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Friday Lecture: Spotify Unwrapped: Algorithmic events, the dataified self and creative methods

By Dr Taylor Annabell, Postdoctoral Researcher, Utrecht University

Info about event

Time

Friday 22 November 2024,  at 14:15 - 16:00

Location

Adorno, Helsingforsgade 8, 8200 Aarhus N, Bygning 5008-128H

Photo: Taylor Annabell

Each year, Spotify nudges users to share aesthetically pleasing data stories ‘wrapped’ and repackaged from their listening behaviour. Approaching Spotify Wrapped as an ‘annual algorithmic event’ in which people celebrate and critique data capture, this talk demonstrates how the collective orientation towards a particular algorithmic system and its associated data can be utilised for creative and critical research. The talk outlines the theoretical framework and methodological approach used in the Spotify Unwrapped project (co-developed with Dr Nina Vindum Rasmussen) that draws on arts-based methods to cast new light on the datafication of music taste as well as ongoing discussions in critical algorithm studies of how to know ‘the algorithm’. It highlights key findings emerging from the analysis of workshops held with over 200 participants and illustrates how a data feminist approach prioritises the experiences, feelings and perspectives of participants in research, thereby subverting the Wrapped premise of constructing identity and music taste for users based solely on their listening data. In keeping with this, parts of the creative workshops will be integrated into the talk, allowing attendees to share their reflections on links between listening data, music and algorithmic identities.