Making it personal : algorithmic personalization, identity, and everyday life / Tanya Kant.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kant, Tanya (Lecturer in media and cultural studies), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human-computer interaction.

Physical Description:

vii, 254 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Summary:

"The encounter of "personalized experiences"-targeted advertisements, tailored information feeds and "recommended" content among other things-is now a common and somewhat inescapable component of digital life. More often than not however, "you" the user are not primarily responsible for personalizing your web engagements: instead, with the help of your search, browsing, and purchase histories, your "likes", your click-throughs, and a multitude of other data you produce as you go about your day, your experience can "conveniently"-and computationally-be personalized on your behalf. This book explores a host of new questions that emerge from web users' encounters with these forms of algorithmic personalization. What do users "know" about the algorithms that apparently "know" them? If personalization practices seek to act on the user's behalf (for instance by deciding what is content is personally relevant), then how do users retain or relinquish their autonomy? Indeed, what kinds of selfhoods are made possible when personalization algorithms intervene in identity construction? Making it Personal is the first full-length monograph to critically analyze the socio-cultural implications of algorithmic personalization through the accounts and testimonies of web users themselves. At the heart of the book are interviews and focus groups with web users who-through a myriad of resistant, tactical, resigned or trusting engagements-encounter algorithmic personalization as part of their lived experience on the web. The book proposes that for those who encounter it, algorithmic personalization creates new implications for knowledge production, autonomy, cultural capital, and formations of self."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Making it Personal p. 1

Beyond Privacy: Algorithmic Anticipation p. 8

Personalization, Political Economy, and the Everyday p. 15

Bridging the Gap: Getting at Lived Experience p. 17

Book Structure and Overarching Themes p. 22

2 The Drive to Personalize p. 28

Current Practices of Personalization p. 30

A History of the Anticipated User p. 39

From Unique to "Dividual": Making Sense of the Data-Tracked Self p. 48

User versus System: The Struggle for Autonomy p. 51

3 Me, Myself, and the Algorithm p. 58

Identities: Inner, Agential, Performative p. 59

The Early Net and Online Identity p. 66

The Ideal User p. 68

Profiles and Performativity p. 70

The Authentic Self? p. 74

The Anticipated User versus the User Herself p. 78

Algorithmic Imagination and the Algorithmic Imaginary p. 82

4 Hiding Your "Scuzzy Bits" p. 88

"Control": Tracker Blocking as a Tool for Autonomy p. 93

"Knowledge": Ghostery Use as Uneasy Insight p. 94

Questioning the Power of "Power Users" p. 97

Resistance: Giving Data Trackers an "Up Yours" p. 102

Privacy versus Personalization: The Disconnect between Invasion and Convenience p. 105

Personalization as a Threat to the Self p. 111

Conclusion: Dividuated Data-Tracked Subjects p. 119

5 Autoposting the Self into Existence p. 121

Who Do You Think You Are? Identity Performance on Facebook p. 128

Apps as Actors: Algorithmic Self-Expression p. 131

Regulating the Self through Spotify p. 136

"You Have One Identity?" Algorithmic Context Collapse p. 142

App Disclosure and Sexually Suggestive Content p. 144

Wanted Autoposting? p. 147

Algorithmic Capital: Autoposting as "Chavvy" p. 148

Conclusion: Personalizing Personhood p. 155

6 Validating the Self through Google p. 158

"Cool," "Impressive," "Smart," but "Useful"? Finding Function in Prediction p. 163

Self-Blame: The Trust That Google Will Provide p. 168

Privacy: The Trust That Google Will Protect p. 172

The Data-for-Services Exchange: The Trust That Google Is Worth It p. 175

A Failed Exchange: An Experiment in Data-for-Services p. 177

"I've Got So Many Interests!": The Trust That Google "Knows" You p. 180

Epistemic Trust: The Faith That Google Can Personalize p. 185

Personalization versus the "Ideal User": Google's Normative Framework p. 189

Participants as Media Studies Scholars: Legitimizing Trust in Google p. 193

Conclusion: "I'll Use Google, Just Because It's There Now" p. 196

Conclusion: Removing the "Personal" from Personalization p. 200

From "Personalized Search" to "Search": Discursive Erasure p. 204

Struggles for Autonomy p. 207

Making the Self: Regimes of Anticipation? p. 210

From Understanding to Coping: Data Providers as Algorithmic Tacticians p. 213.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Kant, Tanya, Making it personal

ISBN:

9780190905088

0190905085

9780190905095

0190905093

OCLC:

1119983436

Publisher Number:

99984327863