Interactive model shows how digital activity shapes online recommendations
A Pedagogically Demonstrative Model Visualizing the Pathway from Online Interactions to Personalized Recommendation
Human-Computer Interaction
Summary
People often do not understand how their online actions lead to personalized ads and suggestions. The authors created an interactive tool that uses a language model to show users how their digital activities are turned into inferred interests and then personalized recommendations. They also used a special diagram to visualize these connections clearly. A small study showed that while this tool helped people understand these processes and raised privacy awareness, most felt they would not change their behavior because online platforms seem unavoidable.
What this means in practice
- •For privacy awareness trainers: Use the interactive model to teach users how their online actions influence personalized ads and build privacy awareness.
- •For user experience designers: Incorporate Sankey diagram visualizations into apps to transparently show how user data generates recommendations.
Authors
Sushmita Khan, Connor Pennington, Bart P Knijnenburg
Abstract
Personal digital activity increasingly shapes online experiences, yet few users have been educated regarding the processes transforming raw interactions into personalized suggestions. We developed an education artifact that illustratively simulates how AI leverages users' digital activities to shape online recommendations (e.g., ads). Our artifact processes users' digital activity using a locally-hosted LLM to generate user profiles of their inferred interests and personalized recommendations. A three-layered Sankey diagram maps data sources through inferred interests to personalized recommendations. Interactive filters enable users to explore how different combinations of data sources influence personalized outcomes. This paper describes the artifact and its educational value, and reports findings of a pilot think-aloud study with six young adults. We find that the artifact effectively taught participants the conceptual relationship between digital activities and personalized recommendations. While this did lead participants to develop privacy awareness, they anticipated minimal behavior change due to the perceived unavoidability of platform participation.