Research Catalog

Title

If ... then : algorithmic power and politics / Taina Bucher.

Author

Bucher, Taina

Publication

New York : Oxford University Press, [2018]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

viii, 200 pages; 24 cm

Summary

We live in a world in which Google's search algorithms determine how we access information, Facebook's News Feed algorithms shape how we socialize, and Netflix collaborative filtering algorithms choose the media products we consume. As such, we live algorithmic lives. Life, however, is not blindly controlled or determined by algorithms. Nor are we simply victims of an ever-expanding artificial intelligence. Rather than looking at how technologies shape or are shaped by political institutions, this book is concerned with the ways in which informational infrastructure may be considered political in its capacity to shape social and cultural life. It looks specifically at the conditions of algorithmic life - how algorithms work, both materially and discursively, to create the conditions for sociality and connectivity. The book argues that the most important aspect of algorithms is not what they are in terms of their specific technical details but rather how they become part of social practices and how different people enlist them as powerful brokers of information, communication and society. If we truly want to engage with the promises of automation and predictive analytics entailed by the promises of "big data", we also need to understand the contours of algorithmic life that condition such practices. Setting out to explore both the specific uses of algorithms and the cultural forms they generate, this book offers a novel understanding of the power and politics of algorithmic life as grounded in case studies that explore the material-discursive dimensions of software. --

Series Statement

Oxford studies in digital politics

Uniform Title

Oxford studies in digital politics.

Alternative Title

Algorithmic power and politics

Subjects

• Information society > Social aspects
• Artificial intelligence > Social aspects
• Information technology > Social aspects
• Big data > Social aspects
• Algorithms > Social aspects

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Introduction : programmed sociality -- The multiplicity of algorithms -- Neither black nor box : (un)knowing algorithms -- Life at the top : engineering participation -- Affective landscapes : everyday encounters with algorithms -- Programming the news : when algorithms come to matter -- Conclusion : algorithmic life.

Call Number

JFE 18-8337

ISBN

• 9780190493035
• 0190493038
• 9780190493028
• 019049302X

LCCN

2017054909

OCLC

1019632336

Author

Bucher, Taina, author.

Title

If ... then : algorithmic power and politics / Taina Bucher.

Publisher

New York : Oxford University Press, [2018]

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

Oxford studies in digital politics

Oxford studies in digital politics.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Form:

Online version: Bucher, Taina. If ... then. New York : Oxford University Press, [2018] 9780190493042 (DLC) 2018008562

Research Call Number

JFE 18-8337