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Comment by open-source-ux | Hacker News Reader

"clues about their political views based on their choices of reading material"

Interesting. Millions of people have work-related zoom meetings (or publicly posted webinars) while sitting in front of their bookshelves. Many people don't have a problem with that. Some of those books might even be strategically placed so that they are in clear view. You can discern a little about someone's interests by what's on their bookshelves, but perhaps not always accurately.

I wonder how people feel about displaying the contents of their bookshelf online while onscreen? I'm guessing for most people it's not a concern.

Here's Bret Victor's bookshelf from 2015 which we posted himself on his website. Click to zoom: http://worrydream.com/Shelf2015/

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I don't even open my kindle app around people anymore because of that assumption

Glad I never got into bookshelves (and that nobody of child bearing age judges people on the lack of physically displayed books in their dwelling)

I don’t judge people by lack of bookshelves, but I actually LOVE looking at folks’ bookshelves. It basically tells you what their interests & philosophical history were from age 18 to 30 (and mostly in the college years) in a concise way.

People change a lot over time; I don’t judge people on what they have on their bookshelf, but it definitely provides fast context for their worldview, providing background for who they are today and how their opinions developed. It provides an immediate jumping off point to discuss common interests and ideas.

There’s nothing better for this purpose.

It's over its not happening anymore. You have to follow people's "stories" to see what they signal or post about, which is currently common for people that are currently 18 to 30.

There is missing metadata in that approach just like there is missing metadata in the bookshelf approach.

What we need is a way to make filter bubbles and echo chambers fungible. Like, we should be able to alter our user session to that of our contact's, with their consent. Transmit their whole data-broker profile to our computer and look at it. Or browse the internet and social networks as if you had their session, just to see how search results are different, how news headlines are different, which articles are shared to them, what their stories are reinforcing.

That will be even more insightful than what your world used to be like.

I got a visit when I was young (planned, agreed to in advance) from an officer from my countries national intelligence service. I was a reference for someone going to work for the equivalent of the NSA.

He spent a lot of time looking at my mum's (questionable) books and making notes.

I've thought about that a lot over the last 20 years. How much insight you can gain from someones bookshelf.

I'm now addicted to it, where ever I go. Feels rude and invasive though, so I try not to be too obvious

Yes, that's the other thing. If the bookshelf didn't have doors you'd only see 100% of my wife's books behind me with a cam on, my bookshelf is next to the desk...

You can even buy 'Books by the Foot'[1] on a particular topic to dress up your Zoom set up.

[1] https://www.booksbythefoot.com/

>Some of those books might even be strategically placed so that they are in clear view. You can discern a little about someone's interests by what's on their bookshelves, but perhaps not always accurately.

That was VERY obvious with public figures during the last year. I actually laughed a few times at the dichotomy of either partially empty shelves with these weird "poignant" books on prominent display. I usually pondered if they had actually read some of them...

> You can discern a little about someone's interests by what's on their bookshelves

And perhaps learn a little more than you expected: https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/bbc-wales-today-viewers-... (somewhat NSFW)

> Some of those books might even be strategically placed so that they are in clear view.

Or just not even bother with the books in the first place: https://www.indy100.com/news/trump-erin-elmore-bookcase-sky-...

My (now-deceased) stepfather was Jewish and a historian. He focused on WWII and the US Civil War. When he and my mom went to sell their house about 12 years ago, the listing agent walked through and said, "Oh, you should probably clear out the bookcase a bit."

My stepfather had more than an entire shelf of books on Hitler in the living room as he had been working on an article about him.

Needless to say, my stepdad took the hint.

> I wonder how people feel about displaying the contents of their bookshelf online while onscreen? I'm guessing for most people it's not a concern.

While many people don't go around advertising their interests, political affiliation, etc - I doubt they would be too worried if you could guess it from their bookcase. Most people don't consider it particularly private information in my experience.

> Many people don't have a problem with that.

My workplace has specific training to use the blurring feature of the conferencing app we use, specifically for security/privacy reasons. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that other work places do the same thing.

Third column from the left, second row from the top, you see a copy of Euclid's Elements. Pull that out to open the door to Bret's secret lair.

> "clues about their political views based on their choices of reading material"

This is exactly why I put Karl Marx next to F a Hayek. It's like a social logic bomb.

This sucks. Just because I read or own a book does not mean I agree with what's written inside it. You can never learn things you don't agree with if you won't even read them or if people will assume you believe everything in a book you read.

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