News Diversity and Well-Being – An Experimental Exploration Of Diversity-Aware Recommender Systems

Abstract

The demand for socially responsible designs for news recommender systems is currently of the utmost relevance. This paper presents a novel and interdisciplinary approach, bringing together psychol- ogists and computer scientists, to examine the impact of diverse news recommendations on individual users. In this experimental study, participants were divided into two groups, interacting with either a diverse news recommender system (experimental group) or a non-diversified system (control group). Subjective well-being and personal evaluations of the recommender system were measured. Although the study did not find a significant positive impact on participants’ subjective well-being after consuming more diverse news, this preliminary investigation opens avenues for further re- search. This study sets the stage for future investigations, providing valuable insights and highlighting the complexities of promoting diverse news consumption through recommender systems. Further research is warranted to explore potential enhancements and refine the understanding of the relationship between diversified news recommendations and user well-being. This contribution lays a groundstone for further research on responsibilities and how to implement basic human values, which are important to sustain and advance the democratic society we live in.