Nudging towards news diversity: A theoretical framework for facilitating diverse news consumption through recommender design

Abstract

Growing concern about the democratic impact of automatically curated news platforms urges us to reconsider how such platforms should be designed. We propose a theoretical framework for personalised diversity nudges that can stimulate diverse news consumption on the individual level. To examine potential benefits and limitations of existing diversity nudges, we conduct an interdisciplinary literature review that synthesises theoretical work on news selection mechanisms with hands-on tools and implementations from the fields of computer science and recommender systems. Based thereupon, we propose five diversity nudges that researchers and practitioners can build on. We provide a theoretical motivation of why, when and for whom such nudges could be effective, critically reflect on their potential backfire effects and the need for algorithmic transparency, and sketch out a research agenda for diversity-aware news recommender design. Thereby, we develop concrete, theoretically grounded avenues towards facilitating diverse news consumption on algorithmically curated platforms.

Dissecting users' needs for search result explanations

“…These features aim to provide users with a more comprehensive understanding of the perspectives covered in search results. Previous research has explored several intervention designs to indicate the diversity of search results [54,59,64], which have proven beneficial in making users more aware of potential biases in search. Incorporating such features in explanations could further enhance users' awareness of the diversity of perspectives represented in search outcomes.…”

Measuring the benefit of increased transparency and control in news recommendation

“…Other authors have had less of a focus on user control. For example, Mattis et al (2022) develop a framework in which they distinguish five potential diversity nudges that can be employed to achieve higher consumption diversity. They define nudges as any aspect of the choice architecture that alters people's behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives.…”

Towards a Normative Perspective on Journalistic AI: Embracing the Messy Reality of Normative Ideals

“…For example, while much of the focus on responsible recommender design has so far been on emphasizing the need to integrate aspects of diversity into algorithmic design, there has been far less attention to the question of how democratic and inclusive the broader process around the decision to implement, and use of algorithmic tools should be. To take the example of news diversity as a public value again: diversity is not only a matter of developing diversity metrics or nudging users to consume more diverse news but also of better understanding how users and their interests can be incorporated into the decision-making process of defining metrics and measures in the first place (Mattis et al 2022).…”