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This paper considers how subjectivities are enlivened in algorithmic systems. We first review related literature to clarify how we see “subjectivities” as emerging through a tangled web of processes and actors. We then offer two case studies exemplifying the emergence of algorithmic subjectivities: one involving computational topic modeling of blogs written by parents with children on the autism spectrum, and one involving algorithmic moderation of social media content. Drawing on these case studies, we then articulate a series of qualities that characterizes algorithmic subjectivities. We also compare and contrast these qualities with a number of related concepts from prior literature to articulate how algorithmic subjectivities constitutes a novel theoretical contribution, as well as how it offers a focal lens for future empirical investigation and for design. In short, this paper points out how certain worlds are being made and/or being made possible via algorithmic systems, and it asks HCI to consider what other worlds might be possible. 

Computational algorithms can provide novel, compelling functionality for interactive systems. However, designing such systems for users whose expertise lies outside computer science poses novel and complex challenges. This paper focuses specifically on the domain of designing interactive topic modeling visualizations to support interpretivist scholars. It describes a co-design process that involved working directly with two such scholars across two different corpora. The resultant visualization has both several similarities and key differences with other topic modeling visualizations, illustrated here using both the final design and discarded prototypes. The paper’s core contribution is an attention to how our emphasis on interpretation played out, both in the design process and in the final visualization design. The paper concludes by discussing the kinds of issues and tensions that emerged in the course of this work, as well as the ways that these issues and tensions can apply to much broader contexts of designing interactive algorithmic systems.