Algorithms and their others: Algorithmic culture in context. Issue 2 (August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dourish, Paul
• Is Part Of: Big data & society. Volume 3:Issue 2(2016)
• Publication Date: 2016-08
• Subjects: Algorithms -- practice -- materiality -- configurations -- visibility -- code; Big data -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Data processing -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Methodology -- Periodicals; Data mining -- Periodicals; 300.28557
• DOI: 10.1177/2053951716665128
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2053-9517

Abstract

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.