the algorithm multiple, the algorithm material: reconstructing creative practice
DESCRIPTION
Talk given at The Contours of Algorithmic Life, a conference at UC Davis -- May 15-16, 2014. Here's the abstract: Traditionally, computer scientists define an algorithm as a list of instructions for accomplishing a single goal. This definition treats an algorithm as (1) a coherent, usually textual, single object that (2) can be separated from its technological execution. Instead, we argue for the usefulness of studying algorithms in and as action. Algorithms-in-action, particularly computational algorithms, depend on actors outside them: the sources of the data they require as inputs, the machines that execute them, the storehouses that maintain their results and make them available for other processes, and so on. Algorithms are not stable texts but rather more-or-less stable agglomerations of people, machines, policies, data, and so on whose dimensions and components change over time. Our talk will examine the multiplicity and contingency of algorithms through two case studies from very different algorithmic sites -- architectural software, and online dating services. Using those sites as springboards, it will argue that taking algorithms as multiple rather than singular and as material agglomerations rather than discursive texts opens up new entry points for creative and critical practice in design, the arts, and engineering.TRANSCRIPT
The algorithm multiple, the algorithm material Laura Devendorf Elizabeth Goodman School of Information, UC Berkeley
The algorithm as rule set
Donald Knuth, The Art of Programming (1969), p27
Case study: online dating Eharmony.com
Where is the algorithm?
Where is the algorithm?
Where is the algorithm?
Algorithms as multiple
Annemarie Mol, The Body Multiple, pp 17–18
The algorithm, multiplying
CASE STUDY: DIGITAL FABRICATION MACHINES
Jason Kelly Johnson and Michael Shiloh, 2013
The algorithm material
The algorithm material
The algorithm material
The algorithm material
Writing the algorithm
:>> Shift From objects to relationships
Body & Machine
Costumes by Fortunato Depero for his ballet ‘Machine of 3000’ (1924)
Oskar Schlemmer, Slat Dance (1927)
Being the Machine
THANKS!
Donald Knuth, The Art of Programming (1969), p27
Laura Devendorf www.artfordorks.com Elizabeth Goodman www.confectious.net