(n.3, 2020, settembre-dicembre)

Ethnographies of algorithms and (big)data

The idea to dedicate a special issue to the ethnography of algorithms follows from the need to unfold the potential of ethnography in studying how algorithms are imbued with culture, and to collect some empirical examples of the possible ways this connection may be retraced. Algorithms are conceived as cultural objects because are laden with beliefs, values, visions, and the background knowledge of their designers; besides, algorithms are regarded as cultural objects because they are also part of users’ daily practices. Every article collected in this special issue offers a small but significant example of how ethnography may be employed to the cultural study of a socio-technical object that is increasingly shaping our societies.