[Air-L] Facebook and Finance. On the Social Logic of the Derivative.

Sat Jun 4 09:15:56 PDT 2016

Dear All,

my paper on Facebook will come out in Theory, Culture and Society soon. Here’s the abstract

This article suggests that Facebook embodies a new logic of corporate governance, what has been termed the ‘social logic of the derivative’. The logic of the derivative is rooted in the now dominant financial level of the capitalist economy, and is mediated by social media and the algorithmic
processing of large digital data sets. This article makes three precise claims: First, that the modus operandi of Facebook mirrors the operations of derivative financial instruments. Second, that the algorithms that Facebook uses share a genealogy with those of derivative financial instruments- both are outcomes of the influence of the ‘cyber sciences’ on managerial practice in the post-War years. Third, that the future potential of Facebook lies its ability to apply the logic of derivatives to the financial valuation of ordinary social relations, thus further extending the process of
financialization of everyday

and a link to an early draft

https://www.academia.edu/25797570/Facebook_and_Finance._On_the_Social_Logic_of_the_Derivative <https://www.academia.edu/25797570/Facebook_and_Finance._On_the_Social_Logic_of_the_Derivative>

best

adam

Adam Arvidsson
Associate Professor
Department of Social and Political Sciences
University of Milano
via Conservatorio 7, 20122 Milano
+39-0250321209
adam.arvidsson at unimi.it

> On 03 Jun 2016, at 14:32, Jat Singh <Jatinder.Singh at cl.cam.ac.uk> wrote:
> 
> Has anyone come across any papers that dive into the tech details of
> the algorithms themselves, particularly for machine learning, in this
> context?
> 
> There’s a great one by Jenna Burrell: “How the machine ‘thinks’,
> Understanding opacity in machine learning algorithms”, but wondering
> if there are others?
> 
> Thanks!!
> 
> 
> On 1 June 2016 at 12:17, Andrew Herman <aherman at wlu.ca> wrote:
>> Alex
>> 
>> This is awesome! Thanks so much for putting together.
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Air-L <air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Alex Gekker <gekker.alex at gmail.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2016 4:48 AM
>> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>> Subject: Re: [Air-L] agency / neutrality of algorithms
>> 
>> Hi everyone,
>> 
>> The response has been amazing, thank you all for your wonderful suggestions
>> on and off list. And sorry if I missed someone in responding personally.
>> I took the liberty of putting together a public Google Doc with all the
>> suggestions. I tried to keep it short but provide context where original
>> authors supplied few lines of elaboration.
>> The list is freely editable, so if you feel there's something missing or
>> would rather not have your suggestions there - please edit it or email me
>> and I'll do it.
>> 
>> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OaAnpaLaOQs0YgUaPZ0lEThy0EI9_RrjtrqdQYBYHMs/edit?usp=sharing
>> 
>> regards,
>> Alex.
>> 
>> On Wed, Jun 1, 2016 at 12:51 AM Malte Ziewitz <mziewitz at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Alex, if you are specifically interested in the research strategy of
>>> 'ethicizing' analytic objects, the following exchange might be a good
>>> starting point:
>>> 
>>> Kraemer, Felicitas, Kees Overveld, and Martin Peterson. 2010. “Is There an
>>> Ethics of Algorithms?” Ethics and Information Technology 13 (3): 251–60.
>>> doi:10.1007/s10676-010-9233-7.
>>> 
>>> Anderson, Robert J., and Wesley W. Sharrock. 2013. “Ethical Algorithms: A
>>> Brief Comment on an Extensive Muddle.”,
>>> 
>>> http://www.sharrockandanderson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Ethical-Algorithms.pdf
>>> 
>>> Taken together, the two articles highlight some of the (fascinating) issues
>>> that arise from adding epithets like 'ethical,' 'neutral,' 'moral', etc. to
>>> computational phenomena.
>>> 
>>> All best,
>>> Malte
>>> 
>>> On Tue, May 31, 2016 at 6:23 PM, Josh Scannell <joshua.scannell at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I'm a lurker on this listserv but I would like to second this list. It is
>>>> invaluable.
>>>> 
>>>> On Monday, May 30, 2016, Tarleton L. Gillespie <tlg28 at cornell.edu>
>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> I'd like to recommend this:
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> https://socialmediacollective.org/reading-lists/critical-algorithm-studies/
>>>>> 
>>>>> Nick Seaver and I had been trying to keep tabs on this scholarship.
>>> Many
>>>>> of the pieces on this list, especially in sections 0.2, 1.1, and 1.2.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Tarleton
>>>>> 
>>>>> sent from my iphone, sorry for my fat fingers.
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On May 30, 2016, at 4:09 PM, Elizabeth Anne Watkins <
>>>>> writetowatkins at gmail.com <javascript:;>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> The Yale Information Society Project recently held a spectacular
>>>>> conference
>>>>>> on Algorithmic Accountability, which may be of interest:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> http://isp.yale.edu/node/6055
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Mon, May 30, 2016 at 3:36 PM, Alex Gekker <gekker.alex at gmail.com
>>>>> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Hi list,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I've been running into a lot of writing criticising the notion of
>>>>>>> "algorithms are neutral" recently, but yet to find a scholarly work
>>>> that
>>>>>>> tackles the subject yet. Any recommendations?
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Here are some examples for the types of arguments I'm interested in:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/04/go-tweak-yourself-facebook/480258/
>>>>>>> https://socialmediacollective.org/2016/05/18/facebook-trends/
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> thanks,
>>>>>>> Alex.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> =======
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Alex Gekker, PhD Candidate (Promovendus), Media and Culture, Utrecht
>>>>>>> University.
>>>>>>> Charting the Digital http://www.digitalcartography.eu/
>>>>>>> http://alexgekker.com
>>>>>>> a.gekker at uu.nl <javascript:;> <//a.gekker at uu.nl <javascript:;>> |
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> --
>>>> Sent from my transhuman digital interface
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