The algorithmic culture research area articulates a particular type of technological culture where data and not documents drive decisions and further decisions are made increasingly by machine-learning algorithms on the basis of probability and risk. Further, these decisions extend well beyond the scope of media into the social world. This paradigm shift has been theorized as the reduction of culture to a network akin to the Internet of Things. In the context of an algorithmic culture, then, it is increasingly important to understand the ways in which algorithmic structures through recognition, calculation, automation, and prediction are shaping everyday life.
Co-Research Leads
Our co-leads for this research area are Dr. Stefka Hristova and Dr. Soonkwan Hong.
—Walter Benjamin “On the Concept of History”
- Associate Professor of Digital Media, Humanities
- PEC Tech Forward/IPEC Director
- Faculty in Communication, Culture, and Media
- shristov@mtu.edu
- 906-487-1084
- Walker 308
Specialties
- Visual Studies
- Algorithmic Culture
- Photography
- Critical Theory
- Associate Professor of Marketing, College of Business
- IPEC Associate Director
- shong2@mtu.edu
- 906-487-2285
- Academic Office Building 113
Teaching Interests
- Consumer behavior
- Global Marketing
- Branding
- Marketing ethics and Sustainability
Research Interests
- The polysemic nature of consumer-market dynamics in association with (pop)culture, technology, and institutions as key drivers of varied manifestations of consumer identity.
- Consumers as self-emancipating and self-contradicting agents in the market
- Sustainable lifestyles.
- Postcolonialism and globalization
- Alternative food systems and cultures
- Algorithmic consumer culture