RA's and Filter bubbles script

To give a little bit more context, an RA' is described as an algorithm that provides a personalised suggestion for something that is relevant to the user. (Francesco casolegno) and These types of systems are in affect for most of our daily lives. 

Whether it be on social media, content streaming, or online shopping an RA is monitoring your actions, so that it can recommend you more stuff related to your searches. 

This may be to get you to buy more products or spend more time on the application and they can seemingly dictate almost everything you watch or look at online. Link to RA page by wired

And these RA's is what Spotify uses to recommend you music while your using the app. And they do this through Recommended albums, curated playlists, and through more niche features like Smart shuffle (which adds new songs to your playlists based of your listening habits) Link to vid for smart shuffle

And your probably wondering, well - how is this bad? I want to be recommended more music or shows that are similar to ones I already enjoy 

Why wouldn't I want this?

Well that, my friend is because of filter bubbles

You see, filter bubbles are space's, one may end up in, because their previous online behaviour (search history, likes, shares and shopping habits) is influencing what they see online (Link to BBC article with vid)

And filter bubbles are bad right because they make it seem like just one thing is popular, be that something trending on Twitter or a Genre of music that you like. https://www.informs.org/News-Room/INFORMS-Releases/News-Releases/New-Research-How-Spotify-Shapes-Your-Music-Listening-Habits-with-Playlists#

And in terms of music, I think filter bubbles are kind of ruining it (Look at my lips vid)

In my own personal experience, I wasn't really exploring any new genres or checking out new artists. It was the same slop being fed into my ears because 'that's what I knew I liked' and more importantly 'Its what the algorithm knew I liked' 

There's plenty of studies that showcase how RA's and the over use of recommender systems directly cause things like filter bubbles or echo chambers (Assine Himeur)https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372136257_Filter_Bubbles_in_Recommender_Systems_Fact_or_Fallacy_--_A_Systematic_Review

And it can almost seems like 'beating the algorithm' is an impossible task 

Now companies who use RA's do utilise diversification which tries to negate the narrowing effect that the recommender algorithm pushes. (diverse article)

But I want to see if this is true with Spotify, and I want to try and monitor the possibility of a filter bubble forming over my beautifully big head in real time. 

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