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  • Algorithmic Governmentality

    Algorithmic Governmentality


The collection "Algorithmic Governmentality," edited by Maurice Erb and Simon Ganahl, deals with the hypothesis of "algorithmic governmentality," which impels us to examine recent advances in automated computing (i.e., machine learning) from a Foucauldian perspective. Governmentality is understood here in the sense of the lecture series at the Collège de France in 1978/79, where Foucault further developed his relational concept of power. The blend of "algorithmic governmentality" points to the possibility of governing users-consumers' future behaviors by exploiting past information on them. Such traces (e.g., locations, clicks, scrolling), when massively collected, are now used to algorithmically build predictive models for anticipating subsequent activities. Once they are up and running, these predictions serve to refine existing marketing policies. The novelty of such techniques rests partly in the possibility of instantaneously tailoring an interface to the experience of a singular user-consumer. In order to explore these digital practices, the special collection lays the focus on recommender systems and algorithmic finance.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16995/gc.collection.799

Research


Algorithmic Finance and (Limits to) Governmentality: On Foucault and High-Frequency Trading

Algorithmic Finance and (Limits to) Governmentality: On Foucault and High-Frequency Trading

Christian Borch

2017-09-01 Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 2017 • 1–17

Also a part of:

Collection: Algorithmic Governmentality

Recommender Systems as Techniques of the Self?

Recommender Systems as Techniques of the Self?

Tyler Reigeluth

2017-09-01 Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 2017 • 1–25

Also a part of:

Collection: Algorithmic Governmentality

Beyond Surveillance: How Do Markets and Algorithms "Think"?

Beyond Surveillance: How Do Markets and Algorithms "Think"?

Bernhard Rieder

2017-09-01 Volume 3 • Issue 1 • 2017 • 1–20

Also a part of:

Collection: Algorithmic Governmentality

Algorithmic Decision-Making, Spectrogenic Profiling, and Hyper-Facticity in the Age of Post-Truth

Algorithmic Decision-Making, Spectrogenic Profiling, and Hyper-Facticity in the Age of Post-Truth

Richard Weiskopf

2020-03-09 Volume 6 • Issue 1 • 2020 • 1–37

Also a part of:

Collection: Politics of Truth

Collection: Algorithmic Governmentality

Genealogy of Algorithms: Datafication as Transvaluation

Genealogy of Algorithms: Datafication as Transvaluation

Virgil W. Brower

2020-10-19 Volume 6 • Issue 1 • 2020 • 1–43

Also a part of:

Collection: Critical Genealogies

Collection: Algorithmic Governmentality