Algorithms and their others: Algorithmic culture in context
P Dourish - Big Data & Society, 2016 - journals.sagepub.com
Big Data & Society, 2016•journals.sagepub.com
Algorithms, once obscure objects of technical art, have lately been subject to considerable
popular and scholarly scrutiny. What does it mean to adopt the algorithm as an object of
analytic attention? What is in view, and out of view, when we focus on the algorithm? Using
Niklaus Wirth's 1975 formulation that “algorithms+ data structures= programs” as a
launching-off point, this paper examines how an algorithmic lens shapes the way in which
we might inquire into contemporary digital culture.
popular and scholarly scrutiny. What does it mean to adopt the algorithm as an object of
analytic attention? What is in view, and out of view, when we focus on the algorithm? Using
Niklaus Wirth's 1975 formulation that “algorithms+ data structures= programs” as a
launching-off point, this paper examines how an algorithmic lens shapes the way in which
we might inquire into contemporary digital culture.
Algorithms, once obscure objects of technical art, have lately been subject to considerable popular and scholarly scrutiny. What does it mean to adopt the algorithm as an object of analytic attention? What is in view, and out of view, when we focus on the algorithm? Using Niklaus Wirth's 1975 formulation that “algorithms + data structures = programs” as a launching-off point, this paper examines how an algorithmic lens shapes the way in which we might inquire into contemporary digital culture.