alexnathanson / confirmationbias_browserextension_firefox

A Firefox browser extension designed to mitigate confirmation bias in media consumption.

Confirmation Bias Browser Extension for Firefox

A Firefox browser extension designed to mitigate confirmation bias in media consumption.

Version 0.1.1

When the user visits a given news site, the extension will prompt them to visit a website that features opposing view points to those that they are usually exposed to.

Differences between versions

• browser namespace changed to chrome namespace (ex. chrome.storage.local vs browser.storage.local)
• chrome.storage.local requires a function and the ".then" promise doesn't work. In Firefox, the function is optional and isn't being used.
• the applications key in the manifest file was removed for the Chrome version, but is required for Firefox.

About

More about confirmation bias on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias.
This is an open source project created by Alex Nathanson.
Full project details and notes on my methodology are available at https://github.com/alexnathanson/ConfirmationBias_BrowserExtension.
Collaborators welcome.

Methodology

The vector assigned to each media source is deeply subjective. The trust variation isn't a measure of trustworthyness or truthfullness, rather it is a relational value. Someone who trusts The Indypendent will not trust Breitbart or vice versa, and the value I've assigned to them is meant to describe this relationship.

Instructions for installing the Confirmation Bias extension as a temporary Firefox extension

1. Download and install Firefox www.mozilla.org
2. Download this ConfirmationBias_BrowserExtension folder https://github.com/alexnathanson/confirmationbias_browserextension
3. Open Firefox and enter about:debugging in the browser’s address bar
4. Click on the Load Temporary Add-on button
5. Navigate to the project folder you downloaded and select the manifest.json file.

List of news site vectors currently implemented

You can see all the included media sources in the mediasources.js file.

Future changes and additions

• Track user behaviour over time and adjust behavior accordingly. Use this to determine the list of sites the user will disagree with.
• Make suggestions based not only on the media source, but also on the specific subject matter of an article or specific auther.
• Anonymously compare multiple user's behaviour to each other to measure trends and make more relevant recommendations.
• More extension behavior options for the user.