From “Diversity” to “Discoverability”

Based on an analysis of the scholarly literature as well as official reports commissioned by national and supranational institutions, this chapter critically examines the current semantic shifts from “Diversity” to “Discoverability” in the French-speaking world’s cultural policies. First, a genealogy of the emergence of “Diversity” shows how this notion ultimately tamed earlier critical themes such as Cultural Exceptionalism. Second, an examination of the different theoretical tools developed in order to measure diversity reveals how this notion maintains an ideal of democracy against standardization (although not always explicitly). Third, the analysis of the recent mutations in cultural policies (with the pregnancy of notions such as “consumed diversity” and “discoverability”) is linked to the rise of cultural platforms and their recommendation algorithms. Finally, a fourth part critically addresses the limits and internal theoretical and political contradictions of the propositions for cultural policy to which the category of “Discoverability” has given rise so far, especially the abandoning of issues of standardization.

Christophe Magis. From “Diversity” to “Discoverability”. Michael Filimowicz. Systemic Bias, Routledge, pp.1-20, 2022, Algorithms and Society, 9781003173373. ⟨10.4324/9781003173373-1⟩ - lien externe. ⟨hal-04349234⟩ - lien externe