Algorithmic Adaptation and the Remapping of Cultural Self Efficacy: The study of Digital Leadership within the Lion Dance Performance Context
List of Authors
Aloysius Yapp, Chia Mei Si, Foo Chuan Chew, Goh Kiang Kuan, Lu Huang Chen
Keyword
Digital Leadership; Algorithmic Adaptation; Cultural Preservation; Self-Efficacy; Grassroots
Abstract
This paper is about the evolution of leadership and cultural preservation by tracing the trajectory of an amateur Lion Dance troupe from its resource-constrained, grassroots beginnings in rural Sarawak in 1983 to its modern translation in the hyper-visual environment of platforms such as YouTube-the Algorithmic Archipelago. The paper contrasts functional leadership, which relies on physical mobilization and acts of invention born of constraint-taking Milo tins to make drums, for example with the very different requirements of digital leadership: one that leverages algorithmic literacy, content production competency, and attention economy success. We argue that while the digital shift offers unparalleled reach, it transforms both the cognitive ways in which cultural content is processed and requires a very different leader self-efficacy-one that must transition from competence validated by community Ang Pao-red packets-to those measured by digital metrics of Likes and views. The key challenge lies in maintaining cultural depth in the ubiquitous force of algorithmic compliance.