The Collaborative Anthropology Network转发了
I wrote a short commentary on Minna Ruckenstein's article on "breathing spaces" for the journal Dialogues on Digital Society, where I discuss the notion of the "socio-technical" and how it is losing credibility in the face of rapidly expanding efforts to use algorithmic systems to turn social life into a resource. https://lnkd.in/ep8GdVqv I reflect on Ruckensteins's very interesting proposition that "algorithmic systems do not treat the everyday evenly but focus on aspects that can be tackled computationally". https://lnkd.in/eVFckmMv This suggestion has various important implications, such as: it may not in fact be accurate, or appropriate, to define algorithmic systems as "heterogeneously composed" of social, technical, ecological and so on actors. A defining feature of these systems in their current incarnation, precisely is that they re-format everyday practices so that value can be extracted from them, in ways that that are often detrimental to social life. Indeed, Ruckenstein hints at the ways in which this assymmetric treatment of social life in algorithmic systems has much to do with efforts by some states and industries to deploy these systems as "engines for growth." If we accept this assessment, then it may be time to break the spell of "symmetry" in technology studies. This is obviously a dissappointment, as it means accepting that much of the promise of the re-framing of technological systems as "socio-technical" systems - a promise that gained wide societal relevance only in the wake of "the digital" - has been proven false. A majority of platforms and apps serve as occassions for the dis-assembly and not the assembly of diverse actors. But it also brings clarity to our work: if this promise is to be re-activated, this will require purposefully composed settings, which are precisely not over-determined by "the digital." With thanks to Sarah Pink for the invitation!