What Do We Know about Algorithmic Literacy? The Status Quo and a Research Agenda for a Growing Field

The increasing emergence of algorithms in our daily use of technologies comes with a growing field of empirical research trying to understand how aware and knowledgeable individuals are about algorithms. This field is marked by a certain diversity in terms of how it theorizes and measures people’s literacy when interacting with algorithms. We propose converging on the term algorithmic literacy that covers different dimensions used by previous research. This article summarizes the state of knowledge on algorithmic literacy by systematically presenting initial steps in theory building and measurement development. Drawing on this, we propose an agenda including five different directions that future research could focus on: 1) theory building to understand algorithmic literacy, 2) addressing the algorithmic divide, 3) uncovering the relationship between algorithmic literacy and attitudes, 4) examining algorithmic literacy as predictor for user behavior, and 5) exploring ways to increase algorithmic literacy.