Algorithm Awareness: Opportunities, Challenges and Impacts on Society
A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 1389
Special Issue Editor
Interests: critical studies of algorithms; human and technology interactions; social and digital inequalities; digital research methods; methodology of social sciences
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Algorithms have become pervasive in contemporary society, influencing various aspects of our lives, from human interactions and online shopping recommendations to employment decisions and healthcare management. While these algorithms offer unprecedented opportunities for efficiency, personalization, and convenience, they also pose significant risks related to privacy, bias, and autonomy. Moreover, algorithm awareness is key to addressing the digital divide, as it equips individuals with the knowledge to navigate and critically evaluate the digital algorithms that shape their online experiences. Without this awareness, marginalized groups may remain at a disadvantage, unable to fully engage with or benefit from digital technologies. Thus, investigating how users understand algorithms and how they interact with them is both a social and technical issue.
Recently, several studies have focused on operationalizing the concept of algorithmic awareness, examining sense-making processes around algorithms and forms of user engagement, defining research methods to investigate interactions with algorithms, and conducting case studies on specific populations within various social and digital contexts.
The purpose of this Special Issue is to contribute to the expanding social science literature that seeks to better understand algorithm awareness, how people make sense of the opacity of algorithms, and how their assumptions may influence their understanding and daily engagement with algorithmic systems, posing both risks and opportunities. Moreover, it aims to provide insights into methodological advancements in algorithm awareness, including new opportunities and challenges, as well as innovative approaches, methods, and techniques that enhance algorithm awareness research.
Potential topics of the papers include, but are not limited to, the following:
- People’s perceptions and understandings of algorithms.
- Human–algorithm interactions.
- Digital divide and algorithm awareness.
- Algorithmic literacy.
- Factors that contribute to users’ algorithm awareness.
- Case studies and empirical research on algorithm awareness in single or multiple contexts.
- Innovative methods for studying algorithm awareness.
- Methodological advancements in algorithm awareness.
Contributions have to follow one of the three categories of papers (article, conceptual paper or review) of the journal and address the topic of the Special Issue.
Dr. Cristiano Felaco
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- algorithm awareness
- algorithmic literacy
- algorithms
- artificial intelligence
- agency
- digital divide
- user–algorithm interaction method
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