Emily Pedersen

EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley

Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2019-48

May 16, 2019

http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2019/EECS-2019-48.pdf

People increasingly have to manage their relations with opaque, proprietary algorithms in their social, personal, and professional lives. How do creative content creators make sense of the algorithms that these platforms use? We take the case of YouTube because of its widespread use and the spaces for collective sense making and mutual aid that content creators (YouTubers) have built within the last decade. We engaged in ethnographic field work with hobbyist YouTubers which included one-on-one interviews as well as analyzing content on YouTube and its related forums. We found that YouTubers make sense of the algorithm by assigning human characteristics and goals to it to explain its behavior; what we have termed "algorithmic personas". We identify three main algorithmic personas on YouTube: Agent, Gatekeeper, and Drug Dealer. We discuss the implications of these metaphors for developing our understanding of the roles that algorithms play in the real world and their politics and ethics. We also found that the creators we interviewed in-person believe YouTube highly values sensationalist content, creating a toxic online community. Creators want the platform to change; they want it to include a more diverse representation of content and creators, and to value creative content more highly. In addition, we explore the wider YouTube's community concerns and their technical implications.

Advisors: Marti Hearst

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BibTeX citation:

@mastersthesis{Pedersen:EECS-2019-48,
    Author= {Pedersen, Emily},
    Title= {"My Videos are at the Mercy of the YouTube Algorithm": How Content Creators Craft Algorithmic Personas and Perceive the Algorithm that Dictates their Work},
    School= {EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley},
    Year= {2019},
    Month= {May},
    Url= {http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2019/EECS-2019-48.html},
    Number= {UCB/EECS-2019-48},
    Abstract= {People increasingly have to manage their relations with opaque, proprietary algorithms in their social, personal, and professional lives. How do creative content creators make sense of the algorithms that these platforms use? We take the case of YouTube because of its widespread use and the spaces for collective sense making and mutual aid that content creators (YouTubers) have built within the last decade. We engaged in ethnographic field work with hobbyist YouTubers which included one-on-one interviews as well as analyzing content on YouTube and its related forums. We found that YouTubers make sense of the algorithm by assigning human characteristics and goals to it to explain its behavior; what we have termed "algorithmic personas". We identify three main algorithmic personas on YouTube: Agent, Gatekeeper, and Drug Dealer. We discuss the implications of these metaphors for developing our understanding of the roles that algorithms play in the real world and their politics and ethics. We also found that the creators we interviewed in-person believe YouTube highly values sensationalist content, creating a toxic online community. Creators want the platform to change; they want it to include a more diverse representation of content and creators, and to value creative content more highly. In addition, we explore the wider YouTube's community concerns and their technical implications.},
}

EndNote citation:

%0 Thesis
%A Pedersen, Emily 
%T "My Videos are at the Mercy of the YouTube Algorithm": How Content Creators Craft Algorithmic Personas and Perceive the Algorithm that Dictates their Work
%I EECS Department, University of California, Berkeley
%D 2019
%8 May 16
%@ UCB/EECS-2019-48
%U http://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2019/EECS-2019-48.html
%F Pedersen:EECS-2019-48