On Oct 28, 2021, at 7:57 AM, Kimon Keramidas <kimon.keramidas@nyu.edu> wrote:

Loving this discussion!

Cheers,

Kimon

Kimon Keramidas, Ph.D.
Clinical Associate Professor, XE: Experimental Humanities & Social Engagement
Affiliated Faculty, Program in International Relations

Pronouns: He/Him

New York University
14 University Place
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On Oct 28, 2021, at 7:02 AM, Maarten Bullynck <maarten.bullynck@kuttaka.org> wrote:

Dear All,

It is not the first time the word "algorithm" has shifted in meaning, in fact, its "Knuthian" version of a well-defined sequence of a finite number of steps leading to a specific result only dates back to the late 19th century.
Later, "algorithm" became a household word in computing but only after 1960, because of ALGOL and, later, Knuth. Before that time "method" is used much more frequently than "algorithm".

These results come from an article Liesbeth De Mol and msyelf recently wrote on the semantic shifts happening to words like "program", "code" and "algorithm". It is due to published soon in the volume "Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society" edited by Stephanie Dick and Janet Abbate.
A preprint is online: https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__hal.univ-2Dlille.fr_hal-2D03081203&d=DwIGaQ&c=slrrB7dE8n7gBJbeO0g-IQ&r=8lhfdn1CVAMK_u4AbH6K2X3Rh95e5EvJanbOcfGalCo&m=49QsR91LxS0YGRfHDPUnMkgjTVw8FQVS4rg4ZvoDsqY&s=ssIf8CORoTT-SDz5BKdVA2uxSd_o2K5Jqpgd6YSBfzk&e= 
Though we stop around 1960 in our article, the conclusion says something about the generalization of the word "algorithm" now, meaning indeed something like "complex program". Though its popular use may certainly have to do with Google, as Allan suggests, you may find such usage earlier on. In the 1970s one frequently finds "scheduling algorithm" and in IA they also talk of algorithms. These are not "Knuthian" algorithms, but rather numerical formulae with a lot of (empirical) inputs that are processed to *control* or stabilize a system, be it a multiprogramming system or an IA system.
In contrast with "Knuthian" algorithms, the formulae depend on "arbitrary" parameters that are tweeked to obtain some kind of system behaviour. If one takes the example of the "Google"-algorithm, the "Knuthian" part of it is just plain matrix diagonalization/inversion, but it is how the "empirical" input is put into the matrix, and how the weights are accorded to entries of the matrix that make up the intricate interest for Google, but these are "arbitrary" parameters that constitute top layers built on the "Knuthian" matrix algorithm, these layers reflect economical and social choices.

best wishes

Maarten



On 2021-10-28 07:28, Allan Olley wrote:

Hello,
My sense is talk of when an algorithm becomes many algorithms or the
like is an example of a sorites paradox (how many items make a heap,
if you take one item off a heap it is still a heap yet if you take 10
items off it is not etc.). How many steps can you add to an algorithm
before it becomes a heap of algorithms, a blob (or a piece of software
and how many lines of code before a piece of software becomes a suite
of software and so on)?
My suspicion is talk of "the algorithm" may have started with Google's
PageRank algorithm. My sense is that the original PageRank algorithm
was a proper Knuthian algorithm of definite and limited size, but of
course as they applied it to search and had to deal with various
exigencies including people trying to game the algorithm there were
endless additions and tinkering. So probably the scheme by which
Google arranges search results is more like a heap of algorithms or
the Blob than the original PageRank algorithm, but it is often called
an algorithm or "the algoirthm".
I am guessing the popular notion of algorithm grew from Google's
PageRank to other not wholly dissimilar systems such as the method by
which Facebook (and other social media sites) decides what we see on
our feed or Youtube decides what videos to suggest we might want to
watch and so on,
On Thu, Oct 28, 2021 at 12:49 AM Kimon Keramidas
<kimon.keramidas@nyu.edu> wrote:

Dear Paul,
I actually don’t think that’s an inappropriate use of the term
and that term has certainly evolved in popular use to this extent. I
would also say that it has grown in its uses in technical
application. It may seem like a blob from one perspective but for
Facebook, the system that decides a post’s position based on
predictions is very much a “well-defined, finite set of steps that
produces an unambiguous result.” They get exactly what they want
by feeding data into that algorithm and getting a result that they
can then apply to their business practices. I think that in this day
and age a conception of how algorithms are conceived, executed and
worked has to be more expansive as technologies are increasingly
integrated into complex formulaic processes such as these. For
example, I am certain that there is some level of AI built into
Facebook's algorithm and therefore a level of complexity that seems
“blob-like” but nonetheless is conceived and executed with the
goal of unambiguous (at least from their perspective) algorithmic
results by Facebook’s engineers.
Safiya Noble’s book blows this out even further as she argues for
_Algorithms of Oppression. _Noble highlights that embedded social
biases actually integrate themselves into the construction of
computer-based algorithms. They embed themselves in such a way that
we could say that these biases become acceptable cultural practices
that integrate themselves into those “well-defined, finite steps
of steps” if we start analyzing choices made in the construction
of algorithms from a sociological as well as technical outlook.
And as far as whether people should consider some algorithms as
something threatening. That probably wouldn’t necessarily be a bad
thing at this point. I know that despite a long held skepticism
towards all things Facebook even I have been shocked about some of
the blatant abuses that are being revealed over the last few weeks.
Looking forward to further conversation.
Cheers,
Kimon
Kimon Keramidas, Ph.D.
Clinical Associate Professor, XE: Experimental Humanities & Social
Engagement [2]
Affiliated Faculty, Program in International Relations
Pronouns: He/Him
New York University
14 University Place
New York, NY 10003
Co-Director - ITMO University International Digital Humanities
Research Center [3]
Co-Founder - The Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy [4]
Co-Founder - NYCDH [5]
E kimon.keramidas@nyu.edu
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Exhibition [7]
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Exhibition [8]
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American Alliance of Museums
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On Oct 27, 2021, at 7:52 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP@si.edu>
wrote:
This headline came from today's _Washington Post_, in a long
above-the-fold article about Facebook's policies in determining
what users see when they "like" a post. The article does not
define the word, but describes an algorithm as "...a system that
decides on a post's position on the news feed based on predictions
about each user's preferences and tendencies." That sounds to me
like a complex piece of software, with perhaps hundreds of lines
of code, that takes in a lot of variables and produces a
potentially wide range of outputs. It conjures up an image of
something sinister and menacing. Not what Knuth defined as an
"algorithm" in Volume One of his _Art of Computer Programming_.
His definition has been refined over the years, but it retains the
notion of a well-defined, finite set of steps that produces an
unambiguous result.
Should we be bothered that the _Post_ (and I assume other
newspapers) are not using the term properly?  Are people now going
to think of an "algorithm" as something threatening, like "The
Blob" in that famous Steve McQueen movie?
Paul Ceruzzi
Tom Haigh & Paul Ceruzzi, _A New History of Modern Computing_ (MIT
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--
Yours Truly,
Allan Olley, PhD
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