Category: Papers

Governing the Digital Society: Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Values

We have a new edited Open Access book out with Amsterdam University Press: José van Dijck, Karin van Es, Anne Helmond, and Fernando van der Vlist (eds) (2025) Governing the Digital Society: Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Values. Amsterdam University Press. It features 15 chapters from excellent researchers from our interdisciplinary research focus area Governing… Read more Governing the Digital Society: Platforms, Artificial Intelligence, and Public Values

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Platform: A Tapestry of Meanings and Metaphors

A new book chapter by Anne Helmond and Fernando van der Vlist in  Digital Media Metaphors (edited by Johan Farkas and Marcus Maloney), http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781032674612-4 This chapter explores the metaphorical ‘tapestry’ of meanings woven into the ‘platform’ metaphor, tracing its journey from a technical term in the computing sphere to a central concept in digital media.… Read more Platform: A Tapestry of Meanings and Metaphors

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Super-Appification: Conglomeration in the Global Digital Economy

A new open access article by Fernando van der Vlist, Anne Helmond, Michael Dieter, and Esther Weltevrede in: New Media & Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448231223419. Super-Appification: Conglomeration in the Global Digital Economy “In this study, we offer a distinct, global overview of ‘super apps’, enabling comparative analysis of their characteristics and origins worldwide, and paving the way… Read more Super-Appification: Conglomeration in the Global Digital Economy

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Pandemic platform governance: Mapping the global ecosystem of COVID-19 response apps

How have app stores governed the global app response to the coronavirus pandemic? An exploratory systematic mapping of COVID-19 pandemic response apps – A new open access article by Michael Dieter, Anne Helmond, Nathaniel Tkacz, Fernando van der Vlist, and Esther Weltevrede in Internet Policy Review. Abstract This article provides an exploratory systematic mapping of… Read more Pandemic platform governance: Mapping the global ecosystem of COVID-19 response apps

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Multi-Situated App Studies: Methods and Propositions

We just published a new article (open access🔓): Dieter, Michael, Carolin Gerlitz, Anne Helmond, Nathaniel Tkacz, Fernando N. van der Vlist, and Esther Weltevrede (2019). “Multi-Situated App Studies: Methods and Propositions.” Social Media + Society, 5(2), 1–15. doi:10.1177/2056305119846486. Abstract This article discusses methodological approaches to app studies, focusing on their embeddedness and situatedness within multiple… Read more Multi-Situated App Studies: Methods and Propositions

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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

Posted on by Anne