Chapter 15 Pursuing the Promises of Personalisation: Fetish and Friction in Futures of Automated News
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Anna Schjøtt
und Jannie Møller Hartley
Abstract
This chapter explores the increasing automation of news production and distribution, particularly in relation to personalised news. The core argument is that automation technologies should be seen as drivers of sociotechnical change within news organisations, driven by the promises associated with personalisation, as well as how the anticipated promise and supposed magic of AI can obscure the adaptive process and its implications. The chapter presents an empirical inquiry into Nordic newsrooms, examining how they pursue the promise of personalised news. The concept of ‘fetishisation’ is used to analyse how visions of a personalised future of news are imbued with promise and how that redistributes agency as the fetishised objects changes hands. The analysis highlights the performative effects of fetishising personalised futures and how it induces new forms of knowledge asymmetries, changes in valorisation of work and the exclusion of certain actors or perspectives. These implications become clear during moments of friction, which are generally brushed over with the argument of making the technology work. Ultimately, the chapter offers a critical perspective on automated futures by illustrating the inseparability of automation from its interactions with organisations and discourses and emphasises the longterm transformative effects of emerging technologies, even in the face of failures.
Abstract
This chapter explores the increasing automation of news production and distribution, particularly in relation to personalised news. The core argument is that automation technologies should be seen as drivers of sociotechnical change within news organisations, driven by the promises associated with personalisation, as well as how the anticipated promise and supposed magic of AI can obscure the adaptive process and its implications. The chapter presents an empirical inquiry into Nordic newsrooms, examining how they pursue the promise of personalised news. The concept of ‘fetishisation’ is used to analyse how visions of a personalised future of news are imbued with promise and how that redistributes agency as the fetishised objects changes hands. The analysis highlights the performative effects of fetishising personalised futures and how it induces new forms of knowledge asymmetries, changes in valorisation of work and the exclusion of certain actors or perspectives. These implications become clear during moments of friction, which are generally brushed over with the argument of making the technology work. Ultimately, the chapter offers a critical perspective on automated futures by illustrating the inseparability of automation from its interactions with organisations and discourses and emphasises the longterm transformative effects of emerging technologies, even in the face of failures.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures IX
- List of Tables XI
- Chapter 1 Navigating Automated Futures: A Framework for Playing and Learning with Imaginaries, Interactions, and Impact 1
- Chapter 2 Automation and Futures: Doing Social Science Forward 19
-
Part 1: Imaginaries
- Chapter 3 Peter’s Problem. An Analysis of the Imaginaries about Automated Futures Portrayed in QualityLand 37
- Chapter 4 ‘Where are my robots, Mija?!’ A Situated Review of Technological Change Narratives in Latin America 55
- Chapter 5 The Possible Futures of Automated Public Space 73
- Chapter 6 Small Automation: Thinking Through the Texture of Automated Systems 89
- Chapter 7 The House as a Machine for Living: Dreams of Domestic Automation, 1923–2023 105
- Chapter 8 Necrorobotics. The Ethics of Resurrecting the Dead 121
- Chapter 9 Unveiling Ambiguity: Dilemmas of Automation in Medical Imaging 139
- Chapter 10 Algorithmic Europe: Narratives of Risks and Benefits of Public–Private Interaction in Public Sector AI 157
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Part 2: Interactions
- Chapter 11 Algorithmic Agency, Automated Content, and User Engagement on TikTok 175
- Chapter 12 Garbage In, Garbage Out: Predictive Policing and Structural Biases in Automated Criminal Justice Techniques 191
- Chapter 13 Sound Automation: Some Provisional Lessons from Electronic Music 207
- Chapter 14 Collaborative Future-Making: Bridging the Everyday and the Global Political Economy of Automated Health 223
- Chapter 15 Pursuing the Promises of Personalisation: Fetish and Friction in Futures of Automated News 239
- Chapter 16 Beyond Human Oversight—Quality Management as a Tool to Control Automated Decision-Making Systems 255
- Chapter 17 Beware of ‘Bossware’: The Role of Communities for Gig Workers Dealing with Algorithmic Management 271
- Chapter 18 Silicon Valley’s Frictionless Future: The Design Philosophy of Frictionlessness 287
- Chapter 19 Automated Afterlives 303
- Chapter 20 Wuthering Weights—Localisation Trajectories of Machine Learning Models for Local Ends 321
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Part 3: Impacts
- Chapter 21 Co-making and Prototyping Community Housing Futures 339
- Chapter 22 Exploring Automated Futures through Game-making 359
- Chapter 23 Soothing the Socio-Ethical Unease: Trolley Problems in the Age of Automated Decision-Making 379
- Chapter 24 Arts-Based and Sensory Methods to Imagine More-than-Human Automated Futures 395
- Chapter 25 Sustainable Automated Futures: Participatory Human Approaches to Urban Mobility 413
- Chapter 26 People on the Road: From Automated Mobility to Autonomous Human Actors through a People-Centred Approach 435
- Author Biographies 453
- Index 459
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures IX
- List of Tables XI
- Chapter 1 Navigating Automated Futures: A Framework for Playing and Learning with Imaginaries, Interactions, and Impact 1
- Chapter 2 Automation and Futures: Doing Social Science Forward 19
-
Part 1: Imaginaries
- Chapter 3 Peter’s Problem. An Analysis of the Imaginaries about Automated Futures Portrayed in QualityLand 37
- Chapter 4 ‘Where are my robots, Mija?!’ A Situated Review of Technological Change Narratives in Latin America 55
- Chapter 5 The Possible Futures of Automated Public Space 73
- Chapter 6 Small Automation: Thinking Through the Texture of Automated Systems 89
- Chapter 7 The House as a Machine for Living: Dreams of Domestic Automation, 1923–2023 105
- Chapter 8 Necrorobotics. The Ethics of Resurrecting the Dead 121
- Chapter 9 Unveiling Ambiguity: Dilemmas of Automation in Medical Imaging 139
- Chapter 10 Algorithmic Europe: Narratives of Risks and Benefits of Public–Private Interaction in Public Sector AI 157
-
Part 2: Interactions
- Chapter 11 Algorithmic Agency, Automated Content, and User Engagement on TikTok 175
- Chapter 12 Garbage In, Garbage Out: Predictive Policing and Structural Biases in Automated Criminal Justice Techniques 191
- Chapter 13 Sound Automation: Some Provisional Lessons from Electronic Music 207
- Chapter 14 Collaborative Future-Making: Bridging the Everyday and the Global Political Economy of Automated Health 223
- Chapter 15 Pursuing the Promises of Personalisation: Fetish and Friction in Futures of Automated News 239
- Chapter 16 Beyond Human Oversight—Quality Management as a Tool to Control Automated Decision-Making Systems 255
- Chapter 17 Beware of ‘Bossware’: The Role of Communities for Gig Workers Dealing with Algorithmic Management 271
- Chapter 18 Silicon Valley’s Frictionless Future: The Design Philosophy of Frictionlessness 287
- Chapter 19 Automated Afterlives 303
- Chapter 20 Wuthering Weights—Localisation Trajectories of Machine Learning Models for Local Ends 321
-
Part 3: Impacts
- Chapter 21 Co-making and Prototyping Community Housing Futures 339
- Chapter 22 Exploring Automated Futures through Game-making 359
- Chapter 23 Soothing the Socio-Ethical Unease: Trolley Problems in the Age of Automated Decision-Making 379
- Chapter 24 Arts-Based and Sensory Methods to Imagine More-than-Human Automated Futures 395
- Chapter 25 Sustainable Automated Futures: Participatory Human Approaches to Urban Mobility 413
- Chapter 26 People on the Road: From Automated Mobility to Autonomous Human Actors through a People-Centred Approach 435
- Author Biographies 453
- Index 459