Defense Date

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

Dean's Office Qatar

First Advisor

Dr. Diane Derr

Second Advisor

Rab McClure

Third Advisor

Dr. Jörg Matthias Determann

Abstract

Forcing the world online, the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to turn social-media-based hobbies into income-generating cash cows. Digital creative spaces became sites of capitalist logic where hobbyists came to operate as both laborers and commodities. Profit-focused algorithms operate imperceptibly, shaping creative behavior and decision-making in ways that are difficult to recognize, and even harder to resist. This thesis asks how algorithmic participation on platforms such as Instagram conditions a hobbyist, and how that conditioning can be made legible to audiences who inhabit such platforms without always seeing them. Using autoethnography, I position myself as both researcher and subject to document the platform’s governance over my own creative practice of rug-making (tufting). These findings are translated into an interactive website called Algorhythm. Structured as a navigable convenience store, this interactive digital work invites audiences to walk the aisles and meet Algo, the algorithm personified, to understand how platform mechanics function behind the scenes. What begins as a simple walk through the store turns into a lesson in platform literacy where audiences experience firsthand how algorithmically guided social media platforms extract value from creator labor and audience attention alike.

Rights

© The Author

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

5-7-2026

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