ABSTRACT
The chapter investigates how ongoing feature changes in contemporary software reframe our understanding of data and algorithms, interprets these changes as shifting “rules of play,” and introduces the notion of diachronic affordance analysis to conceptualize their rhetorical implications over time. First, it elaborates on the perceived “gameness” of software applications like online social networks, which often intensifies over time through continuous datafication via concepts like procedural rhetoric and the “implied player.” Second, as most contemporary software is defined by constant “tweaking,” it suggests considering the rhetorical implications of software change itself rather than focusing on the assemblage of features at any contingent moment. Finally, to demonstrate the approach, important developments between 2017 and 2020 in the mobile app Samsung Health serve as a case study.
