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Improving User Experience by Browser Extensions: A New Role of Public Service Media?

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Internet Science (INSCI 2019)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 11938))

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Abstract

The paper questions the role of public service media in the digital era. The Internet has in fact disrupted previous patterns of production, distribution and consumption of information. Concerns arose on social media effects on well-being and how mainstream platforms design affects information consumption. The paper is an interdisciplinary contribution structured as follows. Firstly, it critically analyses the risks resulting from social media’s usage, with a special focus on personalization practices. Then, it explores the development of Public Service Broadcasting and questions the role that Public Service Media (PSM) has to sustain media quality, information diversity and, more generally, its traditional values. Thus, arguments in favor of a renovated and proactive role of Public Service Media are provided. In particular, an agonistic approach to social media, an ‘architecture for serendipity’ and the role of attention management are advocated. Finally, drawing from information architecture and nudging theory, the paper introduces the concept of ‘meta-design’ as the ability to re-shape a digital environment by browser extensions in order to change design choices as well as to inform and educate users. The conclusion is that improving user experience by meta-design can actually represent a novel experimental role for PSM and, eventually, a soft regulatory tool for sustaining individuals and the general public interest.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    EBU is an alliance of public service media (PSM) organizations, established on 12 February 1950, made up of 72 members in 56 countries, yet unrelated to European Institutions. Its main objective is to assist its Members in this period of unprecedented technological changes.

  2. 2.

    Splichal [27] gives a concise definition of PSM: “In normative terms, public service media must be a service of the public, by the public, and for the public. It is a service of the public because it is financed by it and should be owned by it. It ought to be a service by the public – not only financed and controlled, but also produced by it. It must be a service for the public – but also for the government and other powers acting in the public sphere. In sum, public service media ought to become ‘a cornerstone of democracy” (p. 255).

  3. 3.

    This selection was not an easy task. Unfortunately, there is no specific tag to collect those that might have been interesting to analyze. There are already hundreds of browser extensions inherent education in browser stores. As a consequence, the choice was to take most of them from an article review role on online media consumption. Others, instead, were collected from personal experience and online search. As such, the selection is limited yet sufficient to show the main features of the tools.

  4. 4.

    Other similar news aggregators are Newsbird, Allside, News 360, Digg and Flipboard [see 18].

  5. 5.

    Building on the work of sociologist Hirshman, Harambam et al. [18] intend ‘voice’ as “the possibility to exert control over the data-driven processes that shape news provision”.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. LAST-JD International Joint Doctorate in Law, Science and Technology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Urbano Reviglio

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  1. Urbano Reviglio
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Correspondence to Urbano Reviglio .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Perpignan Via Domitia, Perpignan Cedex 9, France

    Samira El Yacoubi

  2. University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Franco Bagnoli

  3. University of Florence, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Giovanna Pacini

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Reviglio, U. (2019). Improving User Experience by Browser Extensions: A New Role of Public Service Media?. In: El Yacoubi, S., Bagnoli, F., Pacini, G. (eds) Internet Science. INSCI 2019. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11938. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34770-3_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34770-3_20

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