[img src="http://rhapsody.com/images/global/162x56rhaplogo.gif" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
An article in the LA Times discusses recommendation algorithms such as those at Amazon and Rhapsody, asking: Do they broaden or narrow taste? And what about the blogosphere: does intensely personalised news damage our relationship with the wider community?
"As these things get better and better, nobody has to encounter ideas they don't already agree with," said Barry Schwartz, professor of sociology at Swarthmore College and author of "The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less." "We lose that sense of community we had when there were shared cultural experiences, even though we may not have liked them. Now we can create our own cocoon and keep all that unpleasant stuff out."