{"id":189,"date":"2025-03-21T13:39:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/chapter\/how-to-train-your-algorithm\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T14:41:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:41:31","slug":"how-to-train-your-algorithm","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/chapter\/how-to-train-your-algorithm\/","title":{"raw":"How to Train Your Algorithm","rendered":"How to Train Your Algorithm"},"content":{"raw":"Go through the master \"red team\" lists with the class, so that everyone knows all the issues that were identified with each [pb_glossary id=\"281\"]optimization[\/pb_glossary] goal.\r\n\r\nAsk if they can think of any examples where an app or website's optimization goals backfired or led to bad outcomes. You can prompt them with these examples:\r\n<div>\r\n<div>\r\n<div>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<div>\r\n<div>\r\n<div>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>YouTube optimizing for watch time led to videos getting longer and longer<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Snapchat optimizing for daily use made people spend an hour every day sending blank pictures just to keep up their Streaks<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Different sites optimizing for virality made \u201cfake news\u201d stories spread more widely than true ones<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Other sites optimizing for engagement made extreme, offensive and harassing posts get recommended over more civil ones.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nThen ask:\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n\r\nThink back to the video app you analyzed. Now that you know some of the concerns with the different things an app can be optimized for, do you agree with its optimization goals were ranked?\r\n\r\nWhy or why not?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nNext, have students brainstorm\u00a0 <strong>other <\/strong>optimization goals that algorithms could be aiming for. You can prompt students with these examples:\r\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Accuracy<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Civility (promoting positive interactions between users)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Diversity (not showing you too much of the same thing)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nAfter students have discussed these questions for a few minutes, explain to students that while we can't always affect what algorithms are <strong>optimized <\/strong>for, we can often <strong>train <\/strong>our algorithms to show us more of what we want, and less of what we don't want.\r\n\r\nShow the video <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/84wh6H2wMc4\">How to Train Your Algorithm<\/a> in fullscreen or have students <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/84wh6H2wMc4\">access it<\/a>, and then answer the questions in the student chapter <a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/chapter\/how-to-train-your-algorithm-2\/\">How to Train Your Algorithm<\/a>.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/84wh6H2wMc4\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/chapter\/how-to-train-your-algorithm-2\/\">Select this link to access a description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;","rendered":"<p>Go through the master &#8220;red team&#8221; lists with the class, so that everyone knows all the issues that were identified with each <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_189_281\">optimization<\/a> goal.<\/p>\n<p>Ask if they can think of any examples where an app or website&#8217;s optimization goals backfired or led to bad outcomes. You can prompt them with these examples:<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>YouTube optimizing for watch time led to videos getting longer and longer<\/li>\n<li>Snapchat optimizing for daily use made people spend an hour every day sending blank pictures just to keep up their Streaks<\/li>\n<li>Different sites optimizing for virality made \u201cfake news\u201d stories spread more widely than true ones<\/li>\n<li>Other sites optimizing for engagement made extreme, offensive and harassing posts get recommended over more civil ones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Then ask:<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<p>Think back to the video app you analyzed. Now that you know some of the concerns with the different things an app can be optimized for, do you agree with its optimization goals were ranked?<\/p>\n<p>Why or why not?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Next, have students brainstorm\u00a0 <strong>other <\/strong>optimization goals that algorithms could be aiming for. You can prompt students with these examples:<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox shaded\">\n<ul>\n<li>Accuracy<\/li>\n<li>Civility (promoting positive interactions between users)<\/li>\n<li>Diversity (not showing you too much of the same thing)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After students have discussed these questions for a few minutes, explain to students that while we can&#8217;t always affect what algorithms are <strong>optimized <\/strong>for, we can often <strong>train <\/strong>our algorithms to show us more of what we want, and less of what we don&#8217;t want.<\/p>\n<p>Show the video <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/84wh6H2wMc4\">How to Train Your Algorithm<\/a> in fullscreen or have students <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/84wh6H2wMc4\">access it<\/a>, and then answer the questions in the student chapter <a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigatingstudent\/chapter\/how-to-train-your-algorithm-2\/\">How to Train Your Algorithm<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"How to train your algorithm\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/84wh6H2wMc4?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/chapter\/how-to-train-your-algorithm-2\/\">Select this link to access a description for people who are blind or low-vision.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"glossary\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\" id=\"definition\">definition<\/span><template id=\"term_189_281\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_189_281\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>Training an algorithm to achieve a particular goal.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":7,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-189","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":181,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":993,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/189\/revisions\/993"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/181"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/189\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/textbook.mediasmarts.ca\/navigating-teacher\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}