Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook
As social and political life increasingly takes place on social network sites, new epistemological questions have emerged. How can information disseminated through new media be understood and disentangled? How can potential hidden agendas or sources be identified? And what mechanisms govern what...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Hungarian Communication Studies Association
2016-05-01
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| Series: | KOME: An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://komejournal.com/files/KOME_SchouFarkas.pdf |
| _version_ | 1817991427679846400 |
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| author | Jannick Schou Johan Farkas |
| author_facet | Jannick Schou Johan Farkas |
| author_sort | Jannick Schou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As social and political life increasingly takes place on social network sites,
new epistemological questions have emerged. How can information disseminated
through new media be understood and disentangled? How can potential hidden agendas
or sources be identified? And what mechanisms govern what and how information is
presented to the user? By drawing on existing research on the algorithms and interfaces
underlying social network sites, this paper provides a discussion of Facebook and the
epistemological challenges, potentials, and questions raised by the platform. The paper
specifically discusses the ways in which interfaces shape how information can be
accessed and processed by different kinds of users as well as the role of algorithms in
pre-selecting what appears as representable information. A key argument of the paper is
that Facebook, as a complex socio-technical network of human and non-human actors,
has profound epistemological implications for how information can be accessed,
understood, and circulated. In this sense, the user’s potential acquisition of information
is shaped and conditioned by the technological structure of the platform. Building on
these arguments, the paper suggests that new epistemological challenges deserve more
scholarly attention, as they hold wide implications for both researchers and users |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:12:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7e71d49b21824d7483692cd58a590f76 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2063-7330 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:12:15Z |
| publishDate | 2016-05-01 |
| publisher | Hungarian Communication Studies Association |
| record_format | Article |
| series | KOME: An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry |
| spelling | doaj.art-7e71d49b21824d7483692cd58a590f762022-12-22T02:20:59ZengHungarian Communication Studies AssociationKOME: An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry2063-73302016-05-0141364910.17646/KOME.2016.13Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of FacebookJannick Schou0Johan Farkas1IT University of CopenhagenIT University of CopenhagenAs social and political life increasingly takes place on social network sites, new epistemological questions have emerged. How can information disseminated through new media be understood and disentangled? How can potential hidden agendas or sources be identified? And what mechanisms govern what and how information is presented to the user? By drawing on existing research on the algorithms and interfaces underlying social network sites, this paper provides a discussion of Facebook and the epistemological challenges, potentials, and questions raised by the platform. The paper specifically discusses the ways in which interfaces shape how information can be accessed and processed by different kinds of users as well as the role of algorithms in pre-selecting what appears as representable information. A key argument of the paper is that Facebook, as a complex socio-technical network of human and non-human actors, has profound epistemological implications for how information can be accessed, understood, and circulated. In this sense, the user’s potential acquisition of information is shaped and conditioned by the technological structure of the platform. Building on these arguments, the paper suggests that new epistemological challenges deserve more scholarly attention, as they hold wide implications for both researchers and usershttp://komejournal.com/files/KOME_SchouFarkas.pdfEpistemologyFacebookSocial Network SitesAlgorithmsInterfacesInformation |
| spellingShingle | Jannick Schou Johan Farkas Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook KOME: An International Journal of Pure Communication Inquiry Epistemology Social Network Sites Algorithms Interfaces Information |
| title | Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook |
| title_full | Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook |
| title_fullStr | Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook |
| title_full_unstemmed | Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook |
| title_short | Algorithms, Interfaces, and the Circulation of Information: Interrogating the Epistemological Challenges of Facebook |
| title_sort | algorithms interfaces and the circulation of information interrogating the epistemological challenges of facebook |
| topic | Epistemology Social Network Sites Algorithms Interfaces Information |
| url | http://komejournal.com/files/KOME_SchouFarkas.pdf |
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