ERIC Number: EJ1419985
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-1175-8708
Writing with, for, and against the Algorithm: TikTokers' Relationships with AI as Audience, Co-Author, and Censor
Sarah Jerasa; Sarah K. Burriss
English Teaching: Practice and Critique, v23 n1 p118-134 2024
Purpose: Artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly important and influential in reading and writing. The influx of social media digital spaces, like TikTok, has also shifted the ways multimodal composition takes place alongside AI. This study aims to argue that within spaces like TikTok, human composers must attend to the ways they write for, with and against the AI-powered algorithm. Design/methodology/approach: Data collection was drawn from a larger study on #BookTok (the TikTok subcommunity for readers) that included semi-structured interviews including watching and reflecting on a TikTok they created. The authors grounded this study in critical posthumanist literacies to analyze and open code five #BookTok content creators' interview transcripts. Using axial coding, authors collaboratively determined three overarching and entangled themes: writing for, with and against. Findings: Findings highlight the nuanced ways #BookTokers consider the AI algorithm in their compositional choices, namely, in the ways how they want to disseminate their videos to a larger audience or more niche-focused community. Throughout the interviews, participants revealed how the AI algorithm was situated differently as both audience member, co-author and censor. Originality/value: This study is grounded in critical posthumanist literacies and explores composition as a joint accomplishment between humans and machines. The authors argued that it is necessary to expand our human-centered notions of what it means to write for an audience, to co-author and to resist censorship or gatekeeping.
Descriptors: Artificial Intelligence, Social Media, Algorithms, Writing (Composition), Audiences, Collaborative Writing, Censorship, Reading, Books, Video Technology, Man Machine Systems
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A