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Journal ArticleDOI

On Studying Algorithms Ethnographically: Making Sense of Objects of Ignorance

01 Jul 2019-Organization (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 26, Iss: 4, pp 598-617
TL;DR: A typology for various interpretations of algorithms as ethnographic objects is developed, accounting for their structural ignorance and shedding light on a continuum of the changing human-machine/trader-algorithm relation.
Abstract: In this article, we make sense of financial algorithms as new objects of concern for organizational ethnography. We conceive of algorithms as ‘objects of ignorance’ jeopardizing traditional ethnogr...

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TL;DR: In this article, a pragmatic analysis of closing prices at the Paris Bourse is presented, based on the concept of the sign of the price of a sign and its relationship to a certain event.
Abstract: This article contributes to a pragmatist analysis of pricing and valuation through an account of the production of closing prices at the Paris Bourse. The Paris Bourse is an electronic stock exchange and the actors in charge of its technological configuration often need to face concerns about the quality of the prices that the configuration produces. Closing prices are particularly important because they constitute references that circulate widely. The author analyses how a problem of representativeness of closing prices was raised in the late 1990s and how several techniques aimed at solving it. In order to deal with this problem of representativeness, the author proposes the consideration of prices as signs in a pragmatist manner. Adapting Charles S. Peirce's theory of the sign to the study of prices, the author concentrates attention on the material display of prices, on their capacity to stand as traces of some event, and on the way they may suit a set of calculative conventions.

160 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that the authors can explicitly enroll algorithms in ethnographic research, which can shed light on unexpected aspects of algorithmic systems—including their opacity.
Abstract: A common theme in social science studies of algorithms is that they are profoundly opaque and function as “black boxes.” Scholars have developed several methodological approaches in order to address algorithmic opacity. Here I argue that we can explicitly enroll algorithms in ethnographic research, which can shed light on unexpected aspects of algorithmic systems—including their opacity. I delineate three meso-level strategies for algorithmic ethnography. The first, algorithmic refraction, examines the reconfigurations that take place when computational software, people, and institutions interact. The second strategy, algorithmic comparison, relies on a similarity-and-difference approach to identify the instruments’ unique features. The third strategy, algorithmic triangulation, enrolls algorithms to help gather rich qualitative data. I conclude by discussing the implications of this toolkit for the study of algorithms and future of ethnographic fieldwork.

87 citations


Cites background from "On Studying Algorithms Ethnographic..."

  • ...One of the few ethnographers to study algorithms explicitly, Seaver delineates several “tactics” for “making algorithms ethnographically tractable” (Seaver 2017, p. 7; see also Lange et al. 2018)....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI

5,646 citations


"On Studying Algorithms Ethnographic..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Here we need to do justice to Latour (2005), who wrote in his later book Reassembling the social …: This is the reason why I have abandoned most of the geometrical metaphor about the ‘principle of symmetry’ when I realized that readers concluded from it that nature and society had to be ‘maintained…...

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an emergent methodological trend in anthropological research that concerns the adaptation of long-standing modes of ethnographic practices to more complex objects of study is surveyed, in terms of testing the limits of ethnography, attenuating the power of fieldwork, and losing the perspective of the subaltern.
Abstract: This review surveys an emergent methodological trend in anthropological research that concerns the adaptation of long-standing modes of ethnographic practices to more complex objects of study. Ethnography moves from its conventional single-site location, contextualized by macro-constructions of a larger social order, such as the capitalist world system, to multiple sites of observation and participation that cross-cut dichotomies such as the “local” and the “global,” the “lifeworld” and the “system.” Resulting ethnographies are therefore both in and out of the world system. The anxieties to which this methodological shift gives rise are considered in terms of testing the limits of ethnography, attenuating the power of fieldwork, and losing the perspective of the subaltern. The emergence of multi-sited ethnography is located within new spheres of interdisciplinary work, including media studies, science and technology studies, and cultural studies broadly. Several “tracking” strategies that shape multi-site...

4,905 citations


"On Studying Algorithms Ethnographic..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...…as ethnographic objects: one that we argue indicates a shift from more traditional forms of organizational ethnography Recently, it has been suggested that multi-sited ethnography, a method identified by Marcus (1995) might offer a better approach to algorithmic organizations (Seyfert, 2016)....

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Journal ArticleDOI

3,597 citations


"On Studying Algorithms Ethnographic..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Approaches, following classic sociology (Weber, 1978: 121), would understand algorithms as another instrument of human agency (Reichertz, 2013)....

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Book
29 Aug 2016
TL;DR: The Black Box Society argues that we all need to be able to do so and to set limits on how big data affects our lives as mentioned in this paper. But who connects the dots about what firms are doing with this information?
Abstract: Every day, corporations are connecting the dots about our personal behaviorsilently scrutinizing clues left behind by our work habits and Internet use. The data compiled and portraits created are incredibly detailed, to the point of being invasive. But who connects the dots about what firms are doing with this information? The Black Box Society argues that we all need to be able to do soand to set limits on how big data affects our lives. Hidden algorithms can make (or ruin) reputations, decide the destiny of entrepreneurs, or even devastate an entire economy. Shrouded in secrecy and complexity, decisions at major Silicon Valley and Wall Street firms were long assumed to be neutral and technical. But leaks, whistleblowers, and legal disputes have shed new light on automated judgment. Self-serving and reckless behavior is surprisingly common, and easy to hide in code protected by legal and real secrecy. Even after billions of dollars of fines have been levied, underfunded regulators may have only scratched the surface of this troubling behavior. Frank Pasquale exposes how powerful interests abuse secrecy for profit and explains ways to rein them in. Demanding transparency is only the first step. An intelligible society would assure that key decisions of its most important firms are fair, nondiscriminatory, and open to criticism. Silicon Valley and Wall Street need to accept as much accountability as they impose on others.

1,342 citations


"On Studying Algorithms Ethnographic..." refers background in this paper

  • ...One of the main concerns to date rests with the notion that black-boxed algorithms (Little-Gill, 2005; Pasquale, 2015; Rosen, 2009) have triggered an empirical shift from traders being in control of their financial devices to a situation in which those same devices are now more or less controlling…...

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