MK
@mkay
MK
When I first got access to the internet as a kid, the very first thing I did was to find people who liked the same things I liked — science fiction novels and TV shows, Dungeons and Dragons, and so on. In the early days, that was what you did when you got online — you found your people , whether on Usenet or IRC or Web forums or MUSHes and MUDs.
... See moreNoah Smith • The Internet Wants to Be Fragmented
Hyperconnectivity in the cultural realm promises abundance, decommodification and democratization. Everyone has at their fingertips an infinitely rich and varieduniverse of cultural products. New cultural forms and innovative practices have proliferated. Much digital culture is freely shared rather than bought and sold. And ever-expanding circles
... See moreRogers Brubaker • Hyperconnected Culture and Its Discontents
For one, social-media operators discovered that the more emotionally charged the content, the better it spread across its users’ networks.
Ian Bogost • The Age of Social Media Is Ending
Yet, the final component of the streaming ecosystem — artists and their teams — are still pretty much where they were in 2010 regarding algorithmic optimization. Today, most algorithmic strategies follow a kind of "throw spaghetti at a wall and see what sticks" approach: make sure that the metadata you provide to DSPs is as complete and accurate as... See more
Music Tomorrow • Towards Recommender System Optimization: Our Data Tool for Algorithmic Optimization on Spotify [Part 1]
2020 was the first year when streaming services overtook "family and friends" as the primary channel for music discovery, with over 62% of music listeners in the US naming DSPs among their top discovery sources.
Music Tomorrow • Towards Recommender System Optimization: Our Data Tool for Algorithmic Optimization on Spotify [Part 1]
When we dress to be photographed, we increasingly dress to be distributed as an image, and thus transformed into a kind of ad.
Dirt • Dirt | Substack
Some invest a lot of time and skill in crafting TikTok videos, but neither time nor skill is required. If TikTok “enables everyone to be a creator,” as its former mission statement proclaimed, this is because creative labor on the platform has been automated and deskilled.
Rogers Brubaker • Hyperconnected Culture and Its Discontents
Anybody can speak, but in an increasingly saturated cultural environment, nobody may be listening. Gatekeepers may no longer control what gets published, but algorithms control what gets circulated. Who sees what — in the domain of culture as well as news and commentary — is governed by opaque and proprietary software.