Abstract
Abstract. The article brings together Peter Sloterdijk's theory of spheres and literatures on the socio-spatial implications of the functioning of software. By examining the growing personalization of search results for recreational places on spatial media like Foursquare, we make the case for Sloterdijk's conceptualization of “foam” offering an interesting contribution to the analysis and critique of contemporary algorithmic life, in particular with regard to the liquidity and fragility of the forms of togetherness in “co-isolation” created by such applications. In emphasizing the impermanence and ambiguities of these fleeting mediations, the article also points to the politics of these algorithmic foams, whose logics of categorization and socio-spatial sorting become increasingly difficult to understand, politically address or challenge.
Highlights
Most social networking applications incorporate spatial aspects (Wilken and Goggin, 2015)
We aim to address the politics of these algorithmic foams, whose inconsistency and impossibility of being clearly grasped unveil a problematic aspect of the work performed by machine learning algorithms: the growing difficulty in understanding and in politically addressing their logics of categorization and sorting
The two strands of analysis pursued above highlight how complex and ambiguous the experiences and relationalities are that characterize contemporary algorithmic life
Summary
Most social networking applications incorporate spatial aspects (Wilken and Goggin, 2015). “new spatial media” (Crampton, 2009; Kitchin et al, 2017) such as Foursquare, Yelp or Tripadvisor integrate social aspects, as they are based on user-generated content; allow various forms of interaction between content producers; and often highlight the activity of specific “others”, defined as “travel experts”, “people like you”, “followees” and so on. These media present important differences in form and content, they have in common at least two aspects: first, they work though combinations of the “social” and of the “spatial”, in which location mediates social interaction and, in turn, social connections mediate spatial practices; second, they do so through algorithms, that is, in automatic ways.
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