Daniel Joseph
@danjokaz00ie.bsky.social
Senior Lecturer of Digital Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University
MMU UCU committee
I'm a political economist of the internet
www.danieljamesjoseph.net
MMU UCU committee
I'm a political economist of the internet
www.danieljamesjoseph.net
Pinned
Daniel Joseph
@danjokaz00ie.bsky.social
· Sep 13
Workflow monopolies: A platform historiography of Unity in the immersive app economy - Chris J Young, Daniel J Joseph, David B Nieborg, 2025
This article discusses the relationship between cultural production and platform companies by mapping the rapidly evolving political economy of the real-time an...
journals.sagepub.com
Really excited to announce that Chris Young, David Nieborg and I just published a new OA paper in Platforms & Society developing the concept of the "workflow monopoly". To do this we conducted a platform historiography of the Unity game engine / workflow suite journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Daniel Joseph
Really happy to announce that I've signed my contract with @brisunipress.bsky.social for my forthcoming (2027) book 'Levelling Out: The Crash of the Video Games Industry'.
October 29, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Really happy to announce that I've signed my contract with @brisunipress.bsky.social for my forthcoming (2027) book 'Levelling Out: The Crash of the Video Games Industry'.
My trade union work is what keeps me grounded. I do what little I can and because everyone is coming together we actually achieve quite a lot.
Pretty sure I would be constantly clinically depressed if not for union organizing
October 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
My trade union work is what keeps me grounded. I do what little I can and because everyone is coming together we actually achieve quite a lot.
Really happy to announce that I've signed my contract with @brisunipress.bsky.social for my forthcoming (2027) book 'Levelling Out: The Crash of the Video Games Industry'.
October 29, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Really happy to announce that I've signed my contract with @brisunipress.bsky.social for my forthcoming (2027) book 'Levelling Out: The Crash of the Video Games Industry'.
Yes AI is a bubble but I _think_ a key dimension to it is that the physical infrastructure investment is made possible by the massive cash reserves that the tech monopolies had just sitting around. The stock market valuation is one thing - but the physical investment is another.
October 28, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Yes AI is a bubble but I _think_ a key dimension to it is that the physical infrastructure investment is made possible by the massive cash reserves that the tech monopolies had just sitting around. The stock market valuation is one thing - but the physical investment is another.
Which of you put me on a list
October 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Which of you put me on a list
quickly shit looking AI videos are, sadly, where the humour that defined twitter is likely to go. Sorry! Some will be funny, a lot will be boring. But, honestly, what it does is mean that lots of people can produce a short form comedy where the punchline is a visual.
October 9, 2025 at 11:43 AM
quickly shit looking AI videos are, sadly, where the humour that defined twitter is likely to go. Sorry! Some will be funny, a lot will be boring. But, honestly, what it does is mean that lots of people can produce a short form comedy where the punchline is a visual.
I'll be going as a delegate for MMU UCU this Friday and Saturday to The World Transformed in Manchester - if you are planning to go please let me know!
October 7, 2025 at 9:50 AM
I'll be going as a delegate for MMU UCU this Friday and Saturday to The World Transformed in Manchester - if you are planning to go please let me know!
Frankly absurd that Bratton somehow woke up one morning and thought the problem slowing down the sovereigntist European AI industry was media studies.
"European academic discourse did not create that dynamic: labor insecurity and the AI industry did."
mail.cyberneticforests.com/is-the-media...
mail.cyberneticforests.com/is-the-media...
Is the Media Studies Cabal in the Room With Us Right Now?
I read Benjamin Bratton's book, The Stack, in 2020 as a grad student in ANU's Applied Cybernetics program. I give it credit for directing my attention to the interaction between layers of digital and ...
mail.cyberneticforests.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Frankly absurd that Bratton somehow woke up one morning and thought the problem slowing down the sovereigntist European AI industry was media studies.
Reposted by Daniel Joseph
So my more measured take is that this is a clear reflection of the geopolitical-economic priorities of the Saudi Public Investment Fund & Jared Kusher's investment fund. We wrote about this broader dynamic over here in relation to the PIF investment in esports www.emerald.com/tpm/article/...
September 30, 2025 at 9:35 AM
So my more measured take is that this is a clear reflection of the geopolitical-economic priorities of the Saudi Public Investment Fund & Jared Kusher's investment fund. We wrote about this broader dynamic over here in relation to the PIF investment in esports www.emerald.com/tpm/article/...
So my more measured take is that this is a clear reflection of the geopolitical-economic priorities of the Saudi Public Investment Fund & Jared Kusher's investment fund. We wrote about this broader dynamic over here in relation to the PIF investment in esports www.emerald.com/tpm/article/...
September 30, 2025 at 9:35 AM
So my more measured take is that this is a clear reflection of the geopolitical-economic priorities of the Saudi Public Investment Fund & Jared Kusher's investment fund. We wrote about this broader dynamic over here in relation to the PIF investment in esports www.emerald.com/tpm/article/...
Jared Kushner and the Saudi PIF buying EA wasn’t on my bingo card
September 29, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Jared Kushner and the Saudi PIF buying EA wasn’t on my bingo card
Some crack reporting from the Financial Times on the current real world impact of AI tools on contemporary businesses. It's funny to see businesses admit the very limited impact, and very high risks, of AI deployment on.ft.com/3IEuXJr
America’s top companies keep talking about AI — but can’t explain the upsides
FT analysis of hundreds of filings suggest the S&P 500 businesses are clearer about the risks than benefits
on.ft.com
September 23, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Some crack reporting from the Financial Times on the current real world impact of AI tools on contemporary businesses. It's funny to see businesses admit the very limited impact, and very high risks, of AI deployment on.ft.com/3IEuXJr
Reposted by Daniel Joseph
Really excited to announce that Chris Young, David Nieborg and I just published a new OA paper in Platforms & Society developing the concept of the "workflow monopoly". To do this we conducted a platform historiography of the Unity game engine / workflow suite journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Workflow monopolies: A platform historiography of Unity in the immersive app economy - Chris J Young, Daniel J Joseph, David B Nieborg, 2025
This article discusses the relationship between cultural production and platform companies by mapping the rapidly evolving political economy of the real-time an...
journals.sagepub.com
September 13, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Really excited to announce that Chris Young, David Nieborg and I just published a new OA paper in Platforms & Society developing the concept of the "workflow monopoly". To do this we conducted a platform historiography of the Unity game engine / workflow suite journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Really excited to announce that Chris Young, David Nieborg and I just published a new OA paper in Platforms & Society developing the concept of the "workflow monopoly". To do this we conducted a platform historiography of the Unity game engine / workflow suite journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Workflow monopolies: A platform historiography of Unity in the immersive app economy - Chris J Young, Daniel J Joseph, David B Nieborg, 2025
This article discusses the relationship between cultural production and platform companies by mapping the rapidly evolving political economy of the real-time an...
journals.sagepub.com
September 13, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Really excited to announce that Chris Young, David Nieborg and I just published a new OA paper in Platforms & Society developing the concept of the "workflow monopoly". To do this we conducted a platform historiography of the Unity game engine / workflow suite journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Reposted by Daniel Joseph
My book, Influencer Creep, is a Publishers Weekly (@publisherswkly.bsky.social) Pick! Thank you for engaging so deeply with the themes of the book. The verdict? “those in the art world will find plenty to chew on”. Read here: www.publishersweekly.com/9780520402706
Influencer Creep: How Optimization, Authenticity and Self-Branding Transform Creative Culture by Sophie Bishop
In this uneven debut treatise, media studies scholar Bishop analyzes how social media influencer culture impacts the art world. ...
www.publishersweekly.com
August 14, 2025 at 10:09 AM
My book, Influencer Creep, is a Publishers Weekly (@publisherswkly.bsky.social) Pick! Thank you for engaging so deeply with the themes of the book. The verdict? “those in the art world will find plenty to chew on”. Read here: www.publishersweekly.com/9780520402706
really important aspect of the piles of money that tech have is that they are currently burning piles of it to build AI infrastructure. pretty much every major infrastructure investment like this is one day written down - but it's important that this gets built if capitalism is to keep "working"
So far this year, "capital expenditures on AI added more to US economic growth than all consumer spending combined... spending on IT for AI is so big it might be making up for economic losses from the tariffs, serving as a private sector stimulus program." www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-ai-bub...
The AI bubble is so big it's propping up the US economy (for now)
Plus how American professors are fighting back against the AI onslaught, a backlash over AI models in Vogue, and more.
www.bloodinthemachine.com
August 4, 2025 at 9:08 AM
really important aspect of the piles of money that tech have is that they are currently burning piles of it to build AI infrastructure. pretty much every major infrastructure investment like this is one day written down - but it's important that this gets built if capitalism is to keep "working"
Game File reporting how Krafton wants PUBG to become a "gamplay platform" www.gamefile.news/p/krafton-pu...
July 30, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Game File reporting how Krafton wants PUBG to become a "gamplay platform" www.gamefile.news/p/krafton-pu...
did some peer reviewin'
July 29, 2025 at 1:27 PM
did some peer reviewin'
Just reposting a few weeks out now - but hey if you’re interested in how and why a state inserts itself into sports and video games our article is just the ticket. Importantly, we call for a refocus on the nation state as a key player in digital capitalism.
I'm in Montreal on annual leave right now but really happy to share Tom Brock, Will Partin, & I's new article out in Team Performance Management: 'Towards a geopolitical economy of esports: making sense of Saudi Arabia’s investments' www.emerald.com/insight/cont...
July 21, 2025 at 11:10 PM
Just reposting a few weeks out now - but hey if you’re interested in how and why a state inserts itself into sports and video games our article is just the ticket. Importantly, we call for a refocus on the nation state as a key player in digital capitalism.
Am helping out with this! Should be a very cool special issue.
📯 CFP Alert 📯
Special Issue on Game Advertising
With a stellar guest editor board, this issue invites submissions on any aspect of video game advertising.
Submission deadline October 31, 2025
Details here:
dl.acm.org/journal/game...
Do share 🙃
Special Issue on Game Advertising
With a stellar guest editor board, this issue invites submissions on any aspect of video game advertising.
Submission deadline October 31, 2025
Details here:
dl.acm.org/journal/game...
Do share 🙃
GAMES: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE | ACM Digital Library
Games: Research and Practice offers a lighthouse for games research – a central reference point that defines the state of the art on games and playable media across academic research and industry prac...
dl.acm.org
July 10, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Am helping out with this! Should be a very cool special issue.
Insulting to hear that UCEA has refused to budge on our pay negotiations and continue to only offer a pay rise of 1.4%. UCEA constantly complaining about the financial woes across the sector isn’t an excuse to drive our wages into the ground.
July 9, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Insulting to hear that UCEA has refused to budge on our pay negotiations and continue to only offer a pay rise of 1.4%. UCEA constantly complaining about the financial woes across the sector isn’t an excuse to drive our wages into the ground.
Really interesting write up of Valve by @alphaville.ft.com on.ft.com/4nC87SA
Valve conquered PC gaming. What comes next?
Peering inside one of the tech world’s strangest companies
on.ft.com
July 4, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Really interesting write up of Valve by @alphaville.ft.com on.ft.com/4nC87SA
Reposted by Daniel Joseph
I'm in Montreal on annual leave right now but really happy to share Tom Brock, Will Partin, & I's new article out in Team Performance Management: 'Towards a geopolitical economy of esports: making sense of Saudi Arabia’s investments' www.emerald.com/insight/cont...
June 27, 2025 at 2:20 PM
I'm in Montreal on annual leave right now but really happy to share Tom Brock, Will Partin, & I's new article out in Team Performance Management: 'Towards a geopolitical economy of esports: making sense of Saudi Arabia’s investments' www.emerald.com/insight/cont...
I'm in Montreal on annual leave right now but really happy to share Tom Brock, Will Partin, & I's new article out in Team Performance Management: 'Towards a geopolitical economy of esports: making sense of Saudi Arabia’s investments' www.emerald.com/insight/cont...
June 27, 2025 at 2:20 PM
I'm in Montreal on annual leave right now but really happy to share Tom Brock, Will Partin, & I's new article out in Team Performance Management: 'Towards a geopolitical economy of esports: making sense of Saudi Arabia’s investments' www.emerald.com/insight/cont...
Haha mark carney sucks shout out to everyone who said strategic voting was the only way to stop a right wing turn while this guy co-signs every act of Israeli and American aggression possible!! Evil stuff!!
June 22, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Haha mark carney sucks shout out to everyone who said strategic voting was the only way to stop a right wing turn while this guy co-signs every act of Israeli and American aggression possible!! Evil stuff!!