The Relevance of Algorithms

Tarleton Gillespie born January 25, 1973 (age 41) is an associate professor at Cornell University, Department of Communication, and an author of the book Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture. He received his Bachelors degree from Amherst College in 1994, and then his Masters in Communication from the University of California, San Diego in 1997. He then went on to receive his Ph. D in Communication again from the University of California, San Diego in 2002 (Cornell University).

            Gillespie’s teaching focuses on the relationship between technologies, media and public life in a historical and sociological point of view. What he teaches correlates with his research focus on debates within algorithms of digital media and culture (Cornell University).

            The article assigned to read by Gillespie is apart of the book Media Technologies: Essays on Communication, Materiality, and Society. He describes an algorithm, and how they are more than just calculations, but a “crucial feature of our participation in public life” (Gillespie). With Gillespie’s six dimensions of public relevance algorithms he lays out a “conceptual map” of algorithms with political valence. I agree with his point that algorithms remain outside our grasp, but we should still try to illuminate their workings. This article makes me wonder where we would be without algorithms, and how would our logic be differed.

"Cornell University." Tarleton Gillespie. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Oct. 2014.

Gillespie, Tarleton, Pablo J. Boczkowski, and Kirsten A. Foot. "The Relevance of Algorithms." Media Technologies: Essays on Communication, Materiality, and Society. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.