Bronwen E. Low, McGill University
Anita Hagh, McGill University
Despite the growing impact of algorithms on digital culture, and the importance of algorithmic awareness, little literacy research has investigated how algorithmic speculation shapes cultural production on digital platforms. In this dialogic presentation, we discuss findings from a published paper, as well as a study in progress, of #BookTok, the home of book-related content on TikTok. Through multimodal content analysis, we propose and explore a typology of five categories of “algorithmic imaginings”: critique, defense, explanation, how to work, and exploration of the algorithm. These imaginaries move beyond rational attempts to deconstruct the algorithm and critique its role in platform capitalism toward playful explorations of the human–algorithmic relationship. Given that there is no ‘outside’ of the algorithm, and that critical literacy practices typically rely upon analytic distance from the object of study, the symbiotic meaning-making of human and machine poses interesting questions for literacy studies.
Dr. Bronwen Low has been leading and participating in research, knowledge dissemination, and program and curriculum development projects with a primary focus on how to best support socially marginalized young people underserved by traditional schooling models and practices. Her research interests include the implications and challenges of popular youth culture, “urban arts,” and Hip-Hop culture for curriculum theory, literacy studies, pedagogy, and school transformation; community and digital media projects and pedagogies; translanguaging and the multilingual Montreal hip-hop scene; life stories and human rights education; connected learning and informal education; and, community-school-university partnerships.
Anita Hagh is a doctoral student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University. Her research interests include all things Internet. Through the lens of a member-researcher, Anita is particularly drawn to digital literacies and cultures; as well as online communities and discourses. Previously, she has explored the discursive power of memes, with a special focus on their affective implications towards recovery and resilience. Currently, Anita’s research centres platform cultures and literacies in algorithmic contexts.
