(no subject)
Clay Shirky wrote:Algorithmic authority is the decision to regard as authoritative an unmanaged process of extracting value from diverse, untrustworthy sources, without any human standing beside the result saying “Trust this because you trust me.”
Algorithmic authority is not an unmanaged process, contrary to this claim. Humans manage the algorithm through writing and adjusting it: Google's search algorithms in 2009 and those of 2001 are not the same algorithms. Humans pick between alternative algorithms, e.g., Google 2009 vs. Bing 2009, which in turn affects the human management decisions about how to adjust (Google 2008 vs. 2009) or replace (Bing 2009 vs. Live Search 2008) the algorithm.
Experiments showing the brand power of Google reveal that a substantial portion of the preference for Google-branded search results comes from Google brand. And that brand power is simply Google, personified in the mind of the user, saying "Trust this because you trust me".
The dynamic he's talking about is fascinating, but the perspective of this essay is too narrow to capture what's really going on. That's unfortunate, as many of his other essays have been very insightful.
Algorithmic authority is not an unmanaged process, contrary to this claim. Humans manage the algorithm through writing and adjusting it: Google's search algorithms in 2009 and those of 2001 are not the same algorithms. Humans pick between alternative algorithms, e.g., Google 2009 vs. Bing 2009, which in turn affects the human management decisions about how to adjust (Google 2008 vs. 2009) or replace (Bing 2009 vs. Live Search 2008) the algorithm.
Experiments showing the brand power of Google reveal that a substantial portion of the preference for Google-branded search results comes from Google brand. And that brand power is simply Google, personified in the mind of the user, saying "Trust this because you trust me".
The dynamic he's talking about is fascinating, but the perspective of this essay is too narrow to capture what's really going on. That's unfortunate, as many of his other essays have been very insightful.