NETFLIX RECOMMENDS: ALGORITHMS, FILM CHOICE, AND THE HISTORY OF TASTE

Abstract

The digital age has initiated many changes in the sphere of media and the way entire society functions, and the two, probably, most specific changes are datafication and algorithmic utilitarianization of those huge databases. In the light of this fact, the book Netflix Recommends: Algorithms, Film Choice, and the History of Taste by Mattias Frey presents a very interesting and deep analysis of the modern trend of creating and directing the taste through recommendation systems of streaming services. In this book, the author, professor of Film, Media, and Culture at the University of Kent, analyzes and explains, using Netflix as an example, the connection between collected data, algorithmic processing, and recommendations to users that arise as a result of this automated procedure, but also questions necessity, effectiveness and consequences of recommending systems for media use. Those questions, apart from the introduction, afterword and appendix, are discussed in five chapters.