Re-arrarranging books and documents on my shelves this afternoon, I revisited this gem of masters thesis by Raphaël Pluvinage. Written in 2015, this mémoire produced in an design school (ENSCI-Les Ateliers, Paris) addresses the ever-increasing importance of algorithms in our everyday life, as well as issues regarding their behavior and design.

As often with thesis in applied arts, the visual character of the document is stunning and highly interesting from both an aesthetical and intellectual viewpoint. The author chose to use multiple representations to highlight what he calls the "forms" of algorithms, with diagrams and visual patterns expressing abstract data trajectories.

The most interesting part of thesis IMHO – wrt to my project here and this blog – is the chapter right in the middle about how to name algorithms (yes this is none other than Nintendo ROB used as a book holder):

Implications: A common practice in computer science and programming is to name algorithms, either by category denominations (e.g. sorting algo, matching algo), or by individual nickname. The alphabetical classification provided by Pluvinage in this thesis is interesting, because it shows two of the epistemological gestures I want to focus on in this project: naming and organizing entities. A potential follow-up here would be to explore how these names are used in various communities of practice, and how their connotation or cultural references have an influence on activities carried out by practitioners.