Parents Talking Algorithms

Parenthood and parenting are intertwined with algorithms in contemporary datafied societies, evident in search engines and social media platforms, recommended children's entertainment, parents' consumption practices, engagement with news and public affairs, and much more.

Parents Talking Algorithms delves into the context-dependent relationships between parents' interpretation and sense-making practices around algorithms. The book takes parents' voices seriously and pays close attention to the stories told by thirty parents across England, raising children between 0 to 18, as they make sense of algorithms.

These individual accounts tell us important collective things. For instance, how do parents negotiate algorithmic shaping and suggesting as they go about everyday parenthood? How do they anticipate and prepare for their children's futures amidst the public conversations around AI and algorithm-driven decision-making? What are their expectations of institutions behind algorithmic interfaces?

Parents talking Algorithms starts with the algorithmic shaping of parents searching for advice and information whilst negotiating search engine algorithms. It then moves on to parents encountering algorithms in newsfeeds and timelines and their negotiations of recommendation algorithms for products, services, news and experiences. The book then looks at parents negotiating algorithms in their families' and children's lives and the myriad algorithm literacies. Finally, the book focuses on parents' hopes, anxieties, and aspirations about possible AI and algorithm-dominated futures as they speak about their hopes and fears around algorithmic and automated decision making in the public domain. Here, they articulate collective expectations, voice their collective hopes and set out a mandate for institutions in the public domain to take their voices seriously.