Anna Muenchrath: Just Browsing: Time and the Online Bookstore

Convenience and the saving of time is one of the attractions of buying books online, particularly on Amazon, which advertises rapid delivery speeds at very low prices. Algorithms are designed to save time, making a database of books easily searchable, but they are also programmed to increase the time users spend looking at a particular page or scrolling through a list of results. Moreover, when we move from the web to the distribution warehouse, Amazon’s algorithms parcel out time to “pickers” who have to try to beat the clock (“make rate”) as they translate online clicks, communicated at the speed of light, into the work of navigating vast shelves in search of books and other items. Set against the backdrop of the pastoral metaphor of “browsing,” indicating a slow consumer behavior historically linked to book buying, this talk considers the ubiquitous control of time in Amazon’s bookselling operation.

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