Paper short abstract:

Used by corporations and governments alike, algorithms are trusted as being impartial 'big data processors' that reveal deeper truths about human lives. However, when confronted with critiques from digital anthropology, such trust is revealed to be misplaced.

Paper long abstract:

Contemporary governments and corporations have access to an unprecedented amount of data. The quantity of information available has grown in tandem with data processing capacity over the past two decades. Much value is placed in the impartiality of the algorithms used to process this previously unfathomable amount of data. Trusted as being neutral, 'big data' processors that reveal deeper truths about human lives, algorithms are used by corporations and governments alike to parse and contextualise data about people. However, when confronted with anthropological critiques, such trust seems unsound. But what are algorithms? How do Google, Facebook or the Australian Tax Office use them? And how are anthropologists best placed to discuss them?

Drawing on the epistemologies of both Anthropology and IT, this talk shall explore the contemporary impact of algorithms in everyday life and discuss the role digital anthropology needs to play in this increasingly data-driven world. We shall historicise concerns over the use of algorithms in contemporary contexts and discuss some of their unintended consequences, eg 'filter bubbles'. Rather than being insurmountable problems, we suggest that: (1) the most pressing theoretical and methodological concern is that of scale; and (2) stemming from the 'reflexive turn' and critiques of positivism born from mid-late 20th century scholarship, anthropology is pragmatically positioned to discuss and highlight the effect of these algorithms on contemporary, everyday life. We hope this cross-disciplinary talk will be the impetus for future discussions of the pressing need for qualitative work in an increasingly quantitative world.