Table of Contents

Introduction Lisa Parks, Julia Velkova, and Sander De Ridder

Part I: Sensing, Automating, Mediating

1 Atmospheric Mediation: From Smart Dust to Customizable Governance Mark Andrejevic, and Zala Volcic

2 The Other Side of the Smart Phone: MEMS Sensors and the Tiny Matter of Mediation Lisa Parks

3 EugenicTech: Three Perspectives On the (B)anality of AI Jonathan Cohn

4 Coding and Encoding Streamed Media: The Cultural Infrastructure of the Netflix Recommender System Fatima Gaw

5 Engaging Opacity: Spotify and the Poesis of Algorithmic Backends Tim Markham

Part II: Datafying, Serving, Distributing

6 The Social Mapping of Hyperscale Data Center Regions: Placemaking, Infrastructuring, Curating Vicki Mayer and Julia Velkova

7 Cross-sectoral Relations in VoD Markets: Frontend, Backend, and Deepend in India Vibodh Parthasarathi, Philippe Bouquillion, and Christine Ithurbide

8 Serving Machines and Heterotopias: Data Entry Work in Prisons and Refugee Camps in the US and Uganda Anne Kaun, Alexis Logsdon, Philipp Seuferling and Fredrik Stiernstedt

9 Mythical Media Backends: Human-Machine Communication’s Cruel Promises Sander De Ridder

10 The Black Living Data Booklet Faithe Day

Part III: Subjecting, Humanizing, Repairing

11 Sonorous Surfaces, Biased Backends: The Gendered Voices of AI Assistants as Existential Media Amanda Lagerkvist, Jacek Smolicki, and Matilda Tudor

12 On Meaning and Exploitation: Everyday AI and Productivity Tracking in Denmark Stine Lomborg

13 The Backend Work of Data Subjects: Ordinary Challenges of Living with Data in India and the US Ranjit Singh

14 Repairing Algorithms, Rebuilding Data Paths: Digital Infrastructures, Public Service Media, and Material Solidarity in Europe Kaarina Nikunen

Afterword Rahul Mukherjee

Contributor Bios

Index

About the Author

Lisa Parks is distinguished professor of film and media studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara and directs the Global Media Technologies and Cultures Lab. Julia Velkova is an associate professor of media and communications and of technology and social change at LinkÖping University. Sander De Ridder is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Antwerp.

Reviews

“What happens in the backend, behind our screens, in the sociotechnical systems that constitute our media space? Parks, Velkova, and De Ridder have collected an impressive bouquet of enlightening articles, offering a wide scope of critical perspectives on what happens in the invisible parts of the internet, including its infrastructure. Reading through this collection, you start seeing the bigger picture of a media landscape in transformation and how this connects to global societal transformations. A true mind opener.”--JosÉ van Dijck, author of The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media