algorithms

The Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet developed an algorithm guided partially by editors and partially by reader preferences that delivers a personalized homepage for each website visitor. Editor-In-Chief Fredric Karén credits the technology with a significant boost in online traffic and digital subscriptions.

Well, maybe that’s too strong, but this soon-to-be-widely-dissected piece from Michael Nunez suggests it has a pretty low opinion of what they do. He bases this on the experiences of five former members of its “trending news” project. All believe they were essentially little more than trainers for algorithms.