Ontology is shared understanding of a given interest and its subdivisions, and in the case of Netflix, a set of micro genre’s divided to produce the ultimate personalized watch list. The article How Netflix Reverse Engineered Hollywood, written by Alexis D. Madrigal, focuses on the engineering of the categories or subgenres, and features that have occurred as a product of this complicated algorithm. Netflix is able to break down these films to the nitty gritty and collect the information into the vat of cinema knowledge, then apply the information in a productive manner. Shows like House of Cards or Orange is the New Black has been strategically created based off the data pulled from the viewer’s preferences, they created shows based on what their users like. Personally I think they are genius what they have done makes total sense, but there is so much more complication that exist within a system like this. But honestly my brain cannot fully wrap around the amount of work that went into developing this program. The company has created a system that uses local knowledge from their user community to create a personalized genre, which will help avid video streamers like myself, develop cinema ontology just for personal experience.
Classifications are the basis to the Netflix organization, but also involved in multiple constructions in the everyday life. We categorize our lives from are stores, animals, food, jobs, and many more standard practice Classifications exist as product variations within our local knowledge. Just like our mind, the Internet uses the information like cookies to create a personal surfing experience. For example, Facebook uses information that you post to create your ad preferences. They pair with companies like DAA( Digital Advertising Alliance) which provides ads which are customized to the users, by using information like age, location, liked pages, and other shared data. This information actually leaves me slightly unsettled. Facebook is tracking my Internet presence as a way of gaining resources. I did know that they were doing this, and it’s awesome that they are attempting to please the user and give them an intimate Facebook experiences, but I do not like that I am being Facebook stocked by Facebook. Netflix approach seems to be more for the user, but this is because there is a membership fee, where as Facebook gets their money from ads so we can use the site for free. It just leaves me with an unsettling feeling, how much do they really know?