Introduction
1. The Opacity of Dissemination, the Promise of Platforms
2. Transparency The Manifold
3. Platform Metrics as Ways of Knowing the Audience
4. The Uses of Dashboards
5. The Politics of Transparency Centres
Conclusion
Biography
Jan Teurlings is Assistant Professor in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He is the co-editor (together with Marijke De Valck) of The Ends of Television (2013). In the last decade he has repeatedly returned to the relation between media and transparency, as co-editor of special issues of Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies (2014) and symplokē (2025). The Digital Transparent is the culmination of that research arch.
“This remarkable book will make you think about the internet in a new way. Teurling’s critical history of digital transparency is absorbing and deeply researched. Essential reading for students and scholars in cultural theory, cultural history, and internet studies."
- Ramon Lobato, Professor of Digital Media, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
"The Digital Transparent is an enlightening read: it connects the historical dots between various types of media (newspaper, cinema, radio, tv) to contemporary modes of distributing digital content. Teurlings’ conceptual acuity and engaging writing style take the reader on a fascinating discovery trip. I recommend this book to all media and communication scholars and students.”
- José van Dijck, Professor of Media and Digital Society, Utrecht University (The Netherlands), author of The Culture of Connectivity and The Platform Society
