An Analysis of the Operational Logic of Algorithmic Narrative and Its Technological Alienation Risks in the Digital Media Field

Abstract

Digital media technologies have shifted the status of algorithms from distributional mechanisms to organizers of narrative action. This article analyzes how algorithms function and how they alienate the production and circulation of narratives. Algorithmic storytelling works by an internal process of "data screening-context stripping-meaning reconfiguration". It employs user profiles and collaborative filtering to achieve story matching and sharing. But the process is not value free. The interaction between instrumental rationality and commercial logic causes a number of alienating effects. On a cognitive level, there is the risk of preference reinforcement and information limitation. A survey by Shenzhen University showed that 77.8% of users were more likely to strengthen their existing cognitive constraints even when they saw "unexpected but interesting" content. At the level of value, the rules of distribution that favor traffic are eating away at narrative depth and systematically marginalizing exceptional material. At the level of subjects, artists conform to algorithmic tastes and consumers are pre-determined. Dilution of the subjectivities of author and user.  In a future when algorithms are well embedded in the communication ecosystem, it is necessary to balance the technical efficiency and public value and to change the algorithmic narrative from technology driven to value driven.