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Creating students’ algorithmic selves: shedding light on social media’s representational affordances

    Ignas Kalpokas   Affiliation
    ; Emilija Sabaliauskaitė   Affiliation
    ; Victoria Pegushina   Affiliation

Abstract

This article presents and analyses the results of focus group studies conducted with students at an international university in Lithuania, interpreting the results in light of the extant literature on social media’s impact on the creation and performance of the self. The authors reveal a mixed picture whereby the respondents seem to demonstrate an unexpectedly casual and cynical attitude towards social media while, upon closer inspection, still remaining part of social media’s productive exchanges, contributing their data and attention in return for satisfaction. Hence, while by no means rejecting the standard interpretation provided in mainstream literature, the authors are able to present a more complex and nuanced picture of young people’s attitudes towards and interaction with social media and the self-creation affordances thereof, ultimately a close, constitutive, and creative interrelationship between humans and code.

Article in English.


Studentų algoritminių savasčių kūrimas: socialinių medijų reprezentacinių galimybių tyrimas

Santrauka

Šiame straipsnyje pristatomi ir analizuojami rezultatai, gauti iš tikslinių grupių interviu su Lietuvoje esančio tarptautinio universiteto studentais. Šie rezultatai interpretuojami literatūros, aptariančios socialinių medijų poveikį savęs kūrimui ir raiškai, kontekste. Autoriai atskleidžia prieštaringą paveikslą – respondentai demonstruoja netikėtai atsainų ir net cinišką požiūrį į socialines medijas, tačiau, pažvelgus giliau, vis vien išlieka socialinių medijų produkcijos santykių dalimi, atiduodami savo duomenis mainais į pasitenkinimą. Tad, nors ir neatmesdami literatūroje dominuojančio požiūrio, autoriai pristato sudėtingesnį ir labiau niuansuotą požiūrį į jaunų žmonių nuomonę apie socialines medijas bei jų poveikį savęs kūrimui. Tokiu būdu parodomas atviras ir kūrybiškas santykis tarp žmogiškųjų aktorių ir programinio kodo.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: savastys, aglomeracija, algoritmas, dėmesys, duomenys, savikūra, socialinės medijos

Keyword : affordances, agglomeration, algorithm, attention, data, self-creation, social media

How to Cite
Kalpokas, I., Sabaliauskaitė, E., & Pegushina, V. (2020). Creating students’ algorithmic selves: shedding light on social media’s representational affordances. Creativity Studies, 13(2), 292-307. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2020.10803
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May 4, 2020
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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