The timescape framework: Discerning the temporal horizon of algorithm dynamics

Abstract

This article offers a critical framework to examine how temporal practices shape our understanding of algorithm dynamics, and how in turn the latter reinforce our experience of time. Drawing on Adam's timescape concept, it argues for specific temporal approaches and analytical perspectives in critical algorithm studies. In that guise, familiar notions such as “feedback loops” and “black boxes” are reframed through a temporal lens, seeking thus to produce critical reinterpretations of frequently overlooked sociotechnical connections. The first section of the article formalizes the concept of a timescape, laying the groundwork for a temporal perspective that can enrich our understanding of algorithmic assemblages. The second section surveys the field of critical algorithm studies, highlighting key theoretical frameworks and distinguishing between algorithms as technosocial systems and as code-based automated mechanisms. The third section proposes a research agenda that employs the timescape framework to reorganize and expand critical interpretations of algorithmic processes, while the last section attempts to ground that approach in concrete examples. Through this structure, the article seeks to broaden the scope of critical algorithm studies by foregrounding the temporal dimensions of algorithmic dynamics, offering a distinct analytical perspective on their sociotechnical implications.