Install
Download the .zip file and load it in Chrome's
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Northeastern University · Social Urban Network Lab
Discover how AI shapes your city.
Help Northeastern University researchers understand how map and recommendation algorithms personalize urban experiences across Boston-area neighborhoods. The AI-scapes Chrome extension runs 9 guided searches — once with your account, once incognito — and compares what the algorithm shows.
[DRAFT — REPLACE BEFORE LAUNCH] Replace any remaining [DRAFT] placeholders before sharing this URL publicly.
About the study
Why AI-scapes?
Search and recommendation algorithms increasingly mediate how people experience their cities — which restaurants they discover, which neighborhoods feel familiar, which businesses get foot traffic. Yet most of this personalization is invisible to the people it shapes.
AI-scapes is a research project investigating how personalized digital recommendations influence urban exploration and discovery, and whether those personalization patterns reinforce socioeconomic divisions at the neighborhood level. Concretely, the extension records the Google Maps restaurant recommendations you see while signed in and compares them to what an anonymous visitor would see in the same query.
Your participation contributes to peer-reviewed research on algorithmic personalization, urban segregation, and platform transparency.
Participation
Participate in 3 easy steps
The whole study takes about 10–15 minutes. You install the extension once, sign in, and let it run 9 searches automatically.
Set up
Sign into Google in this Chrome profile if you aren't already — the extension requests no permissions on your Google account; it only checks for an ordinary sign-in cookie. The install guide for your OS walks through every step.
Run
Click Start study. The extension opens 9 guided searches across preset Boston-area locations in parallel, then a second wave of incognito searches for comparison — and submits structured, anonymous results when done.
Data & privacy
Your privacy first
AI-scapes is designed so we never need to identify you personally. Every safeguard below is enforced in code you can read.
Anonymous data
We collect a randomly-generated installation identifier — never your name, email, Google profile, or IP address. The identifier cannot be linked back to you without the extension itself. See the full notice.
Inspectable extension package
The downloaded zip contains the readable files Chrome loads. You can open the folder and inspect them before clicking Load unpacked. See the privacy notice for network destinations and permissions.
No background tracking
The extension only activates when you explicitly click Start study. It does not run continuously, does not track your browsing, and closes its search windows automatically when each query completes.
Want the full details? Read the privacy & data-handling notice. Want to remove AI-scapes from your browser? See the uninstall steps for macOS or Linux or Windows.
Who we are
The Social Urban Network Lab
We are a research group at Northeastern University's Network Science Institute studying how digital platforms reshape urban life — from search algorithms to delivery networks to mobility data.
AI-scapes is led by Prof. Esteban Moro and conducted under IRB protocol [DRAFT — REPLACE BEFORE LAUNCH IRB#]. If you have questions about your rights as a research participant, contact Northeastern University's Office of Human Subject Research Protection.