How Computers Create Social Structures

Accidental Collectives

By: Silvio Carta

Write A Review

eText | 17 September 2024

At a Glance

Format
ePUB

eText

$64.99

or 4 interest-free payments of $16.25 with

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

This book introduces the idea of accidental collectives: the grouping of people that occurs as a by-product of the automated work of computers. Software has a growing influence in our lives automating and optimising mundane, time-consuming and repetitive tasks. In doing this, groups of people are automatically created as the result of classification and data analysis. Once grouped by the invisible agency of software, people interact and establish new relationships, generating new collectives and communities. With the support of case studies and real-life examples, this work explores the accidental nature of the generation of new social groups and questions the role of software in social interactions.