Delores Phillips and Cultural Studies Association’s New Media & Digital Cultures Working Group Cochairs Reed Van Schenck and Elaine Venter discuss their special section entitled Digital Platforms and Agency, which appeared in Lateral 14.2 (Fall 2025), with additional content from three of the included authors: Kelsey Cummings (Christopher Newport University), Nina Medvedeva (Winona State University), and Nathalie Schäfer (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar) This podcast is accompanied by a scholarly commentary by Chris Alen Sula.
Articles by Reed Van Schenck
Reed Van Schenck is Assistant Professor of Communication & Media at IE University in Spain and co-chair of the New Media and Digital Cultures working group of the Cultural Studies Association. They are the author of The Reactionary Web: White Supremacist Digital Media After the Alt-Right (Bristol University Press, 2026). Their work on right-wing digital media can be found in Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, International Journal of Communication, Media, Culture & Society, among others. Reed can be reached at rvanschenck at faculty dot ie dot edu.
Introduction – Digital Platforms and Agency
This piece introduces a special section on digital platforms and agency. It unpacks the tension between, on the one hand, the imposition of digital platforms upon cultures by immensely-powerful technology companies, and on the other hand, the emergence of possibilities as people work, play, and express themselves on platforms. Cultural studies, which has always concerned itself with structure, culture, and agency, is well-positioned to work through this tension in order to orient scholars of platform studies toward radical critique and political action. The introduction situates the invited works of “Digital Platforms and Agency” in this context, elaborates upon cultural studies’ charge toward the emerging field of platform studies, and summarizes the individual and collective contributions of the special section authors.
AI Literacy and the Changing Digital Political Landscape
Delores Phillips and Cultural Studies Association’s New Media and Digital Cultures Working Group Co-Host Reed Van Schenck discuss AI literacy, digital politics, and the 2024 US presidential election with authors Elizabeth Losh (William and Mary) and Rita Raley (UC Santa Barbara). This podcast is accompanied by a scholarly commentary by Stefania Milan.