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This paper examines how the use of multiple platforms is tied to awareness of algorithms. It builds on the premise that users interact with ecologies or environments of technologies rather than single platforms. The study also supplements work on algorithmic awareness by implementing a mixed-method study to account for how Costa Rican users of Netflix and Spotify understood and related to the algorithms of these platforms. This study combined a survey of 258 participants and 21 in-depth semistructured interviews. Findings demonstrate that multi-platform users were more aware of algorithms and carried out more practical actions to obtain algorithmic recommendations than single-platform users. Although user type did not predict participants' attitudes towards algorithmic recommendations, higher levels of awareness were associated with more positive attitudes towards algorithms. The study also shows that differences in levels of awareness explained users' emotional arousal derived from algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines recent transformations in music industries associated with platformization by privileging the perspectives, experiences, and voices of artists. We draw on in-depth interviews with 41 musicians based in two Latin American countries: Costa Rica and Mexico. We analyze how artists perceive the "power" and limitations of playlists, how they think playlists are transforming music industries, and how they associate various forms of pressure with this process. We then show that artists' perceptions about these issues are not uniform but rather variable by discussing three logics that shape the meaning they attribute to Spotify and playlists: dominant, oppositional, and negotiated. Finally, the paper explains the factors that account for why musicians in these countries espouse these logics in different ways. The conclusion argues for considering platformization as more than a purely technological process that needs to be situated within the wider national histories and cultural configurations of the music industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim We used abiotic environmental variables and historical locality records to infer distributions of endangered anuran species of Costa Rica to promote efficient strategies for future amphibian surveys. Location Costa Rica. Methods We used a Maximum Entropy Algorithm (Maxent) to predict potential distribution maps for 17 species of endangered anurans and create a consensus map of species richness. We compared the environmental conditions from localities where relictual amphibian populations were recently rediscovered with the conditions across their historical range to evaluate the possibility that these relictual populations might occur in specific climatic conditions that could explain their persistence. We used a multicriteria analysis considering the following factors: the intersection zones between the consensus map, conservation areas, potential Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd) distribution, collecting effort and areas within the precipitation range at which reappearances had occurred to locate sites for future surveys. Results The resulting predictions suggest that suitable areas for the highest number of species occur between 1300 and 2500 m.a.s.l and are concentrated along the Pacific slopes of the Cordillera de Talamanca and Cordillera Volcánica Central. Around 45% of the high potential richness area is under protection. Relictual populations of declined species seem to persist mainly in highly humid localities (2500-3500 mm of mean annual precipitation). Around 240 km2 has an ideal environment for the rediscovery of relictual populations. The multicriteria analysis showed that around 0.5% of the Costa Rican territory should be surveyed exhaustively for frogs. Main conclusions Many of the potential refugia we identified here have not been surveyed since 2000, the areas identified by the best model predictions correspond well with the localities of the relictual populations recently reported. We suggest future surveys of missing amphibian species should focus on these areas. The discovery of populations of endangered species can be used to propose conservation areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]