Until recently, the term algorithm has only been used by people working in the field of mathematics and computer technology. Nowadays it has become one of the keywords of digitalization and the data-driven world around us and is now an integral part of public speech. As a result, more and more people are aware of algorithms influencing certain aspects of our lives. However, publicity has partly obscured and transformed the original meaning, so algorithms appear as mystical “things” in our lives that are therefore invisible and impenetrable for most people.
Algorithms are present almost everywhere in the digital world where patterns are to be found, users are to be categorized and ranked, behaviors are to be predicted and based on all these information automatic decisions are to be made or prepared for “real people” with huge amounts of data. As for the order of magnitude of the possible social consequences, it is a fairly new phenomenon. Therefore, the aim of the project is to uncover some of the underlying mechanisms that shape the current and future use of algorithms in society.

Incubator – Collaborative Research Fund of the Centre for Social Sciences, HAS

Project leader: Bence Ságvári