Associate Professor of Media, Data & Society
Application programming interfaces (APIs) are not merely technical objects for data access but have evolved into complex governance arrangements. We examine the relationship between the ‘technicity’ of platform governance–”governance of and by APIs–and the material conditions of a platform’s power. A new open access article by Fernando van der Vlist, Anne Helmond, Marcus Burkhardt, and… Read more API Governance: The Case of Facebook’s Evolution
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
Research article by Fernando van der Vlist and Anne Helmond – An empirical study about the significance of partnerships and how partners mediate and shape platform power published in the open access journal Big Data & Society. Social media platforms are among the world’s most profitable businesses whose business models rely on digital advertising revenues.… Read more Mapping business and data partnerships in the social media ecosystem
We just presented our forthcoming book chapter on ‘Platform and app histories: Assessing source availability in web archives and app repositories’ at the Engaging with Web Archives (#EWAvirtual) conference. Abstract In this chapter we discuss the research opportunities for historical studies of apps and platforms. Platforms and apps notoriously resist archiving due to their ephemerality… Read more Platform and app histories: Assessing source availability in web archives and app repositories
COVID-19 App Store and Data Flow Ecologies ESRC COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant The App Studies Initiative has received a grant for a short-term research project about apps as a key part of the response to COVID-19 around the world. We look forward to continuing our collaborations in this context. Project description Apps have emerged as… Read more Grant: COVID-19 App Store and Data Flow Ecologies
Michael Stevenson and I just published a special issue on “Legacy Systems” in the Internet Histories journal. The special issue explores the productive ambiguity of the concept of “legacy systems†in different directions to address the past’s persistence as well as its felt absence. The contributions revolve around a socio-cultural sense of legacy – of… Read more Legacy systems: internet histories of the abandoned, discontinued and forgotten