Algo-Ritmo: More-Than-Human Performative Acts and the Racializing Assemblages of Algorithmic Architectures. (October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dixon-Román, Ezekiel
• Other Names: de Freitas Elizabeth guest-editor.; Dixon-Román Ezekiel guest-editor.; Lather Patti guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Cultural studies, critical methodologies. Volume 16:Number 5(2016:Oct.)
• Page Start: 482
• Page End: 490
• Publication Date: 2016-10
• Subjects: data -- algorithm -- machine learning -- racializing assemblages -- digital flesh; Culture -- Research -- Periodicals; Popular culture -- Research -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1177/1532708616655769
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1532-7086

Abstract

What happens when more-than-human digital acts tell us something about ourselves? This article examines the ways in which the algorithms of data analytics function in relation to other ontologies and assemblages and how they are shaping and forming our lives. Beginning by critically questioning the ontology of data, data are argued to be an assemblage that is materially and discursively produced from a multiplicity of apparatuses including sociopolitical relations of power and "difference." The concept of algo-ritmo—that is, the repetition of data with alterity—is introduced as a way of understanding how the performative acts of the "soft(ware) thinking" of algorithms function. As the Spanish word for algorithm, algo-ritmo also situates the performative acts of algorithms as part of the relational and connected sociopolitical relations of racializing assemblages. Concluding remarks discuss both ethical implications and considerations for digital social inquiry.