Engines of Order
A Mechanology of Algorithmic Techniques
Published on 1. October 2025
352 pages
978-1-040-79217-9 (ISBN)
Description
Software has become a key component of contemporary life and algorithms that rank, classify, or recommend are everywhere. Building on the philosophy of Gilbert Simondon and the cultural techniques tradition, this book examines the constructive and cumulative character of software and retraces the historical trajectories of a series of algorithmic techniques that have become the building blocks for contemporary practices of ordering. Developed in opposition to centuries of library tradition, these techniques instantiate dynamic, perspectivist, and interested forms of knowing. Embedded in technical infrastructures and economic logics, they have become engines of order that transform how we arrange information, ideas, and people.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
File size
3,76 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-79217-9 (9781040792179)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 12/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€73.22
Not yet published
Book
06/2020
Amsterdam University Press
€181.80
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
Bernhard Rieder is Associate Professor of New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam and a collaborator with the Digital Methods Initiative.
Content
Acknowledgements, Credits, Introduction, Part I, 1. Engines of Order, 2. Rethinking Software, 3. Software-Making and Algorithmic Techniques, Part II, 4. From Universal Classification to a Postcoordinated Universe, 5. From Frequencies to Vectors, 6. Interested Learning, 7. Calculating Networks: from Sociometry to PageRank, Conclusion: Toward Technical Culture, Index.
