The Metaphors of Algorithmic Agency

The next speaker in this AoIR 2015 session is Annette Markham, who begins by asking about the voice of nonhuman agency. Nonhuman agency has long been recognised in Internet studies, but what is its voice: what are the hidden discourses of algorithmic structures; how do we give voice to technology; how may we represent it?

The key focus here is the rhetorical function of algorithms. Current discourse on algorithm is a theoretical, abstract levels, while it is also important to consider the level of everyday talk and put this into interaction with the theory. This doesn't just operate at the surface level of discourse, in fact, but also at a deep structural level explores the creation of new metaphors and meanings.

For example, control as a term gets played out at a wide variety of levels. At the individual level there are concerns about the individual's control of their data and privacy; at the organisational level they are about the organisation controlling its information dissemination processes; at a governmental level policy is used to control individual rights and societal processes.

How do we make sense of the term control in our everyday language, then? As we post a new profile picture, this may or may not result in online like, face-to-face feedback, responses, or mentions to others; all of these are part of the feedback loops built into social media environments. The fact that algorithms are in play at every step of the way is rarely acknowledged.

There is a gradual transition here from material activity to the generation of underlying larger and more powerful frames; but this transition is rarely understood in full, and the role of the algorithms and platform providers may be particularly absent from this discussion.