Of Echo Chambers and Filter Bubbles

A few weeks ago, the New York Times published an interesting reader service piece, called “How to Escape Your Political Bubble for a Clearer View.” The general idea was to use different technology tools to get you either to understand how politically biased your social networks and news sources are, or to expose you to views that are outside of your typical view. There are some interesting tools out there, from Twitter plug-ins to Chrome extensions, to help you manipulate your filter bubble.

Today, I re-read the article and downloaded one of the apps they mentioned: Read Across the Aisle. The app, in the words of the Times, “gamifies political outreach — as you read articles from The Huffington Post or The Federalist through the app, you’ll see a meter turn red or blue based on the particular site’s ideological bent.” It has political coverage from the Washington Post to The Hill to the National Review, among others. This should give me a different spin on the morning news.

Lots of other interesting ideas in that article, though. Have a look for yourself.