Andrew Iliadis

Temple University | TU · Department of Media Studies and Production

Critical data studies explore the unique cultural, ethical, and critical challenges posed by Big Data. Rather than treat Big Data as only scientifically empirical and therefore largely neutral phenomena, CDS advocates the view that Big Data should be seen as always-already constituted within wider data assemblages. Assemblages is a concept that hel...

This article argues for the right to nonparticipation for Global Digital Citizenship (GDC). It recuperates the notion of political nonparticipation in the context of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and GDC in order to show that nonparticipation can operate effectively in non-State spheres, particularly online. The paper begins wit...

This paper provides two examples of concretization, an important concept in philosophy of technology that can also be applied to the study of media more broadly construed. It begins with a short summary of the preexisting literature on concretization, followed by a survey of the uses of concretization in the work of its primary theorist, the French...

The French philosopher Gilbert Simondon (1924-1989) was the first true philosopher of information, yet he remains relatively unknown outside of his native France. This situation is curious, given the warm reception his work has received from a small group of internationally renowned thinkers. Simondon's lifelong project was to expound the appearanc...

Wikidata is a knowledge base (i.e., a database of facts) project of the Wikimedia Foundation and a sister project to Wikipedia that contains billions of facts that anyone can edit. Platform companies, such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft use Wikidata to retrieve and transmit facts across the internet, while researchers rely on Wikidata as a data s...

Wikidata is a knowledge base (i.e., a database of facts) project of the Wikimedia Foundation and a sister project to Wikipedia that contains billions of facts that anyone can edit. Platform companies such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft use Wikidata to retrieve and transmit facts across the internet, while researchers rely on Wikidata as a data so...

In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift in the economies of search and information retrieval concerning how the products of giant platform companies consolidate and represent facts directly in their search results. Concomitantly, media, communication, and information scholars have recently refocused on how media technology companies vari...

Large media platforms are now in the habit of providing facts in their products and representing knowledge to various publics. For example, Google’s Knowledge Graph is a database of facts that Google uses to provide quick answers to publics who use their products, while Wikipedia has a product called Wikidata that similarly stores facts about the w...

Several industry‐specific metadata initiatives have historically facilitated structured data modeling for the web in domains such as commerce, publishing, social media, and so forth. The metadata vocabularies produced by these initiatives allow developers to “wrap” information on the web to provide machine‐readable signals for search engines, adver...

Large media platforms are now in the habit of providing facts in their products and representing knowledge to various publics. For example, Google’s Knowledge Graph is a database of facts that Google uses to provide quick answers to publics who use their products, while Wikipedia has a product called Wikidata that similarly stores facts about the w...

Palantir is among the most secretive and understudied surveillance firms globally. The company supplies information technology solutions for data integration and tracking to police and government agencies, humanitarian organizations, and corporations. To illuminate and learn more about Palantir’s opaque surveillance practices, we begin by sketching...

Palantir is among the most secretive and understudied surveillance firms globally. The company supplies information technology (IT) solutions for data integration and tracking to police and government agencies, humanitarian organizations, and corporations. To illuminate and learn more about Palantir’s opaque surveillance practices, we begin by sket...

Several industry-specific metadata initiatives have historically facilitated structured data modeling for the web in domains such as commerce, publishing, social media, etc. The metadata vocabularies produced by these initiatives allow developers to 'wrap' information on the web to provide machine-readable signals for search engines, advertisers, a...

This paper introduces the ‘Independence’ themed special issue which includes research presented at the 22nd annual Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference (2021). ‘Independence’ as a special issue theme could hardly be timelier, both in geopolitical and internet research terms. The call for the 2021 AoIR annual conference asked us to...

This chapter discusses critical and cultural approaches to Human-Machine Communication (HMC), identifying sites of conflict while providing information about some of the associated histories and trajectories of crucial interventions in the field. Drawing from early work in critical theory, the chapter transitions from these early reflections to mor...

Machines produce and operate using complex systems of metadata that need to be catalogued, sorted, and processed. Many students lack the experience with metadata and sufficient knowledge about it to understand it as part of their data literacy skills. This paper describes an educational and interactive database activity designed for teaching underg...

Palantir is one of the most secretive technology firms in the US. The company supplies information technology (IT) solutions to governments, nonprofits, and corporations, focusing on data integration and surveillance services. To investigate Palantir’s opaque technology practices, this article presents findings from a topic modeling of Palantir pat...

This commentary discusses recent developments in ‘knowledge graph’ technology over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently experiencing a surge in popularity, knowledge graphs are technologies that assist with data integration through structured metadata modeling. Researchers tag and collate vast amounts of diverse data using knowledge graphs...

When the augmented reality (AR) industry was first forming, many hyperbolic futures were imagined. These futures served important functions, whether it was growing the community, motivating investors, or setting priorities for AR companies. Over time, however, futures and collective expectations for the technology can change dramatically. This stud...

This panel focuses on the way that platforms have become key players in the representation of knowledge. Recently, there have been calls to combine infrastructure and platform-based frameworks to understand the nature of information exchange on the web through digital tools for knowledge sharing. The present panel builds and extends work on platfor...

Deepfakes are becoming a key topic in debates around politics and misinformation on the internet today. While the phenomenon of deepfakes is relatively new with the first documented public appearances recorded in 2017, there is already a growing scholarly literature about deepfakes and the various methods that can be used to help understand and com...

Practitioners and scholars explore ethical, social, and conceptual issues arising in relation to such devices as fitness monitors, neural implants, and a toe-controlled computer mouse. Body-centered computing now goes beyond the “wearable” to encompass implants, bionic technology, and ingestible sensors—technologies that point to hybrid bodies and...

Edited by Isabel Pedersen and Andrew Iliadis, Chapter Authors: Roba Abbas, Andrew Iliadis, Gary Genosko, Suneel Jethani, Deborah Lupton, Katina Michael, M. G. Michael, Marcel O'Gorman, Maggie Orth, Isabel Pedersen, Christine Perakslis, Kevin Warwick, Elizabeth Wissinger. Summary: Practitioners and scholars explore ethical, social, and conceptual...

Communication scholars, especially in organizational communication, call for a consti-tutive approach to communication that considers communicating and organizing as a single process. Yet, current theorizing seems unable to embrace that equivalence. As an alternative, we present an informationally grounded view of communication, drawing from French...

Purpose Applied computational ontologies (ACOs) are increasingly used in data science domains to produce semantic enhancement and interoperability among divergent data. The purpose of this paper is to propose and implement a methodology for researching the sociotechnical dimensions of data-driven ontology work, and to show how applied ontologies ar...

Purpose – Applied computational ontologies (ACOs) are increasingly used in data science domains to produce semantic enhancement and interoperability among divergent data. The purpose of this paper is to propose and implement a methodology for researching the sociotechnical dimensions of data-driven ontology work, and to show how applied ontologies...

This short piece is a partial translation of the introduction to Gilbert Simondon’s most succinct philosophical reflections on the notions of form, information, and potentials. The material was presented on February 27, 1960, at the Session of the Société française de philosophie. After the abstract and Simondon’s definitions of form, information,...

Purpose This paper aims to examine how metadata taxonomies in embodied computing databases indicate context (e.g. a marketing context or an ethical context) and describe ways to track the evolution of the embodied computing industry over time through digital media archiving. Design/methodology/approach The authors compare the metadata taxonomies o...

The paper examines how metadata taxonomies in embodied computing databases indicate their orientation (e.g. indicating a marketing focus vs. a focus on ethical and social impact) and describes ways to track the evolution of the embodied computing industry over time through digital media archiving. Design/methodology/approach – We compare the metada...

Recently, media and communication researchers have shown an increasing interest in critical data studies and ways to utilize data for social progress. In this commentary, I highlight several useful contributions in the International Panel on Social Progress (IPSP) report toward identifying key data justice issues, before suggesting extra focus on a...

Recently, media and communication researchers have shown an increasing interest in critical data studies and ways to utilize data for social progress. In this commentary, I highlight several useful contributions in the International Panel on Social Progress' (IPSP) report toward identifying key data justice issues, before suggesting extra focus on...

In this paper we describe the rationale behind a panel concerning the transdisciplinary approaches to critical data studies. We illuminate emerging modes of conducting critical data studies research and highlights the interdisciplinary opportunities within future research directions. We describe the format for the panel and the themes that will be...

Research on wearables, quantified self, and the self-tracking movement has grown in recent years (Nafus, 2016; Neff and Nafus, 2016; Pedersen, 2013; Young, 2012), leading to novel insights about our intimate relationships with emerging forms of tactile, embodied computing. Researchers have discovered valuable applications for wearables in diverse d...

A number of French philosophies of technology appeared in the middle of the twentieth century—specifically between the years 1932-1958. They began with the hope of establishing a new field in France that was to be called mechanology (the study and science of machines). The first person to start this project was Jacques Lafitte (1884-1966). Lafitte...

This article argues for the right to nonparticipation for Global Digital Citizenship (GDC). It recuperates the notion of political nonparticipation in the context of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and GDC in order to show that nonparticipation can operate effectively in non-State spheres, particularly online. The paper begins wit...

Interview with Jean-Hugues Barthélémy

Book Review - Media Effects Research: A Basic Overview

Why Philosophize? LYOTARD JEAN-FRANÇOIS Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013; 123 pp.; $12.95 (paperback) ISBN: 978-0-7456-7073-7 - ANDREW ILIADIS

This work in progress paper presents initial results on the development and testing of a novel assessment tool utilizing an ethics transfer case methodology targeted at measuring the ethical reasoning ability of engineering students employing reflexive principlism. This work evaluates the reliability and transferability of a rubric-based assessment...

Training future engineers to effectively handle ethical dilemmas they will encounter in developing and implementing new technology is a critical and relevant challenge for a nation that is advancing science and engineering technologies at an ever increasing rate. Each year thousands of new engineers join the workforce and face novel issues raised b...

This work in progress paper presents initial results on the development and testing of a novel assessment tool utilizing an ethics transfer case methodology targeted at measuring the ethical reasoning ability of engineering students employing reflexive principlism. This work evaluates the reliability and transferability of a rubric-based assessment...

The French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1925-1995) wrote monographs on the philosophers whose work greatly influenced his own, with one glaring exception: he did not write one on his contemporary Gilbert Simondon (1924-1989). Simondon is cited only a few times in the Deleuzean corpus yet his influence is everywhere, from ideas concerning the virtual...