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Abstract
This thesis describes a practice based research journey across various projects dealing with
the design of algorithms, to highlight the governance implications in design choices made on
them. The research provides answers and documents methodologies to address the urgent
need for more awareness of decisions made by algorithms about the social and economical
context in which we live. Algorithms consitute a foundational basis across diferent felds of
studies: policy making, governance, art and technology. The ability to understand what is
inscribed in such algorithms, what are the consequences of their execution and what is the
agency left for the living world is crucial. Yet there is a lack of interdisciplinary and practice
based literature, while specialised treatises are too narrow to relate to the broader context in
which algorithms are enacted.
This thesis describes a practice based research journey across various projects dealing with
the design of algorithms, to highlight the governance implications in design choices made on
them. The research provides answers and documents methodologies to address the urgent
need for more awareness of decisions made by algorithms about the social and economical
context in which we live. Algorithms consitute a foundational basis across diferent felds of
studies: policy making, governance, art and technology. The ability to understand what is
inscribed in such algorithms, what are the consequences of their execution and what is the
agency left for the living world is crucial. Yet there is a lack of interdisciplinary and practice
based literature, while specialised treatises are too narrow to relate to the broader context in
which algorithms are enacted.