SchülerUNI looks into recommendation systems

Every day, we come into contact – often unconsciously – with digital recommendation systems that present us with tailored content in advertising, on platforms or when shopping. Prof. Christine Bauer conducts research on precisely this topic at the Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Interfaces and sheds light on the various facets of this complex field of research.

For students aged 14 to 18, there was an age-appropriate taster lecture in the Christian Doppler lecture hall entitled: “Break the Loop: How do digital recommendation systems work?”. Several classes from HAK:zwei as well as pupils from the Christian Doppler Grammar School and the Akademiestraße Sports and Music Grammar School dived into the subject matter with Christine Bauer.

The guests not only learned how algorithms work and where the underlying information comes from, but also why some groups receive more accurate recommendations than others. The topics of transparency and responsible handling of information were also highlighted, always on the trail of the question: “Can we break the loop?”. Because if undesirable biases are corrected, the digital space can also be made more diverse and inclusive.

The lecturers’ examples from music illustrated the theoretical approaches very vividly and from the young people’s horizon of experience. Based on this, the questions from the audience were very specifically tailored to filter methods and showed a great deal of sensitivity for the topic.

In the online feedback from the event, only around a quarter of the group stated that they were encountering this topic for the first time. However, the audience’s prior knowledge of the topic did not detract from their interest, as more than two thirds of the young people agreed that it was an exciting topic. One guest summed it up: “Cool presentation. Very exciting and informative!”

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SchülerUNI beschäftigt sich mit Empfehlungssystemen – Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg

So, what would you like to change?