Open AccessALGORITHMIC IMAGINARIES IN THE MAKING: BRAZILIAN UBERTUBERS ENCOUNTERS WITH SURGE PRICING ALGORITHMS
Author(s) -
Ana Carolina Guerra,
Carlos Frederico de Brito d’Andréa
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
selected papers of internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2162-3317
DOI - 10.5210/spir.v2021i0.12177
Subject(s) - surge , workforce , incentive , investment theory , pricing strategies , economics , computer science , sociology , algorithm , microeconomics , engineering , finance , capital asset pricing model , electrical engineering , economic growth
This paper explores the algorithmic imaginaries associated withUber's surge pricing, a central mediator of Uber drivers' labor experience. Surge pricingcan be described as an algorithmically driven mechanism that uses price adjustments asfinancial incentives to redistribute the workforce on a territory. Inspired by CriticalAlgorithm Studies, we argue that this mechanism of governance is not passively incorporatedby drivers and that their everyday encounters with surge pricing algorithms are productiveof imaginaries and valid forms of knowledge that orient their practices. We approach this bymapping and analyzing how popular Brazilian Uber drivers on YouTube (the “UberTubers”, as wepropose) discuss surge pricing in their channels. Based on 59 videos about surge pricingposted at the seven most popular Brazilian Ubertuber’s channels, we outline three maintopics approached: (a) What is surge pricing and what does it do?; (b) Tactics to benefitfrom surge pricing; (c) Algorithmic Labor as a laboratory. Among our findings, we identifiedthat some Ubertubers produce and share their own visual inscriptions to explain how surgepricing works. Through the engagement with their audience, Ubertubers collectivize theirexperiences and imaginations potentially transforming how various other drivers incorporatesurge pricing into their own tactics and daily routines. These channels provide us withsomething similar to an “archive” of surge pricing’s many versions and facets and offer usthe opportunity to learn how algorithms are perceived and how they shape labor on amicropolitical level.