Special Issue of Computational Culture on “Apps and Infrastructures”

We are very excited to announce the launch of the special issue of Computational Culture on “Apps and Infrastructures” (open access🔓), edited by Carolin Gerlitz, Anne Helmond, David Nieborg, and Fernando van der Vlist (alphabetical). We also revamped the journal’s website!✨ http://computationalculture.net/issue-seven/ The special issue includes nine articles that challenge how we conceive and study… Read more Special Issue of Computational Culture on “Apps and Infrastructures”

Facebook’s evolution: development of a platform-as-infrastructure

We just published a new article (open access🔓): Helmond, Anne, David B. Nieborg, and Fernando N. van der Vlist. “Facebook’s Evolution: Development of a Platform-as-Infrastructure.” Internet Histories 3, no. 2 (April 3, 2019): 123–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2019.1593667. In this article we present a methodological approach for tracing a platform’s evolution using archived sources from the Internet Archive… Read more Facebook’s evolution: development of a platform-as-infrastructure

A Historiography of the Hyperlink: Periodizing the Web Through the Changing Role of the Hyperlink

In this chapter I provide a historiography of one of the core elements of the web, the hypertext link. I do so with the specific purpose of tracing the various roles of this central web object as a way to understand social, technical and commercial transformations of the web. That is, the hyperlink is positioned… Read more A Historiography of the Hyperlink: Periodizing the Web Through the Changing Role of the Hyperlink

The political economy of Facebook’s platformization in the mobile ecosystem: Facebook Messenger as a platform instance

Abstract Facebook’s usage has reached a point that the platform’s infrastructural ambitions are to be taken very seriously. To understand the company’s evolution in the age of mobile media, we critically engage with the political economy of platformization. This article puts forward a conceptual framework and methodological apparatus to study Facebook’s economic growth and expanding… Read more The political economy of Facebook’s platformization in the mobile ecosystem: Facebook Messenger as a platform instance

Published: The Affordances of Social Media Platforms

My co-authored chapter on social media and affordances with Taina Bucher has officially been published! Download the pre-publication print PDF, June 2016. Bucher T and Helmond A (2018) The Affordances of Social Media Platforms. In: Burgess J, Poell T, and Marwick A (eds), The SAGE Handbook of Social Media, London: SAGE Publications, pp. 233–253. Please… Read more Published: The Affordances of Social Media Platforms

Video series: Welcome to the Future of the Past

Two years ago I spoke at the IMPAKT Festival 2015 with the theme “The Future of the Past.” Together with my colleague Fernando van der Vlist and Transmediale artistic director Kristoffer Gansing we discussed different Big Data practices in our panel ‘Colossal Data X The Present.’ Afterwards we contributed to The Future of the Past, an interactive… Read more Video series: Welcome to the Future of the Past