On Collective Control over User Interfaces in the Face of Network Effects

Abstract

User interfaces for accessing modern Internet services are increasingly defined by the services themselves, leaving users with little control over the interfaces they use on a daily basis. This architecture and the economic drive to monetize users’ activity has lead to a status quo that falls short in key areas of user concern, with interfaces exhibiting undesirable features such as dark patterns, distracting ads, and pop-ups. The Platform for Content-Structure Inference (PCSI, pronounced “pixie”) supports new applications that resist these features by giving users control over their interfaces and allows new applications to overcome network effects by integrating existing web content. This strategy of client-driven interoperability is demonstrated in the news reader application PCSINews. In concert with user organizations such as data co-ops, PCSI could enable evolutionary advancement toward a better Internet characterized by a fairer balance of power between users and service providers.