Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet

by Ted Striphas

Today, algorithms exercise outsize influence on cultural decision-making, shaping and even reshaping the concept of culture. How were automated, computational processes empowered to perform this work? What forces prompted the emergence of algorithmic culture?

Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet is a history of how culture and computation came to be entangled. From Cambridge, England, to Cambridge, Massachusetts, by way of medieval Baghdad, this book pinpoints the critical junctures at which algorithmic culture began to coalesce in language long before it materialized in the technological wizardry of Silicon Valley. Revising and extending the methodology of “keywords,” Ted Striphas examines changing concepts and definitions of culture, including the development of the field of cultural studies, and stresses the importance of language in the history of technology.

Offering historical and interdisciplinary perspective on the relationship of culture and computation, this book provides urgently needed context for the algorithmic injustices that beset the world today.

Genres: History

344 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 6, 2023

Reviews

[Kara Babcock · Rating 2 out of 5]

First off, shout-out to this book for no subtitle! That’s rare for a work of nonfiction—not that I have any great hatred of subtitles, but the absence of one here is notable. Anyway. Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet caught my eye because the history of computing, intertwined as it is with the history of mathematics and the history of feminism, interests me a lot. Ted Striphas discusses how we conceptualized both the word algorithm and the word culture prior to “algorithmic culture” emerging as a more recent phenomenon from the past few decades. This book is really not what I expected from the description, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad time. Thanks to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for the eARC!

Striphas takes a very intertextual and interdisciplinary approach to answering the question of, What was algorithmic culture like before we had the internet? These chapters span centuries, languages, and draw on everything from philosophy to computer science to linguistics and semiotics. It’s truly impressive how Striphas synthesizes writings and ideas from these various fields into his presentation. He references entire areas of study and scholars I had no idea existed (and I have degrees in math and education as well as minors in English and philosophy!).

In particular, Striphas grounds his approach through his own expansion of Raymond Williams’s Keywords publication/theory. Look, I’m not going to pretend I have enough background to evaluate this approach. Readers more familiar with this angle of attack and Williams might be better poised to critique Striphas’ strategy. As it is, I liked the emphasis on looking at language as something constructed by and responsive to changes in our society—along with the potent reminder that even a concept like culture, whose meaning we might assume is to be taken for granted, shifts over time. So Striphas definitely exposed me to a lot of new (old) ideas, got me thinking, and that alone is something I appreciate in a nonfiction book like this!

On the other hand, this means that Striphas often gets bogged down in the weeds of theory. So much so that I’m not sure each chapter actually accomplishes its mission of supporting his overall thesis. Striphas attempts to trace the history of the word algorithm, then culture, and finally algorithmic culture, but along the way he gets lost in discussing, say, the historical context of the Cold War, suspicion and oppression of gay people in civil service and academia, etc. I’m not dismissing that these could be relevant threads to his argument, but the amount of digression feels, if not boring, then distracting enough to divert me from the overall point he’s trying to make.

As a mathematician, I really liked the chapter about the origins of algorithm, algebra, and al-Khwarizmi. I learned a lot I didn’t know. Striphas carefully questions the “official,” simplified narrative we often learn (if we are lucky) in our math classes. He makes it clear that he isn’t trying to downplay al-Khwarizmi’s role, or the wider role of Islamic mathematicians, when it comes to their influence on European mathematics. At the same time, he points out that a reductive approach—tracing algorithm back to al-Kwharizmi’s name, algebra back to a book he wrote (on a method that he probably did not originate)—actually does an injustice, flattening and erasing the complexities of that time period and al-Khwarizmi’s life.

I really appreciate how Striphas clearly acknowledges the power dynamics at play, both in contemporary writings of each period along with modern views, the roles of racism and sexism, etc., influencing our perception of algorithmic culture. He references many luminary scholars whose names I’ve heard of (Ruha Benjamin) or work I’ve read (Safiya Umoja Noble). In this sense, Algorithmic Culture Before the Internet continues the intertextual conversation, not just engaging with it but building it and then throwing the ball forward, into the future, hoping that someone will pick it up and engage with Striphas later down the line.

This book is very specifically targeted towards an audience with more knowledge of this field than me. I think some people might pick it up (as I did) because of its title and description, expecting a more straightforward history (as I did) of computer science prior to the computer and the intersections with culture. But this is an academic book, not a pop history book, and it shows. If you’re willing to wade into deeper intellectual waters, then you will find parts of this book rewarding—challenging but rewarding. If you’re not wanting that workout right now, then you should skip this one.

Originally posted on Kara.Reviews, where you can easily browse all my reviews and subscribe to my newsletter.

[Jenn "JR" · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been trying for MONTHS to get into this book. The intro is so dense and full of overly verbose flourishes (like - how many times must you start paragraphs with "Indeed" and "Tellingly" and so on?). As a reader - I am LOST without context. Most of the introduction delves into the importance of historian and cultural commentator Raymond Williams' seminal works on culture and technology. So much that I am left wondering whether I should go read Williams FIRST to be able to understand Striphas' book.

Despite having a MA in sociology - I never heard of Williams. So, naturally - I skip to the end of the book to try to figure out what Striphas is getting at. I think that he's trying to prove that technology is not destroying culture (ie, replacing it with algorithms) and that culture is simply transforming as it meets the next new thing whether it be books, television or search engines. And - maybe, we should be able to somehow better get ahead of the way algorithms are utilized -- that's to say, the most inflammatory content is utilized to generate the most revenue -- and to pay better attention to methods to manipulate popular perceptions in support of particular causes (ie, Gamergate, anti-democratic conspiracies, etc).

There's a LOT of rambling in this book - or maybe I'm just not brilliant enough to understand it. This feels like an overly pompous and redundant PhD thesis. If Striphas is trying to make a point -- I'd love to see it more clearly delineated.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

I was really curious when I saw the title because I wondered how algorithmic culture could exist before computers. I'm not sure what I was really expecting, but this surprised me. This had a very slow start, like it took fifty percent of the book to get to when and how the word "algorithm" developed. I thought the first part of the book was overly explained, but when talking to my friends about the subject, many of them did not understand the use of algorithms and culture in this way, so the in-depth discussion at the beginning of the definitions was helpful.
A lot of this book seems tangential and irrelevant at first, until you get to a point where the author ties it into the main point. In this book, many things are discussed, like the inception of algebra and the algorithm, how technology has been influencing and affecting our lives throughout history, the meaning of "culture" and how it has changed, the tumultuous beginnings of the science of sociology, how the government uses culture to manipulate us and some of the ways they've done so throughout history, etc. The text was heavily cited and some of the reference materials intrigued me enough to get added to my "to read" list. It's definitely targeted to sociologists and may be inaccessible to many, style and diction-wise. I don't know much about sociology but I still learned a lot from this book. If it was more condensed and focused, I would've enjoyed this more.

[Sayani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's title will attract nonfiction readers interested in history and culture. Even if you are not technically equipped with the inner functioning of algorithms, I expected this had much to do with how the word was devised especially in the context of the Golden Age of Islamic Science. I went into this book with expectations but unfortunately, they fell short. The chapters are indeed detailed and infused with cultural elements to bring together the nature and rise of the current algorithmic culture. But it lost me halfway through when the text tries to string together the importance of keywords. Maybe I will give this another try with much patience to trundle through the lack of coherence. On the positive side, I learned a lot about "culture" and "technology" from a sociological aspect with copious references. And generous coverage is provided on the polymath al-Khwarizmi.

[Xonrad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fascinating concept but not what you may think.

Firstly the writing... this is a university lecture that has been transposed and expounded upon in the writing style of an end of "major" essay/paper for assessment... mostly. It heavily focuses on postulating over questions and emphasising quotes rather than trying to establish any real conclusions or firm positions. Just like the academia-for-academia's-sake bubble, this does little to really explore anything within its pages, "in depth."

The writing comes across as course material as well. Much like those textbooks that exist for the sake of being course material, but have no value as a cover to cover read, because they are not meant to be ingested as such.

Unfortunately the examples given and explored are soft and shallow examples as well, and are heavily indulgent of early 21st century trends within the world of university indoctrination. The red flags aren't obscenely emphasised, but they are there with occasional focusing on gender/identity injustices with additional specifications trying to distance the author from any risk of being mistaken of giving any true value or credence to material that could be construed as "white," "male," "western," and.... "straight female identifying feminist." There are brief mentions that allude to these specific triggers, and clearly exist for those obsessed with the world of micro triggers, and make you question why that sentence or paragraph existed. The irony being that the author is falling back on the very algorithmic bias, however minor, that is being outlined as being a problem in the examples given.

References to history are from a sociology point of view... meaning they are obscure and, again, shallow. The obscurity being an attempt to conceal the lack of deeper understanding of the algorithmic topic at hand.

Had this book purely focused upon the evolution of the algorithmic concept and used China as its sole source of examples... from the supremely structured and controlled methods used to establish and refine the Imperial era of China's history/culture/society, contrasted with the agrarian-primitive to ultra-technologically-proficient transformation of the modern communist state... even excluding any mention of TikTok and the disparity of how their algorithms reinforce constructive values locally, and are weaponised "outside of China"... any risk of having to deal with white/male/western/straight-feminist triggers would have been avoided. Callbacks and case studies in regards to algorithms literally being used to assassinate individuals designated as a national threat could and should have also been used. These are known applications by all leading militant nations of the world since the start of the 21st century, and would have had a far greater impact on the topic than referring to Amazon "allegedly and accidentally" banning LGBQT+ publications... once. The priorities here are skewed. (the example given fails to mention that Amazon made a shift at this time to distance their marketplace from questionable erotica at that time, so anything labelled as "adult" with the assumption it was leaning towards genuine pornography was purged... this applied to many non-LGBQT+ publications as well and had a serious impact on a large number of independent authors regardless of their identity persuasions... anyone that has been keeping an eye on self-publication and the stranglehold that Amazon maintains over the industry is aware of this)

This book is difficult to read because it is not written for anyone outside of the academia bubble. It lacks cohesion as a written piece and constantly flitters between being overly verbose, as per the academia ethos, and then trying too hard to be approachable to wide eyed and impressionable students that are fresh out of high school and thrilled at being surrounded by people that use big words.. that cliche that certain lecturers employ to come across as approachable.

If however you do try and take this book on and come into it with a genuinely deeper understanding of world history AND the technical side of algorithms in the IT sphere... and perhaps you were around at the birth of an accessible internet in the late 90's when SEO was in its infancy... you will find that this book is neither impartial regarding the fluff-filler details that bloat out the examples given, or anything more than a superficial exploration of the concept, writing for an audience that is distinctly NOT savvy about how all encompassing and exponentially intrusive algorithmic influence has become in the 21st century. That makes the chosen examples come across as especially unusual and ineffectual.

If you feel the urge to start skimming while reading this, trust that instinct.

[Rt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not necessarily the kind of book I thought I’d be getting. Starts with the idea of using “keywords,” the social science concept, as already implicated in technologies of knowledge. Uses that as a jumping-off point to discuss, for example, how the history of “algorithm” and what Westerners say about the scholar for whom it is named preserves some elements of the past while erasing others. I didn’t know how much mathematical writing changed over time—apparently the early Indian scholars wrote verse explaining their theorems, and worked through examples about who’d inherit how many slaves in ways that made clear that calculation was only part of the problem they were thinking about. Notation also changed a lot, sometimes to accommodate printing technologies. Florentine traders rejected switching to Indo-Arabic numerals because they thought they were too easily altered compared to Roman numerals.

And, in a reminder of how technologies are always tested on marginalized people first, he notes that Cambridge Analytica tested its ability to manipulate politics in Trinidad and Tobago before it brought the same tools to the West. “Aimé Césaire identified this vicious, narcissistic circle back in 1955, powerfully connecting Nazi Germany’s crimes against humanity to the brutalities that had been and continued to be exacted in Europe’s colonies: ‘What he [Westerners] cannot forgive Hitler for is not the crime in itself, the crime against man, it is not the humiliation of man as such, it is the crime against the white man ….’” As you can tell, there are a lot of riffs here.

[Lisa Grønsund]

I've received an advanced digital copy of this book, courtesy of the author and publisher, via Netgalley, for review consideration.

RTC

[Nunzia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probabilmente non mi sarei mai imbattuta in questo libro se non me ne avesse parlato un amico, visto che non rientra assolutamente nei miei campi di studio né nei miei interessi di lettrice - di solito, preferisco i romanzi.
Per fortuna non è andata così, perché mi è piaciuto davvero molto e sotto diversi aspetti.
Innanzi tutto il tema: la cultura algoritmica prima di internet. L'autore, già solo nel titolo ci spiega di cosa tratterà: di cultura algoritmica, certo, ma prima dell'avvento della rete.
Ok, penserà qualcuno, sulla cultura ci siamo, ma gli algoritmi? Sì, lo so, si rimane un po' perplessi. Ma, se ci pensate bene, gli algoritmi sono un concetto matematico e la matematica, appunto, è nata prima di Internet. Provate a cercare la parola "algoritmo" su un qualsiasi dizionario se non mi credete. Però vi capisco: anche io, prima di leggere questo libro, non ci avevo mai davvero pensato. Per noi, oggi, gli algoritmi sono quelli che usano i motori di ricerca, oppure i siti per inviarci la pubblicità mirata; persino il mio posto di lavoro lo devo a un algoritmo. Che tristezza, eh? Quindi, dicevamo, noi sappiamo cos'è la cultura e cosa sono gli algoritmi. Ma ne siamo davvero certi?
L'opera di Striphas mi ha spalancato un mondo. Tornando indietro nel tempo, di secoli, se non di millenni, l'autore, in un modo sorprendentemente leggero e chiaro per essere un'opera di saggistica, ci dimostra come il significato che noi diamo a questi termini è cambiato nel tempo, fino ad arrivare ai nostri giorni. Si tratta di un viaggio che personalmente ho amato perché, attraverso una serie di aneddoti, ci fa conoscere nomi ed episodi per lo più sconosciuti, ma fondamentali per l'evoluzione delle parole "cultura", "algoritmo" e, ovviamente, "cultura algoritmica", tanto che ogni tanto ci si chiede se davvero arriverà da qualche parte (Non vi preoccupate, la prende un po' alla lontana, ma alla fine ci arriva). Ma io amo la Storia e le storie, quindi, lo ammetto, conquistarmi è stato piuttosto facile.
Ciò che, però, mi ha davvero colpito di questo lungo viaggio sono stati i tanti temi toccati: il ruolo della donna, l'omosessualità, il rapporto con gli altri popoli considerati inferiori... temi caldi, a noi noti, ma che spesso sembrano avulsi dalla realtà. Sì, sappiamo che prima le donne, anche nella società occidentale, erano considerate solo mogli e madri, che l'omosessualità era vista come una malattia, che gli abitanti di alcune zone del mondo non erano considerati neanche esseri umani, ma come questo ha influito veramente sull'evoluzione della nostra società, sulla storia, sulla politica, sul mondo? Sono domande che noi tendiamo a non porci, ma che qui vengono fuori con prepotenza.
Proprio per questi motivi, si tratta di un'opera di ampio respiro: si vede che l'autore non si è fermato alla superficie, ma ha scavato e scavato, regalandoci anche una ricchissima bibliografia da cui attingere nel caso qualcuno intenda approfondire alcuni argomenti.
In sintesi, si tratta di un'opera che consiglio vivamente a tutti, anche e soprattutto a coloro che, come me, pur non essendo addetti ai lavori, amano scoprire come e perché siamo arrivati a questo punto.