Agency is a persons individuality, the ability to make decisions and be aware of their outcomes, especially online. In recent years, computer technology has become advanced enough to assist us in making these decisions. One example given in the reading is Google’s autocomplete feature when using the search bar. With this feature, the Google algorithm can use previous search patterns and popular national patterns to help users complete a search before they have even finished typing it in. This is a perfect example of agency because it is essentially humans and technology working together to make a decision or action. Data and agency are very closely related. My example from the data keyword response (voice assistant listening software) also applies here. Voice recognition technology like Siri or Alexa can hear what you are saying even when you are not actively using the feature. Because of this, when I mentioned watches for example, all that appeared on my social media ad space were watch company ads. Here too, technology was attempting to assist me in making a decision to purchase something that it thought I might like. Understanding agency is extremely important to understanding how humans interact with technology in the modern era.
2 thoughts on “JT Windle – Agency”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Understanding the decision-based relationship we, as people, have with the technology around us is really big, I think. It’s crazy how technology has evolved to the point where smart phones or watches, or home devices, are always listening to be called upon. In some cases, siri, on my phone, will respond to something or turn on without anyone mentioning the “hey siri” response. Voice recognition I think is a form of agency where it cannot exist without the person speaking, however the action cannot be done without the technology itself.
I think your example of advertisements is really relevant to agency, and also makes me question the relationship between human agency and agency of technology in regard to marketing. In the example of advertisements that pop up as a result of our search history or even just in response to things we’ve been talking about (our devices seem to be/are actually listening) it doesn’t seem like humans have much agency when it comes to marketing. Although the ads we see are typically a result of our own actions/tendencies, marketing ploys undermine human agency by drawing our attention to certain things, their agency influencing ours, possibly even to the extent of enticing us enough to actually buy a product.