The understanding of what it means to be human changes because it is juxtaposed with different technical systems”: Nick Seaver about the ethnography of algorithms

Abstract

Nick Seaver is an assistant professor of Anthropology at Tufts University, where he teaches in the program on Science, Technology, and Society. His research examines the cultural theorizing of technical experts, particularly in fields related to machine learning. He has published on topics including commercial theories of context, the anthropology of trapping, and ethnographic methodologies for studying algorithmic systems. His forthcoming book, Computing Taste, explores how the developers of algorithmic music recommender systems understand and justify their work. He is the co-editor of Towards an Anthropology of Data (2021) and former co-chair of the Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing. His current research explores the use of attention as a value and virtue in machine learning worlds.