Taming the algorithm!

Almost everything we see on social media is recommended by an algorithm. What we like and do is subconsciously shaped by what is shown to us through filter bubbles. One could even argue that we are being “tamed” by algorithms. But what if we can tame them back?

In this hands-on workshop, participants become the trainers who will tame the recommendation algorithm behind a newly created TikTok account. In the course of the taming process, participants take on the role of a fictional persona, such as a melancholic person and engage with TikTok in a way so that the algorithm will recommend more videos that this persona would like.

Through the training process, participants will observe how the recommendation algorithm is not transparent and how it can quickly become biased based on the data that you provide. We will also be making critical interventions by using bots.

Some practicalities:

• Please bring your laptop if you have one
• No TikTok account is required but is a good to have
• No coding experience is required for this workshop
• This ticket includes a drink

About the artist

Tomo Kihara (JP/NL) works at the intersection of play, technology, and society, as an artist, designer and a developer. He creates critical toys that provide a new perspective to complex socio-technical problems in an engaging manner. He holds an MSc in interaction design from TU Delft (NL) and has worked and collaborated with organizations like IDEO, Waag, Mozilla Foundation on several design projects. His projects has been exhibited at places like the Red Dot Design Museum in Xiamen and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

tomokihara.com