Please join us at the CAMRI seminar Thursday next week Platform Socialism James Muldoon (University of Exeter) Date: Thursday, 10 February 2022 Time: 17.00-19.00 (UK time) Location: Online event - Zoom Meeting (please register so that we can send you the Zoom link) Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/platform-socialism-tickets-250158339327 Tech companies have been criticised for their surveillance practices, privacy breaches and monopolistic ambitions. Instead of inquiring as to how we could ‘fix’ Facebook, this seminar explores alternatives that could replace them. It presents the idea of platform socialism - the organisation of the digital economy through the social ownership of digital assets and democratic control over the infrastructure and systems that govern our digital lives. This framework facilitates holistic thinking about the systemic nature of the problems we face and the need for genuine alternatives. To develop the principles and institutional sketch of platform socialism, James Muldoon draws inspiration from the writings of two early twentieth century writers: the libertarian socialist, G. D. H. Cole and the Austrian philosopher and economist Otto Neurath. James proposes new forms of participatory and decentralised governance through an ecosystem of alternative ownership models of digital platforms. How would socially-owned and controlled apps operate in transport, food delivery and short-term accommodation? Drawing from historical examples and contemporary prototypes, platform socialism seeks to reclaim a long-term counter-hegemonic project for challenging capitalist control over technology. Biography Dr James Muldoon is a senior lecturer in political science at the University of Exeter and researcher at the Autonomy think tank. He is the author of Platform Socialism: Reclaiming our Digital Future from Big Tech (Pluto Press, 2022) and Building Power to Change the World: The Political Thought of the German Council Movements (OUP, 2020). His writings can be found at jamesmuldoon.org. Further CAMRI Seminars this term: Thursday, 24 February 2022 Power Without Responsibility 2: Market impoverishment https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/power-without-responsibility-market-impoveris... Friday, 25 February 2022 Decolonising Approaches to Users and Audiences in the Global South: Context, Theory and Method https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/decolonising-approaches-to-users-and-audience... Thursday, 10 March 2022 Rebecca L. Stein (Duke University) - Screen Shots: State Violence on Camera in Israel and Palestine https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/screen-shots-state-violence-on-camera-in-isra... Thursday, 24 March 2022 Power Without Responsibility 3 - Media reform: democratic choices https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/power-without-responsibility-media-reform-dem... Thursday, 14 April 2022 Yasmin Ibrahim (Queen Mary, University of London): Digital Racial – Algorithmic Violence and Racist Technologies https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/digital-racial-algorithmic-violence-and-racis... Thursday, 28 April 2022 Power Without Responsibility 4 and the public interest: an historical and contemporary analysis https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pwr-and-the-public-interest-an-historical-and... Thursday, 19 May 2022 Power Without Responsibility 5 - Radical journalism: then and now https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/power-without-responsibility-radical-journali... The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW. This message and its attachments are private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and remove it and its attachments from your system.