

Living with Algorithms – Book talk with Ignacio Siles
April 25, 2023 @ 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Book Talk with Ignacio Siles
On Living with Algorithms: Agency and User Culture in Costa Rica (MIT Press)
The book analyzes user dynamics in the global south across three algorithmic platforms: Netflix, Spotify, and TikTok. Drawing on a wealth of empirical evidence that privileges the user over the corporate, Siles examines the personal relationships that have formed between users and algorithms as Latin Americans have integrated these systems into the structures of everyday life, enacted them ritually, participated in public with and through them, and thwarted them. Sometimes users follow algorithms, Siles finds, and sometimes users resist them. At times, users do both. Agency lies in the navigation of the spaces in-between. By analyzing what we do with algorithms rather than what algorithms do to us, Living with Algorithms clarifies the debate over the future of datafication and whether we have a say in its development.
