TEXTY.org.ua are looking for a partner in YouTube recommendation algorithm research
TEXTY searches for one or a few partners to assist with the YouTube algorithm research project. We will ask volunteers to install special software on their computers. This software will track user-specific YouTube recommendations.
The hypothesis we want to test: even viewers with a strong pro-Ukrainian position will receive Russian propaganda from YouTube. We need a large amount of data to find out how this happens.
We are searching for partners – ideally a polling company – that will be able to describe typical profiles of YouTube users and will help us to recruit a panel of volunteers, who would agree to install our software.
We plan to monitor video views and recommendations for 1-2 months.
We will monitor YouTube usage on PCs and laptops only.
We will not use any personal information during data collection.
The results of this research will be used to advocate for a better YouTube recommendations algorithm.
Target countries: Ukraine, Germany, Italy. We want to recruit a panel of volunteers in each country. Desired panel size – ca. 200 people.
We will also expect from our partner(s) a brief report on their methodology for volunteer user recruitment. We will later use this in the final publication of our findings.
We understand that this might be a complex task. Therefore, we are ready to consider different options. One organization may choose to work only with one of our target countries, or consider taking on all three.
Ukraine is of higher priority during the first stage of the project.
The expected start of the project is 15 September 2022. Send your propositions to texty.org.ua (at) gmail.com
