Increasingly, our most ubiquitous technologies has been upending the original premise of the internet. Instead of exposing us to a greater humanity, our ostensibly worldwide networks have only made us more insular. Opaque algorithms only show us posts and articles they think we'll like—or at least, on which we'll click "like." Far from nudging us to widen our perspectives, the internet tempts our most tribalistic tendencies to associate only with those whose values and views hew closest to ours.
Discussions about this pernicious digital parochialism were reinvigorated after the 2016 presidential election laid bare its perils. This project, Random Local News, is my first small contribution to the upswell of efforts aiming to burst our filter bubbles.