valentina metnitzer

"the act or process of segregating: the separation or isolation of a race, class, or ethnic group by enforced or voluntary residence in a restricted area, by barriers to social intercourse, by separate educational facilities, or by other discriminatory means."

"The term "gated community" simply refers to any type of neighborhood that has controlled access using one or more gates that residents or visitors must pass through. Some have a guard booth with a security staff to ensure that only residents or guests pass the gate, while others use an automatic gate that residents must open with a key card or remote control. Most gated communities have a name and a clear geographic definition as marked by the barriers and gates that control access to the area."

districts aiming at gathering people from the same social class

Walls keep the poor together and set them apart from the wealthy people
who live an opulent life

"we are segregated because networks put us into virtually gated communities"

"Whether we like it or not, polarisation is about communities, just segregated ones: from groups that
spread the same fake news (while accusing others of doing so)to the rise of extreme political groups."

"The Columbian-Lavanburg survey explored the social dynamics of the planned public housing community through residents’ responses to over one hundred different questions. They tabulated patterns of friendship between people with different professions, educational attainments, and places of birth. They inquired about how residents used common spaces of the housing project, and whether they belonged to neighbourhood social organisations. They asked about residents’ expectations prior to moving to the housing project, who they associated with most frequently while living there, and what their impressions were of the level of political engagement in their community."

"The results published in 1945 by Merton and Lazarsfeld focused on two questions (of this preliminary range of questions). 25. Do you think colored and white people should live together in housing projects? 26. On the whole, do you think that colored and white in the Village get along pretty well, or not so well? "

https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/are-friends-electric/289193/homophily-the-urban-history-of-an-algorithm/

“Biases are the stories we make up about people before we know who they actually are. But how are we going to know who they are, when we’ve been told to avoid and be afraid of them?” (Verna Myers)

Just because we’re not consciously aware of biases, doesn’t mean we’re off-the-hook. Just because we’re not consciously aware, doesn’t mean there’s nothing we can do about it. Just because we’re not consciously aware of biases, doesn’t mean it’s not pervasive.

We still are accountable for our (un)learning, learning, interrogating, and changing these biases. Biases are inevitable, BUT it doesn’t mean they’re not immovable. https://libraryguides.saic.edu/learn_unlearn/foundations6

“… that your perceptions, both our visual and our physical perceptions and also our social perceptions of other people and situations in life and business are very much affected by our unconscious. That what we perceive, isn’t really the data that is literally out there, but it’s a construction that our minds make using our imagination” (Leonard Mlodinow)

"Individuals, almost constantly, find themselves interacting
with others and forming ties with them. These ties shape the individual’s self-concept and define his/her identity, desires, beliefs and opinions."

http://www.divaportal.org/smash/get/diva2:1092019/FULLTEXT02.pdf

"Although there is no consensus definition for echo chambers or filter bubbles, in considering the range of descriptions we
identify two constituent characteristics that stand out. The first is a lack of information diversity due to restriction of information sources. In echo chambers, “individuals are exposed only to information from like-minded individuals” (Bakshy et al. 2015, p. 1130), that “confirms their previously held opinions” (Shore et al. 2018, p. 850), and “is devoid of other viewpoints” (Garrett 2009, p. 279). Filter bubbles are a “unique universe of information for each of us” (Pariser 2011, p. 9), “devoid of attitude-challenging content” (Bakshy et al. 2015, p. 1130), where “individuals only see posts that they agree with” (Lazer 2015, p. 1090). Reduced information diversity exaggerates confirmation bias - the individual and collective tendency to seek out information that supports preexisting beliefs (Nickerson 1998). It also facilitates ideological groupthink — a collective manifestation of closed- mindedness and an overestimation of the value of collective beliefs that are reinforced by pressure towards uniformity (Janis 1982)."

terms: homophily, confirmation bias,

naive realism, echo chamber, filter bubble, ..

example: Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier, who in 1944 was dispatched to the Philippine island Liu Bai with a simple mission. He was to stay there and if the allies were to try to retake the island, his job was to harass them to commit sabotage and otherwise make their live as miserable as possible. He was a dedicated man - he harassed and killed until 1974. BUT the war ended in 1945. Did he not know that the war ended? Certainly he had lots of opportunities to find it out. Philippine authorities realised what is happening and left him leaflets, newspaper, letters from loved ones.
The only thing that stopped him fighting was the former commanding officer (that was in 1944 an army major, but in 1974 a bookseller). They brought him there and they had a face-to-face conversation.

So everything that contracted the view that the war is still on he dismissed as enemy propaganda.

"Your recommendations don't just depend on your actions. What matters is what people "like you" do. Thus, it's easy to predict your age and political ideology based on the behaviour of people who follow you on Twitter, especially if you follow them in turn. We're sorted into neighbourhoods based on our likes and dislikes in order to uncover hidden relations and to foster new ones.

The driving logic here is homophily: the idea that people who are alike act alike, that birds of a feather naturally flock together, that similarity breeds connection. Homophily makes networks by creating clusters, so you're not just linked to others because of your IP address or geographic location. This means you're easier to find and it's easier to find others. This principle is allegedly as old as Plato and Aristotle, who declared that similarity drives friendship and love.

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/virtual-segregation-narrows-our-real-life-relationships

exploring my surroundings further: 

Instagram is the one social media platform I currently use. I have 140 people that I follow at the moment and 109 that follow me. By looking at the number of people, I see that most of them are from the Willem de Kooning academy. In fact, 32 people that I follow are from this academy, excluding my closest friends there.

There are 13 people I consider as friends and with whom I have regular interactions. 35 People that I know but am not really good friends with or in contact with. The rest are art pages, actresses & actors and “influencers”.

Is it possible for me to see a kind of filter bubble already? I have noticed that only 10 people of my followers are not interested in art, all the others work in the art industry or make art in their free time.

my feed consists
of many art posts: 

activism; most of them deal with climate change, sustainability, speciesism, fast fashion, but also feminism:

satire; mostly concerning politics in austria and germany (against right-wing):

After doing research on homophily and confirmation bias, I can see that this clearly applies to my social media as well (even in real life). Most of them share the same interests as me, such as sustainability, speciesism and feminism. The activists I follow, but also people I know, use their platform from time to time to draw attention to a particular issue or to a scandal. And I can see that I mostly agree with their point of view.

elias (23)
met in highschool

hannah (26)
my older sister

mirena (23)
met in the academy

youyou (20)
met in the academy

ellen (23)
was once my roommate

tess (22)
met in the academy

melisa-lucia (20)
met in the academy

simon (27)
met through a previous relationship

tina (22)
met in primary school

katharina (23)
met through parents at
a very young age

hannes (59)
my dad

maria (58)
my mom

bonded at first because we are both international students & don't speak dutch

have the same interests in design - graphic design education; 

bonded at first because we are both international students & don't speak dutch;

have the same interests in design - graphic design education; 

really got to know each other through a mutual friend;

have the same interests in design - graphic design education; 

went to the same primary school, middle school,
highschool & first year of university; & we lived in the same village; 

have the same interests in design - graphic design education & studies art history; 

we share, among other things, an interest in speciesism, politics & equality; 

went to the same primary school & middle school; grew up in the same village; 

we share, among other things, an interest in speciesism, politics & equality; but also travelling;

have the same interests in design - graphic design education & works now in the creative field as film maker; 

we share, among other things, an interest in climate change, fast fashion, politics & speciesism;

lived together for some short period of time; 

have the same interests in design - graphic design education; 

besides that we are related we share the same interest in art; works as an artist & art teacher; 

we have, among other things, the same view on politics and climate change;

besides that we are related we share the same interest in art; works as an artist & art teacher; 

we have, among other things, the same view on politics and climate change;

we share the same view regarding politics, the taste in music, but also what we like to do in our free time.
For example spending time outside such as hiking and skiing;

besides that we are related we have, among other things, the same view on politics & share what we like to do in our free time such as spending time outside; but also living a more simple life.

bonded at first because we are both international students & don't speak dutch;

share the same interests in what we like to do in our free time such as skiing; 

social media: 

my closest surrounding in real life:

possible differences: less interested in art, more in biology etc.; likes to settle where she grew up (no need to flee); 

possible differences: at different stages of life and therefore different goals; also the political view is quite different; 

possible differences:  sometimes we don't understand the actions of each other because of cultural differences;

possible difference: at different stages of life and therefore different goals; less interested in art, but in
business & marketing;

possible difference: From an emotional point of view, we sometimes have different perceptions;

possible differences: a good example of how opposites attract; very many different views;

possible differences: at different stages of life and therefore different goals; likes to settle where he grew up; less interested in art; 

possible differences: likes to settle were she grew up; not
so adventurous, more chill; 

possible differences: in different stages of life and therefore different goals (in her case more career focused);

different views and activities due to the age difference; different stages of life.

different views and activities due to the age difference; different stages of life.

possible differences: different views on education; he is more of an autodidact;