Affiliation:
1. Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, the Netherlands;
Abstract
Anthropological expeditions seeking out algorithms frequently return empty-handed. They are confronted with the challenge of the object: what to study when studying algorithms? In this article, I draw together a number of literatures to outline one possible answer to the question of how to study algorithms in social science. I argue that what we should study are algorithmic ecologies. I sketch five modalities of algorithmic ecologies and review concomitant literatures: ( a) imaginaries, ( b) infrastructures, ( c) interfaces, ( d) identities, and ( e) investments and interests. The speculative propositions offered here are that algorithms are immanent to ecologies and that they are enacted across all the modalities of algorithmic ecologies.
Subject
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),Anthropology,Cultural Studies