and to do so offline, we'd find it much more enriching.
"To resist FIlterword, we must become our own curators once more and take responsibility for what we're consuming. Regaining that control isn't so hard. You make a personal choice and begin to intentionally seek out your own cultural rabbit hole, which leads you in new directions, to yet more independent decisions. They compound over time into a sense of taste, and ultimately into a sense of self."
If you hate Emily in Paris, Chayka will tell you why. Great read and interesting examples about the soulless and uncurated state of culture online and in society.
As someone who works in social media advertising, this was a must-read for me. Kyle takes us through the evolution of social media to the modern “filter world” in that we live in, in such a way that it makes the reader question just how much of our cultural consumption is truly unique to us. While I would argue there have been some oversimplifications or rather, overestimations of the power of social media in some cases - overall, I found this to be a fascinating read and whether you work in social media or not, one worth the add to your ever-growing TBR.
An interesting read and one that is a great "dinner party conversation" book given its relevancy regarding the rise of algorithmic content and recommendation. It was slightly more of a memoir than I was expecting and I don't think the author did himself a tremendous favor in this respect; clearly he is a much more passive consumer of popular culture than I am, and that colors his views on the availability of authentic or "earnest" access to interesting and positive cultural production.
adventurous
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Since I am in the middle of my social media detox, a friend of mine recommended me this book. I have never highlighted so much in a book before.
While we are all consumers, some of us are artists (not content creators) and in a world where you have to compete with cat videos and memes, it gets more difficult for your art to be seen if it doesn't comform to "mainstream" art and content. It's not about the art itself, but about how it is presented and how good the content is. I realized I am a victim of the recommendation systems, as Kyle calls the algorithms and lost my personal taste - in the art and culture I consume but also in the art I make myself. I was asking, even before I read the book: "Am I drawing this piece because I want to or because I think a lot of people might like it and I get more attention?". The value of someone or their content (not their art) is measured by likes, views and followers and the real connection is missing on most of the social media plattforms these days. Which is sad, because I make art to connect with people. I consume culture to connect to others;
I found my way back to listening to whole albums instead of random songs on spotify, ditching the platform altogether in the future if I can find a way to digitalize my vinyl colleciton.
The way I intereact with music is the same way I did many years before spotify: I am intentionally searching for music.
Reading books and manga is one of my biggest hobbies. Most of the time I would try out books which are popular on social media, but I recently found myself browsing smaller bookstores and searching for particular genres or authors, to get to know their work or trying out new things.
In education we tell parents children learn the best if they can learn with all their senses. They need time and dedication to grasp the whole thing they want to learn. They are curious, open minded and not in their own filterbubbles, curated by algorithm controlled by big corporations (who have only more revenue in mind, not the user). They learn, in an open way, what they like and what they don't like, gaining their personal taste.
How much of your taste is truly yours, when an algorithm does the thinking and recommendation? Are you really liking those shoes which are suddenly trendy and all over your feed?`Do your really like that book, or do you think you should like it because it is popular?
I love the book. It's not saying the internet is bad. It's the corporate greed and the forced algorithmic recommendations, where you get to think it's your taste because "you might like" it. But at the end of the day those things you get recommended are just trendy and popular things, which generates a lot of data and income for the platform.
Anyway, this book will haunt me for a while.
Edit: And what fun it was, back in the day, to recommend things to your friends which you found randomly on the internet, because you thought they would like it. You started to discuss these topics passionatly, connecting to other likemindend people. Today you share stuff online, mostly to be seen, like everyone else. There are a lot of problems with algorithmic recommendation and it will get even worse with ai generation in the future. I am glad I am not on social media right now. I thought I was connecting to others, but in reality I did not. Their weren't many conversations, really. It is better to be on discord servers with like-minded people or sharing new findings with friends you already have. And since the social media world, or the internet world right now is just full (with a lot of bots btw), I find it nicer to be away and have finally time to play that video game or read that book.
While we are all consumers, some of us are artists (not content creators) and in a world where you have to compete with cat videos and memes, it gets more difficult for your art to be seen if it doesn't comform to "mainstream" art and content. It's not about the art itself, but about how it is presented and how good the content is. I realized I am a victim of the recommendation systems, as Kyle calls the algorithms and lost my personal taste - in the art and culture I consume but also in the art I make myself. I was asking, even before I read the book: "Am I drawing this piece because I want to or because I think a lot of people might like it and I get more attention?". The value of someone or their content (not their art) is measured by likes, views and followers and the real connection is missing on most of the social media plattforms these days. Which is sad, because I make art to connect with people. I consume culture to connect to others;
I found my way back to listening to whole albums instead of random songs on spotify, ditching the platform altogether in the future if I can find a way to digitalize my vinyl colleciton.
The way I intereact with music is the same way I did many years before spotify: I am intentionally searching for music.
Reading books and manga is one of my biggest hobbies. Most of the time I would try out books which are popular on social media, but I recently found myself browsing smaller bookstores and searching for particular genres or authors, to get to know their work or trying out new things.
In education we tell parents children learn the best if they can learn with all their senses. They need time and dedication to grasp the whole thing they want to learn. They are curious, open minded and not in their own filterbubbles, curated by algorithm controlled by big corporations (who have only more revenue in mind, not the user). They learn, in an open way, what they like and what they don't like, gaining their personal taste.
How much of your taste is truly yours, when an algorithm does the thinking and recommendation? Are you really liking those shoes which are suddenly trendy and all over your feed?`Do your really like that book, or do you think you should like it because it is popular?
I love the book. It's not saying the internet is bad. It's the corporate greed and the forced algorithmic recommendations, where you get to think it's your taste because "you might like" it. But at the end of the day those things you get recommended are just trendy and popular things, which generates a lot of data and income for the platform.
Anyway, this book will haunt me for a while.
Edit: And what fun it was, back in the day, to recommend things to your friends which you found randomly on the internet, because you thought they would like it. You started to discuss these topics passionatly, connecting to other likemindend people. Today you share stuff online, mostly to be seen, like everyone else. There are a lot of problems with algorithmic recommendation and it will get even worse with ai generation in the future. I am glad I am not on social media right now. I thought I was connecting to others, but in reality I did not. Their weren't many conversations, really. It is better to be on discord servers with like-minded people or sharing new findings with friends you already have. And since the social media world, or the internet world right now is just full (with a lot of bots btw), I find it nicer to be away and have finally time to play that video game or read that book.
Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyla Chayka packed a lot of information into 280 pages. So much information, that I found I needed to take breaks to take in and process it. Having been born in the mid-80s, making me a Millennial, I feel like I have a strong grasp on society before and after the internet and before and after social media. The irony of being a bookstagrammer and agreeing with a lot of the concerns Chayka brought up is not lost on me. Especially in the United States political climate, we are being ruled by forces far beyond what most people even concede is possible and yet algorithms shape nearly every aspect of our lives.
Filterworld is a huge punch in the gut to listen to the warning sirens of where we are headed as people, as a society, and as a planet. Thoroughly researched and laid out in an organized fashion, Filterworld is a must read in 2024!
Thank you Doubleday Books for the gifted ARC and Penguin Audio for the gifted ALC.
Filterworld is a huge punch in the gut to listen to the warning sirens of where we are headed as people, as a society, and as a planet. Thoroughly researched and laid out in an organized fashion, Filterworld is a must read in 2024!
Thank you Doubleday Books for the gifted ARC and Penguin Audio for the gifted ALC.
informative