“It’s Like Learning a Whole Other Language": The Role of Algorithmic Skills in the Curation of Creative Goods

Authors

  • Erin Klawitter
  • Eszter Hargittai University of Zurich

Keywords:

algorithms, audiences, algorithmic literacy, algorithmic skills, social media, online participation, creative entrepreneurs, Internet skills

Abstract

There is increasing concern and scholarship about how algorithms influence users’ online experiences. Yet, little of the work is empirical in nature, leaving many questions about whether users recognize how algorithms affect their online actions and whether they can address the influence of algorithms skillfully. To address this gap, we draw on interviews with creative entrepreneurs from across the United States to examine the extent to which they understand how algorithms may impact their sales success. Participants reveal varying levels of algorithmic skills, or know-how, when it comes to understanding how algorithms influence their content’s visibility. Although many recognize that algorithms affect who sees their wares online, only some know how to set things up so as to improve their chances of reaching potential customers.

Author Biographies

Erin Klawitter

Erin Klawitter (Ph.D. Northwestern University) is a graduate of the Media, Technology and Society Program at Northwestern University. She is winner of the International Communication Association Communication and Technology Division’s 2017 Herbert S. Dordick Dissertation Prize and the 2017 Graduate Dissertation Award from the School of Communication at Northwestern University. Her research focuses on how individuals achieve beneficial economic outcomes by participating in online peer-to-peer markets. Her current project examines independent artists' use of social media and e-commerce websites to promote and sell their handmade creative goods.

Eszter Hargittai, University of Zurich

Eszter Hargittai (Ph.D. Princeton University) is Professor and Chair of Internet Use and Society at the Institute for Mass Communication and Media Research of the University of Zurich. Hargittai's research looks at how people may benefit from their digital media uses with a particular focus on how differences in people's Web-use skills influence what they do online. She has looked at these questions in the domains of information seeking, health content, political participation, job search, the sharing of creative content and privacy management. Hargittai is editor of Research Confidential: Solutions to Problems Most Social Scientists Pretend They Never Have (University of Michigan Press, 2009) and co-editor, with Christian Sandvig, of Digital Research Confidential: The Secrets of Studying Behavior Online (The MIT Press, 2015).

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Published

2018-09-13

Issue

Vol. 12 (2018)

Section

Articles

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