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Chapter 6 Small Automation: Thinking Through the Texture of Automated Systems

  • Dang Nguyen
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The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures
This chapter is in the book The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures

Abstract

This chapter explores the phenomenon of small automation, defined as informal automation that occurs at the fringes of the digital economy rather than at its centre. It explores how small automation proliferates because of the friction that exists within automated systems as complex self-coordinating and self-organising mechanisms by considering a sample of small automation activities: clickfarming, CAPTCHA solving, phone farming, and cryptomining. Even though small automation activities vary in their risk/reward ratio and the type of systems they seek to manipulate, what they have in common is their arising out of the generative friction baked into automated systems as critical features rather than inefficiencies to eliminate. This chapter offers a more nuanced analysis of automated systems by complicating totalising imaginaries of automation as top-down, capital-intensive, labour-displacing forces with an account of automation as fragmented, patchy, contingent, and incomplete processes.

Abstract

This chapter explores the phenomenon of small automation, defined as informal automation that occurs at the fringes of the digital economy rather than at its centre. It explores how small automation proliferates because of the friction that exists within automated systems as complex self-coordinating and self-organising mechanisms by considering a sample of small automation activities: clickfarming, CAPTCHA solving, phone farming, and cryptomining. Even though small automation activities vary in their risk/reward ratio and the type of systems they seek to manipulate, what they have in common is their arising out of the generative friction baked into automated systems as critical features rather than inefficiencies to eliminate. This chapter offers a more nuanced analysis of automated systems by complicating totalising imaginaries of automation as top-down, capital-intensive, labour-displacing forces with an account of automation as fragmented, patchy, contingent, and incomplete processes.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Figures IX
  4. List of Tables XI
  5. Chapter 1 Navigating Automated Futures: A Framework for Playing and Learning with Imaginaries, Interactions, and Impact 1
  6. Chapter 2 Automation and Futures: Doing Social Science Forward 19
  7. Part 1: Imaginaries
  8. Chapter 3 Peter’s Problem. An Analysis of the Imaginaries about Automated Futures Portrayed in QualityLand 37
  9. Chapter 4 ‘Where are my robots, Mija?!’ A Situated Review of Technological Change Narratives in Latin America 55
  10. Chapter 5 The Possible Futures of Automated Public Space 73
  11. Chapter 6 Small Automation: Thinking Through the Texture of Automated Systems 89
  12. Chapter 7 The House as a Machine for Living: Dreams of Domestic Automation, 1923–2023 105
  13. Chapter 8 Necrorobotics. The Ethics of Resurrecting the Dead 121
  14. Chapter 9 Unveiling Ambiguity: Dilemmas of Automation in Medical Imaging 139
  15. Chapter 10 Algorithmic Europe: Narratives of Risks and Benefits of Public–Private Interaction in Public Sector AI 157
  16. Part 2: Interactions
  17. Chapter 11 Algorithmic Agency, Automated Content, and User Engagement on TikTok 175
  18. Chapter 12 Garbage In, Garbage Out: Predictive Policing and Structural Biases in Automated Criminal Justice Techniques 191
  19. Chapter 13 Sound Automation: Some Provisional Lessons from Electronic Music 207
  20. Chapter 14 Collaborative Future-Making: Bridging the Everyday and the Global Political Economy of Automated Health 223
  21. Chapter 15 Pursuing the Promises of Personalisation: Fetish and Friction in Futures of Automated News 239
  22. Chapter 16 Beyond Human Oversight—Quality Management as a Tool to Control Automated Decision-Making Systems 255
  23. Chapter 17 Beware of ‘Bossware’: The Role of Communities for Gig Workers Dealing with Algorithmic Management 271
  24. Chapter 18 Silicon Valley’s Frictionless Future: The Design Philosophy of Frictionlessness 287
  25. Chapter 19 Automated Afterlives 303
  26. Chapter 20 Wuthering Weights—Localisation Trajectories of Machine Learning Models for Local Ends 321
  27. Part 3: Impacts
  28. Chapter 21 Co-making and Prototyping Community Housing Futures 339
  29. Chapter 22 Exploring Automated Futures through Game-making 359
  30. Chapter 23 Soothing the Socio-Ethical Unease: Trolley Problems in the Age of Automated Decision-Making 379
  31. Chapter 24 Arts-Based and Sensory Methods to Imagine More-than-Human Automated Futures 395
  32. Chapter 25 Sustainable Automated Futures: Participatory Human Approaches to Urban Mobility 413
  33. Chapter 26 People on the Road: From Automated Mobility to Autonomous Human Actors through a People-Centred Approach 435
  34. Author Biographies 453
  35. Index 459
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110792256-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. List of Figures IX
  4. List of Tables XI
  5. Chapter 1 Navigating Automated Futures: A Framework for Playing and Learning with Imaginaries, Interactions, and Impact 1
  6. Chapter 2 Automation and Futures: Doing Social Science Forward 19
  7. Part 1: Imaginaries
  8. Chapter 3 Peter’s Problem. An Analysis of the Imaginaries about Automated Futures Portrayed in QualityLand 37
  9. Chapter 4 ‘Where are my robots, Mija?!’ A Situated Review of Technological Change Narratives in Latin America 55
  10. Chapter 5 The Possible Futures of Automated Public Space 73
  11. Chapter 6 Small Automation: Thinking Through the Texture of Automated Systems 89
  12. Chapter 7 The House as a Machine for Living: Dreams of Domestic Automation, 1923–2023 105
  13. Chapter 8 Necrorobotics. The Ethics of Resurrecting the Dead 121
  14. Chapter 9 Unveiling Ambiguity: Dilemmas of Automation in Medical Imaging 139
  15. Chapter 10 Algorithmic Europe: Narratives of Risks and Benefits of Public–Private Interaction in Public Sector AI 157
  16. Part 2: Interactions
  17. Chapter 11 Algorithmic Agency, Automated Content, and User Engagement on TikTok 175
  18. Chapter 12 Garbage In, Garbage Out: Predictive Policing and Structural Biases in Automated Criminal Justice Techniques 191
  19. Chapter 13 Sound Automation: Some Provisional Lessons from Electronic Music 207
  20. Chapter 14 Collaborative Future-Making: Bridging the Everyday and the Global Political Economy of Automated Health 223
  21. Chapter 15 Pursuing the Promises of Personalisation: Fetish and Friction in Futures of Automated News 239
  22. Chapter 16 Beyond Human Oversight—Quality Management as a Tool to Control Automated Decision-Making Systems 255
  23. Chapter 17 Beware of ‘Bossware’: The Role of Communities for Gig Workers Dealing with Algorithmic Management 271
  24. Chapter 18 Silicon Valley’s Frictionless Future: The Design Philosophy of Frictionlessness 287
  25. Chapter 19 Automated Afterlives 303
  26. Chapter 20 Wuthering Weights—Localisation Trajectories of Machine Learning Models for Local Ends 321
  27. Part 3: Impacts
  28. Chapter 21 Co-making and Prototyping Community Housing Futures 339
  29. Chapter 22 Exploring Automated Futures through Game-making 359
  30. Chapter 23 Soothing the Socio-Ethical Unease: Trolley Problems in the Age of Automated Decision-Making 379
  31. Chapter 24 Arts-Based and Sensory Methods to Imagine More-than-Human Automated Futures 395
  32. Chapter 25 Sustainable Automated Futures: Participatory Human Approaches to Urban Mobility 413
  33. Chapter 26 People on the Road: From Automated Mobility to Autonomous Human Actors through a People-Centred Approach 435
  34. Author Biographies 453
  35. Index 459
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