ABSTRACT

This article uses the case of podcasting to think through how elements and features like ratings, charts and other discovery mechanisms are at once part of the industrialization process and an arena where competing ideas about the industrialization of an emerging format play out. By looking at the twin problems of discoverability and measurability, I argue that ratings and reviews on platforms like Apple Podcasts are one of several means that podcasters, scammers, marketers, and users employ to engineer the discoverability of audio content. I introduce the concept of ‘infrastructures of discovery’ – the features, mechanisms, interfaces and pathways that serve to prepare, present and make cultural content searchable and legible – in the hope of exploring how rankings, ratings and other such mechanisms promote a particular view of industrialization and that emphasizes discoverability at the expense of other modes of cultural production. Given the prominent role platforms like Apple and Spotify now play as discovery hubs, the case of podcasting highlights how platformization is increasingly becoming the default method of distribution and how the need to be discoverable on these platforms raises technical and cultural challenges that ultimately affect podcasters and the content they create.

摘要

本文以播客为例，思考评级、图表和其他发现机制等元素和功能如何同时成为工业化过程的一部分，以及有关新兴格式工业化的竞争想法如何发挥作用的舞台。通过查看可发现性和可测量性这两个双重问题，我认为在 Apple Podcasts 等平台上的评分和评论是播客、诈骗者、营销人员和用户用来设计音频内容可发现性的几种方法之一。我介绍了“发现的基础设施”的概念——用于准备、呈现和使文化内容可搜索和易读的特征、机制、界面和途径——希望探索排名如何，评级和其他此类机制促进了对工业化的特殊看法，强调可发现性，而以牺牲其他文化生产模式为代价。鉴于 Apple 和 Spotify 等平台现在作为发现中心发挥着重要作用，播客案例凸显了平台化如何日益成为默认的分发方式，以及在这些平台上被发现的需求如何引发技术和文化挑战，最终影响播客和他们创造的内容。