Social Feeds Exam #1 (Key)
Select the best answers from the options below.
Section 1: These questions have one correct answer.
1. Which of the following is necessary to the definition of a feed:
A. It is personalized based on your interests, likes, and dislikes
B. It is a dynamic list made up of changing items
C. Its content is dependent on the people you interact with
D. A and B only
2. Which of the following is NOT an example of a feed:
A. Spotify’s Discover Weekly Playlist
B. A Stock Ticker
C. Rotten Tomatoes’ list of top 100 movies of all time
D. Billboard’s list of top 10 most popular songs in the 1960s
3. Which of the following is TRUE about the Sarah Scenario:
A. It is used to understand how people browse their news feeds
B. It is used as a measure to test people’s tie strengths
C. It is used to check if people are aware that their news feeds are filtered
D. A and C only
4. In the Sarah Scenario, why would Sarah’s status update not appear on your news feed
even if you are friends with her?
A. The content of her post does not include things you usually find interesting
B. Her post contains words that you have flagged as inappropriate
C. Sarah’s status update will appear on your news feed. You just have to keep
scrolling.
D. A and C only
5. What do John Hammond, Ari Emanuel, Joseph Pulitzer, and Google Instant have in
common?
A. They introduce(d) biases in how we perceive music, cinema, literature and
general knowledge
B. They act(ed) as gatekeepers or filters to our intake of information
C. They represent physical and digital agents that create feeds
D. All of the above
6. Why can newspapers from the 1750’s be considered a social feed, according to the
definition of social feeds?
A. Papers were left in common spaces like taverns
B. Papers were left in common spaces like taverns and people added letters
for consideration for future editions
C. Papers shared information with a community
D. People knew where to get information
7. What is an essential component of a social network?
A. Weak interaction
B. Strong interaction
C. Interaction foci
D. A, B, C
8. Does Donath’s ideal social network, the Super-Network, exist?
A. Technology makes the Super-Network possible
B. No, it is not possible to achieve the Super-Network
C. Yes, it is possible to achieve the super network
D. We may need the Super-Network
9. What differences appear in your feed if “Most Recent” posts are selected?
A. Other friends may appear that you don’t see with “Top Stories” feeds
B. You have to select the “Most Recent” feed every time the browser refreshes
C. You see completely new information
D. A and B
10. Facebook was not the only company to come up with the Facebook concept. Which
organization had this idea as well?
A. MySpace
B. Napster
C. Friendster
D. AOL messenger
11. What was the focus of discovery for early social network platforms?
A. Information discovery
B. Connection discovery
C. Person discovery
D. Commonality discovery
12. Do employers notice if prospective employees have social media accounts?
A. No, employers don’t look for this information
B. Yes, many employers look for this information
C. Yes, many employers think social media presence is a sign of stability/normalcy
D. B and C
13. What is the strength of weak ties
A. You get to see diverse information and opinions from the people on social
networks.
B. There are more of them
C. Weak ties are not strong
D. All of the above
14. Which of the following is correct?
A. A social feed is a list of information
B. A social feed is a changing list of information that is based on who you interact
with
C. A social feed can exist online or offline
D. All of the above
15. Which of the following about algorithms is NOT correct
A. Algorithms are an abstract method for computing some function
B. Algorithms are an embodiment in some programming language
C. Algorithms are procedures or sets of rules used in calculation and problemsolving
D. Algorithms are a logical series of steps for organizing and acting on a body of
data to quickly achieve a desired outcome
16. Which of the following is NOT an algorithm?
A. Google pagerank
B. Facebook trending topics
C. The secret formula for Pepsi
D. All of the above
17. Which of the following is NOT synonym for algorithm?
A. Recipe
B. Instruction
C. Procedure
D. Program
18. Which of the following is NOT true for the “right” algorithm?
A. The right algorithm optimizes particular resources you have
B. The right algorithm is depending on what you are trying to accomplish
C. The right computer algorithm always uses the least computer time
D. The right algorithm is a tradeoff between different things you think are good
19. Which of the following content is managed by algorithms that make judgements for you
automatically?
A. Search results
B. Advertisement
C. Cost of flight tickets
D. All of the above
20. Which of these factors are NOT used by algorithms to determine which ads you see
online?
A. Your GPA
B. Temperature of your city
C. Age of your cellphone
D. Your outstanding loan balance
21. According to Tarleton Gillespie, which of the following statements is NOT the political
valence of the public relevance algorithm?
A. Patterns of inclusion
B. Cycles of anticipation
C. The evaluation of relevance
D. The promise of algorithmic subjectivity
22. According to Tarleton Gillespie, which of the following is NOT an example of the
algorithm’s Entanglement with Practice?
A. Photographers in Flickr are sensitive to algorithm in order to put their photos in
front of right people
B. People use search engine optimization (SEO) to boost website to the top of
search results
C. Information providers offer Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to their
commercial partners and third-party developers
D. Search engine provides advertisement in the forms of links or featured
content as the product of algorithmic calculations
23. According to Tarleton Gillespie, which of the following is NOT an example of the
Calculated Public?
A. Amazon recommends a book that “customers like you” bought
B. Facebook offers as a privacy setting that a user’s information be seen by
“friends, and friends of friends,”
C. Google provides a SafeSearch mechanism for keeping profanity and sexual
images from minors
D. Twitter’s Trends algorithm promises users a glimpse of what a particular public
(national or regional) is talking about at that moment
24. Which of the following is NOT true about the Facebook newsfeed algorithm?
A. The Facebook newsfeed algorithm favors the personal—baby photos, vacation
chronicles, and marriage albums
B. Facebook wants to make the news feed more social
C. The Facebook feedback algorithm favors media industry and news
organizations
D. Facebook newsfeed algorithm will promote less videos, ads, and news articles.
25. Which of the following statements about patterns of inclusion is true?
A. Inclusion is determined by specific decisions made by the designer of the
technology about who the users should be
B. Excluding potential users is never a good thing – all potential populations are
relevant and should be targeted
C. Personas used to make design decisions should be based on the personal traits
of the designers
D. Patterns of inclusion can be culturally influenced, so predicting them can
be difficult
26. Which of the following statements about cycles of anticipation is true?
A. The algorithm does not rely on previous events to determine what to do in the
current situation
B. No subjective decisions are made when deciding how to collect the data the
algorithm uses to act
C. Algorithms are designed with the cost of collecting different kinds of data
in mind
D. The user plays no role in providing information for the algorithm to act on
27. What factor is the most important in producing relevance?
A. Structure imposed by the algorithm
B. What the user shows the algorithm is important to him/her, and what the
algorithm then shows the user
C. The user’s preferences
D. What the algorithm sees is popular with other users with similar characteristics
28. Why is relevance NOT the same thing as satisfaction?
A. It is the same as satisfaction – users of Facebook have rated that they are
satisfied with what the newsfeed marks as relevant, so they are the same thing
B. The user can’t see every available answer, so he/she may report being
satisfied with the answers given, but the user may actually be more
satisfied with a different set of answers
C. What is popular with one group of people may not be popular with another group
D. Something can be relevant, but unpleasant, and will leave the user dissatisfied
29. What does Gillespie mean by “public”?
A. A place or situation where privacy cannot be expected
B. A group related to community interests
C. Information shared to the Internet with no privacy settings enacted
D. Information that is generated by a group of people
30. Which of the following are examples of a networked public?
A. All users of Instagram
B. All the people at a co-op meeting
C. All the people who watch Jeopardy
D. A and C
31. What is the difference between a networked public and a calculated public?
A. A networked public is made up of people connected by a technology; a
calculated public involves people being grouped by an algorithm
B. A networked public is made up of people connected by a technology; a
calculated public involves people connected by technology who have thought
very carefully about joining the group (public)
C. A networked public is made up of people who were introduced to each other
online by other people; a calculated public involves people being grouped by an
algorithm
D. A networked public is made up of people who were introduced to each other
online by other people; a calculated public involves people connected by
technology who have thought very carefully about joining the group (public)
32. An app was designed to solve arguments in the office about what the temperature
should be. It involves voting on the temperature. What is the likely effect of this?
A. The app will not work well, because not everyone will adopt it
B. The officemates will use the app to solve this dispute – their feedback, and the
app’s feedback, co-produce a pleasant temperature
C. The app will increase office disputes, because no one was thinking about
the temperature until asked, and now everyone has an opinion about it. The
app made the situation relevant to people who previously didn’t care
D. This depends on how well the app was designed, and on whether or not it has a
pleasant interface.
33. The WIMP paradigm stands for which of the following?
A. Wastebin, Icons, Mouse, Processor
B. Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer
C. Windows, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic
D. Warlord, Incubus, Minotaur, Phoenix
34. According to Donath, what is a key and fundamental building block of all user
experience?
A. Affordances
B. Metaphor
C. Time
D. Technology
35. The image below is an example of what?
A.
B.
C.
D.
WIMP
User interface metaphor
Affordance
Hierarchical directory
36. Which of the following best describes the concept of homophily?
A. People tend to communicate more frequently with similar people than with
dissimilar people.
B. People seek information that confirms their previously held beliefs.
C. People tend to use cognitive shortcuts when facing complex information.
D. People seek out opposing viewpoints to create common ground.
37. Ted Nelson said that “calling a hierarchical directory a ‘folder’ doesn’t change its nature
any more than calling a prison guard a ‘counselor.’” This quote is a critique of what?
A. GUIs
B. Technology
C. User interface metaphors
D. Affordances
38. What is the best example of a metaphor used to move users away from a legacy
technology?
A. An image of an apple on the front of a laptop
B. An image of a metal key printed on an electronic keycard
C. A Coca-Cola served in a vintage glass bottle
D. A computer mouse that is shaped like an actual mouse
39. The quality of something that provides an opportunity for action is known as:
A. A social feed
B. A user interface metaphor
C. An affordance
D. A GUI
40. According to Donath, what is an example of an object that has the illusion of sentience?
A. A hoverboard
B. An alarm clock
C. A voice-activated light
D. A Tamagotchi pet
41. When people communicate cooperatively, they increase their _______.
A. Sentience
B. Common ground
C. Deception
D. All of the above
42. Which is the best example of an affordance?
A. Handles afford pulling
B. Apples afford eating
C. Computers afford GUIs
D. Students afford exams
43. This principle describes the way people make decisions when there is no way to
carefully weigh the pros and cons of all alternatives
A. Bounded Rationality
B. Selective Exposure
C. Habit
D. Homophily
44. Baskhy, Messing, and Adamic found which of the following in their article on selective
exposure on Facebook?
A. Selective exposure does not exist on Facebook - all people see roughly the same
news stories.
B. Selective exposure is driven largely by the choices people make for
viewing and liking content.
C. Selective exposure is driven largely by the algorithm responding to how people
want to view information.
D. Individual heuristics for viewing information shape selective exposure in the
Newsfeed.
45. According to Jurgen Habermas, why is the exposure to different political beliefs
important?
A. It allows people to make the best choice in picking elected officials.
B. It creates “the public sphere” where people become more engaged in civic
activity.
C. It allows people to reach common ground on important political decisions.
D. He didn’t think it was important, his main point was that exposure to alternative
viewpoints created cognitive dissonance and polarization.
Section 2: The following questions are all “Mega Multiple Choice”. Any combination of
responses could be correct.
46. Which of the following were critiques of the Bakshy, Messing and Adamic article?
A. The sample was skewed because the authors only selected people who had listed
a political preference.
B. The study didn’t adequately account for Facebook commenting activity.
C. The interpretation the authors made about the algorithm was setting up a false
comparison, i.e. the algorithm is “not worse than” the worst outcome.
D. The study was overly dependent on user self-reports - that is the data reflected how
users felt they responded to news rather than how they actually did.
47. William James was an early philosopher who claimed that decisions are made using which
of the following processes?
A. Cognition
B. Heuristics
C. Emotion
D. Habit
48. Ted Nelson is a well-known critic of user interface metaphors. Why?
A. Because desktop “windows” are not really windows
B. Because physical desktops are not displayed vertically in front of you
C. Because user interface metaphors don’t actually tell you how to approach the
technology
D. Because the Web had developed without bi-directional hyperlinks.
49. Which of the following statements is true:
A. The relevance algorithms and the user’s definition of relevance are always the same
B. Relevance and satisfaction are the same concept
C. Relevance relies more on personal preferences than popularity when determining the
relevance of a webpage
D. Relevance is not a consideration when defining algorithms.
50. Which of the following was an early form of commenting system?
A. ARPAnet
B. Usenet
C. IRC
D. Wiki