Professor Geert Lovink, founder of the Institute of Network Cultures and esteemed ISOC NL Member has a book recommendation: The Politics of Platformization – Amsterdam Dialogues on Platform Theory, by Gianmarco Cristofari.
This book tries to answer such questions by engaging in 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.
Cristofari gives you insight in his exploratory and educational conversations with Davide Beraldo and Giovanni Rossetti; Balázs Bodó; Letizia Chiappini; Niels van Doorn; Anne Helmond; Joris van Hoboken; Paddy Leerssen; Geert Lovink; Stefania Milan; Niels ten Oever; Thomas Poell; Martijn de Waal.
Get a (free) copy of the book here!
For more information contact the Institute of Network Cultures (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, HvA) via e-mail: info@networkcultures.org or online via www.networkcultures.org