Automation and artificial intelligence are changing the way we create, communicate and relate to each other. Big data is however rooted in history and reproduce biases, for instance, in future decision-making. Let me share a few key readings that I use for courses or research. Note that this is a living document that I update regularly.
Artificial Intelligence
Boden, M. A. (2016). AI: Its Nature and Future: Oxford University Press.
Bridle, J. (2019). New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future: Verso Books.
Brodermerkel, S. and Carah, N. (2016). Brand Machines, Sensory Media and Calculative Culture. Palgrave Macmillan: London.
Broussard, M. (2019). Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World: MIT Press.
Carah, N. & Angus, D. (2018). ‘Algorithmic brand culture: participatory labour, machine learning and branding on social media’. Media, Culture and Society. URL
Du Sautoy, M. (2019). The Creativity Code: Art and Innovation in the Age of AI: HarperCollins Publishers Australia.
Fry, H. (2018). Hello World: How to be Human in the Age of the Machine: Transworld.
Rahwan, I., Cebrian, M., Obradovich, N. et al. (2019). ‘Machine behaviour’. Nature 568, 477–486 doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1138-y URL
Tegmark, M. (2017). Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Penguin Books Limited.
Thurman, N., Lewis, S. & Kunert, J. (2019) ‘Algorithms, Automation, and News’. Digital Journalism, 7:8 (special issue), DOI: 10.1080/21670811.2019.1685395 URL
Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power: Profile.
Automation and the Future of Work
Bloodworth, J. (2018). Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain: Atlantic Books.
Bruns, A. (2019). Are Filter Bubbles Real? Cambridge, UK : Polity . [Google Scholar]
Daugherty, P. R., & Wilson, H. J. (2018). Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI: Harvard Business Review Press.
Gray, M. L., & Suri, S. (2019). Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass: HMH Books.
Kessler, S. (2018). Gigged: The End of the Job and the Future of Work: St. Martin’s Press. Prassl, J. (2018). Humans as a Service: The Promise and Perils of Work in the Gig Economy: Oxford University Press.
Oppenheimer, A., & Fitz, E. E. (2019). The Robots Are Coming!: The Future of Jobs in the Age of Automation: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Standing, G. (2016). The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Inequality and Bias
Eubanks, V. (2018). Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor: St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
Lanier, J. (2013). Who Owns The Future? : Penguin Books Limited.
Noble, S. U. (2018). Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism: NYU Press.
O’Neil, C. (2016). Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy: Crown/Archetype.
Critical Platform Studies
Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform Capitalism. Cambridge, Malden: Polity.
Geiger, R. Stuart. (2014). ‘Bots, Bespoke, Code and the Materiality of Software Platforms’. Information, Communication & Society 17 (3): 342–56. http://stuartgeiger.com/bespoke-code-ics.pdf
Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media: Yale University Press.
Helmond, A. (2015). ‘The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready’. Social Media + Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305115603080
Steinberg, M. (2019). The Platform Economy: How Japan Transformed the Consumer Internet: University of Minnesota Press.
Other Literature Recommendations:
AI & Journalism syllabus by Andreaa Guzman
Emerging Technology & Ethics literature by Danya Glabau
Critical Algorithm Studies Reading List by Social Media Collective
Nicolle Lamerichs 