Book launch

The Politics of Platformization

What is platformization and why is it a relevant category in the contemporary political landscape? How is it related to cybernetics and the history of computation? During this event, interviewees of the recently published The Politics of Platformization: Amsterdam Dialogues on Platform Theory join editor Gianmarco Cristofari in conversation.

The Politics of Platformization captures multidisciplinary dialogues about the first ten years of the emerging fields of platform studies and platform theory. It deploys a narrative and playful approach that makes use of anecdotes, personal histories, etymologies, and futurable speculations to investigate both the fragmented genealogy that led to platformization and the organizational and economic trends that guide nowadays platform sociotechnical imaginaries.

The dialogues cover fields such as media studies, software studies, internet governance, network theory, urban studies, social movement studies, political economy, management, and platform regulation. The interviews are set up to develop a network of internal cross-references that highlight the multi-layered connections from which platform power emerges.

The event consists of the presentation of the book and public discussions with the authors and audience on: the European, Amsterdam-based research of digital platforms; the path of platformization in the European Union.

Free copies of The Politics of Platformization: Amsterdam Dialogues on Platform Theory will be available at the lecture.

About the speakers

Gianmarco Cristofari is a lawyer and PhD candidate in Global Studies at the University of Macerata, Italy. He worked as a consultant in data protection and labor law in Rome and Vicenza.

Thomas Poell is Professor of Data, Culture & Institutions at the University of Amsterdam, program director MA Media Studies, and director of the Research Priority Area on Global Digital Cultures. His research is focused on the digitisation of cultural institutions in the light of the proliferation of data, the growing importance of AI, and the rise of major platform corporations.

Geert Lovink is a Dutch media theorist, internet critic and Professor of Art and Network Cultures at the UvA Art History Department.

Stefania Milan is Professor of Critical Data Studies at University of Amsterdam, and Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University.

Anne Helmond is Associate Professor of Media, Data & Society at Utrecht University.

Letizia Chiappini is an urban sociologist and holds a PhD with a double affiliation at the University of Milano Bicocca and the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Her research interest revolves around the relationship between cities and technology.

Balázs Bodó is Associate Professor, socio-legal researcher at the Institute for Information Law (IViR) at the University of Amsterdam.

Niels ten Oever is a postdoctoral researcher with the ‘Making the hidden visible: Co-designing for public values in standards-making and governance’-project at the Media Studies department at the University of Amsterdam.

Niels van Doorn is Associate Professor in New Media & Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam. He leads the ERC-funded Platform Labor research project, which examines how platforms are transforming labor, social reproduction and urban governance in post-welfare cities.

Paddy Leerssen is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Information Law (IViR), University of Amsterdam.

Martijn de Waal is a professor in Civic Interaction Design at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. His work focusses on the design of (on- and offline) public spaces in a network society.

Davide Beraldo is Assistant Professor of New Media, Data and Information in the department of Media Studies and in the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation at the University of Amsterdam.

Giovanni Rossetti is a Media Studies Research Master’s student at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on the platformization of labor with a particular interest in the historical and cultural trajectories that drive and shape it.