Professor Ned Rossiter

ICS Director of Research,
Institute for Culture and Society

Professor of Communication,
Communication, Creative Industries & Screen Media

Biography
Contact
Publications
Projects
Supervision
Teaching

Biography

Ned Rossiter is a media theorist noted for his research on network cultures, the politics of cultural labour, logistical media and data politics. Rossiter is Professor of Communication in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and Director of Research at the Institute for Culture and Society. Rossiter is the author of Organized Networks: Media Theory, Creative Labour, New Institutions (2006), Software, Infrastructure, Labor: A Media Theory of Logistical Nightmares (2016) and (with Geert Lovink) Organization after Social Media (2018). He is currently writing a book with Soenke Zehle called The Experience of Digital Objects: Automation, Aesthetics, Algorithms. His writings have been translated into Italian, Spanish, German, French, Finnish, Dutch, Chinese, Greek, Latvian, Hungarian, Turkish and Polish.

Ned is currently a Chief Investigator on the following Australian Research Council Discovery Projects:

‘The Geopolitics of Automation’, Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP200101409). Chief Investigators: Prof Ned Rossiter, Prof Brett Neilson, Prof Anna Munster, Dr Liam Magee. Partner Investigators: Assoc Prof Sandro Mezzadra, Prof Manuela Bojadzijev, Assoc Prof Orit Halpern, Prof Yuk Hui. (2020--2023)

‘Data Centres and the Governance of Labour and Territory’, Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP160103307). Chief Investigators: Prof Brett Neilson, Prof Ned Rossiter, Dr Tanya Notley. Partner Investigators: Prof Laikwan Pang, Prof Stefano Harney, Assoc Prof Sandro Mezzadra, Prof Anna Reading, Dr Florian Sprenger. (2016-2020)

Awards and Recognition

2019: Visiting Fellow, Centre for Advanced Internet Studies, Bochum
2016: Visiting Professor, Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths University of London
2016: Senior Research Fellow, Digital Cultures Research Lab, Leuphana University
2016-18: Member, College of Experts, Australian Research Council
2013: Visiting Research Professor, Centre for Digital Cultures and Centre for Digital Cultures and Medienkulturen der Computersimulation (MECS), Leuphana University, Lüneburg
2013: Visiting Professor, Singapore Management University
2011: Awarded an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Creative Industries, Peking / Beida University, China
2004-: Long-term adviser for and collaborator with the Institute of Network Cultures (opens in new window), Hogeschool van Amsterdam
2004-10: Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney
2003: Visiting Fellow, Media and Communications, Melbourne University

This information has been contributed by Professor Rossiter.

Qualifications

PhD Edith Cowan University
PGDip Design Curtin University of Technology
BA Media Stud Edith Cowan University

Interests

Cultural Theory
Data Politics
Digital Media
Global Logistics Industries
Informational Labour
Media Theory
Political Theory
Urban Studies

Organisational Unit (School / Division)

Institute for Culture and Society
Communication, Creative Industries & Screen Media

Contact

Email:	N.Rossiter@westernsydney.edu.au
Phone:	(02) 9685 9554
Mobile:
Location:	EQ.1.06 Parramatta

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Teaching

Previous Teaching Areas

101926 Media Cultures and Industries, 2019
102412 Global Digital Futures, 2019
102421 Data, Mediation, Power, 2019
800169 Research Design 2: Practices of Research, 2019

Publications

Books

Hristova, T., Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2022), 'Data Farms: Circuits, Labour, Territory', : Open Humanities Press 9781785421266.
Hawkins, G. and Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Contagion Design: Labour, Economy, Habits, Data', : Open Humanities Press 9781785421181.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Logistical Worlds: Infrastructure, Software, Labour. No. 3, Valparaiso', : Low Latencies 9781785421013.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2018), 'Organization after Social Media', : Minor Compositions 9781570273384.
Neilson, B., Rossiter, N. and Samaddar, R. (2018), 'Logistical Asia: The Labour of Making a World Region', : Palgrave Macmillan 9789811083327.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2017), 'Logistical Worlds: Infrastructure, Software, Labour. No. 2, Kolkata', : Low Latencies 9781785420504.
Rossiter, N. (2016), 'Software, Infrastructure, Labor: A Media Theory of Logistical Nightmares', : Routledge 9780415843041.
Rossiter, N. (2006), 'Organized Networks: Media Theory, Creative Labour, New Institutions', : NAi Publishers (Netherlands Architecture Institute) 9056625268.

Chapters in Books

Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2022), 'Land and water', Data Farms: Circuits, Labour, Territory, Open Humanities Press 9781785421266.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2022), 'Platform politics and a world beyond catastrophe', Digital Platforms and Algorithmic Subjectivities, University of Westminster Press 9781914386114.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Rauschen vs. kontrolle : eine parabel gegen die modellierung der zukunft', Die Unsichtbare Hand des Plans: Koordination und Kalkul im Digitalen Kapitalismus = The Invisible Hand of the Plan: Coordination and Calculus in Digital Capitalism, Dietz Verlag Berlin GmbH 9783320023829.
Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Logistical media theory, the politics of time, and the geopolitics of automation', Assembly Codes: The Logistics of Media, Duke University Press 9781478009733.
Magee, L. and Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Habits of data and labour in warehousing', Assembling and Governing Habits, Routledge 9780367607937.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Automating labour and the spatial politics of data centre technologies', Topologies of Digital Work: How Digitalisation and Virtualisation Shape Working Spaces and Places, Palgrave Macmillan 9783030803261.
Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Copper modernity', Logistical Worlds: Infrastructure, Software, Labour. No. 3, Valparaiso, Open Humanities Press 9781785421013.
Hawkins, G. and Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Introducing contagion design', Contagion Design: Labour, Economy, Habits, Data, Open Humanities Press 9781785421181.
Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Modelling data', Contagion Design: Labour, Economy, Habits, Data, Open Humanities Press 9781785421181.
Rossiter, N. (2020), 'Copper', The Oxford Handbook of Media, Technology and Organization Studies, Oxford University Press 9780198809913.
Grappi, G., Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2020), 'La logistica nel capitalismo globale', Nel Vortice del Presente. Voci, Scorrimenti e Sorvoli tra Movimenti, Logistica, Urbanizzazione, Ledizioni 9788855263757.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2019), 'Theses on automation and labour', Data Politics: Worlds, Subjects, Rights, Routledge 9781138053250.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2019), 'Propositions on the organizational form', Organize, University of Minnesota Press in collaboration with Meson Press 9781517908058.
Neilson, B., Rossiter, N. and Samaddar, R. (2018), 'Making logistical worlds', Logistical Asia: The Labour of Making a World Region, Palgrave Macmillan 9789811083327.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2018), 'Organized networks in the age of platform capitalism', The Routledge Companion to Media and Activism, Routledge 9781138202030.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2018), 'Organization in platform capitalism', Posthuman Glossary, Bloomsbury Academic 9781350030244.
Rossiter, N. (2018), 'Das BMW-Werk, automatisierte Arbeit und der logistische Staat', Holen und Bringen = Fetch and Deliver, Verlag Fur Moderne Kunst 9783903269149.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2017), 'Buy cheap, sell dear', Logistical Worlds: Infrastructure, Software, Labour. No. 2, Kolkata, Low Latencies 9781785420504.
Zehle, S. and Rossiter, N. (2016), 'Mediations of labor : algorithmic architectures, logistical media, and the rise of black box politics', The Routledge Companion to Labor and Media, Taylor & Francis 9780415837446.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2016), 'The politics of organized networks : the art of collective coordination and the seriality of demands', New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader, Routledge 9781138021099.
Apprich, C. and Rossiter, N. (2016), 'Sovereign media, critical infrastructures, and political subjectivity', across & beyond: A Transmediale Reader on Post-digital Practices, Concepts, and Institutions, Sternberg Press 9783956792892.
Magee, L. and Rossiter, N. (2015), 'Service orientations : data, institutions, labor ', There Is No Software, There Are Just Services, Meson Press 9783957960559.
Rossiter, N. (2015), 'Locative media as logistical media : situating infrastructure and the governance of labor in supply-chain capitalism', Locative Media, Routledge 9780415707084.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2015), 'The aesthetics of algorithmic experience', The Routledge Companion to Art and Politics, Routledge 9780415645102.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2015), 'Network cultures and the architecture of decision', Critical Perspectives on Social Media and Protest: Between Control And Emancipation, Rowman & Littlefield 9781783483358.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2015), 'Parametric politics : imperial infrastructures and systemic dispositions', Supermarkt, Irene Publishing 9789188061065.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2014), 'Organized networks: a guide for the distracted multitudes', Truth is Concretre: A Handbook for Artistic Strategies in Real Politics, Sternberg Press 9783943365849.
Rossiter, N. (2014), 'Materialities of software : logistics, labour, infrastructure', Advancing Digital Humanities: Research, Methods, Theories, Palgrave Macmillan 9781137336996.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2014), 'Privacy is theft : on anonymous experiences, infrastructural politics and accidental encounters', Piracy: Leakages from Modernity, Litwin Books 9781936117598.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2014), 'Toward a politics of anonymity : algorithmic actors in the constitution of collective agency and the implications for global economic justice movements', Routledge Companion to Alternative Organization, Routledge 9780415782265.
Rossiter, N. (2014), 'Organized networks : transdisciplinarity and new institutional forms', Networks, Whitechapel Gallery 9780854882212.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2013), 'In praise of concept production : formats, schools and nonrepresentational media studies', The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies: Media Studies Futures. Volume 6, Wiley-Blackwell 9781405193566.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2012), 'Acts of translation : organized networks as algorithmic technologies of the common', Digital Labor: The Internet as Playground and Factory, Routledge 9780415896948.
Rossiter, N. (2012), 'Dirt research', Depletion Design: A Glossary of Network Ecologies, Institute of Network Cultures 9789081857512.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2011), 'Urgent Aphorisms: Notes on Organized Networks for the Connected Multitudes', Managing Media Work, SAGE 9781412971249.
Rossiter, N. (2011), 'Autonomous Education, New Institutions and the Experimental Economy of Network Cultures', Locating the Producers: Durational Approaches to Public Art, Valiz 9789078088516.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2011), '"Seriality for All: The Role of Protocols and Standards in Critical Theory', Interoperabel Nederland, Forum Standaardisatie 9789079490035.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2011), 'Understanding Cartopolitics: The Logic of Networks, From Visualisation to Organisation'', Networks (cells & silos), Monash University Museum of Art 9780980645187.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2010), 'Still Waiting, Still Moving: On Migration, Logistics and Maritime Industries', Stillness in a Mobile World, Routledge 9780415572620.
Rossiter, N. (2010), 'The Informational University, the Uneven Distribution of Expertise and the Racialization of Labour', Refengxueshu, 9787208094048.
Rossiter, N., Coleman, G., Lovink, G. and Zehle, S. (2009), 'Winter Camp 09: From Weak Ties to Organized Networks - Ideas, Reports, Critiques', From Weak Ties to Organized Networks: Ideas, Reports, Critiques, Institute of Network Cultures 9789078146087.
Rossiter, N. (2008), 'Una gerarchia di reti? ovvero, reti geo-culturalmente differenziate e i limiti della collaborazione', Universita Globale: Il Nuovo Mercato Del Sapere, manifestolibri 9788872855614.
Rossiter, N. (2008), 'New Design Education Models are New Business Models', Masters of Rietveld: Dutch Design Education in the 21st Century by the Sandberg Institute, All Media Books 9789081165525.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2007), 'Proposals for Creative Research: Introduction to the MyCreativity Reader', MyCreativity Reader: A Critique of Creative Industries, Institute of Network Cultures 9789078146049.
Rossiter, N. (2006), 'Organized Networks and Nonrepresentative Democracy', Reformatting Politics: Information Technology and Global Civil Society, Routledge (Taylor & Francis Ltd ) 0415952980.
Rossiter, N. (2006), 'WSIS and Organised Networks as New Civil Society Movements', Towards a Sustainable Information Society: Deconstructing WSIS, Intellect Books 1841501336.
Rossiter, N. and Cooper, S. (2005), 'Processual Media Theory and the Study of New Media: Towards a New Research Approach', Topical Issues in Communications and Media Research, Nova Science Publishers Inc. 1594542791.

Journal Articles

Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2023), 'Logistical media and environmental media : energy, war and the politics of distribution', Journal of Environmental Media, vol 4, no 1 , pp 77 - 89.
Rossiter, N. (2021), 'Harold A. Innis, Asian media and dependency theory : remembering the work of Brian Shoesmith', Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, vol 35, no 3 , pp 335 - 342.
Hristova, T., Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2021), 'On the block train : rethinking block technologies on the YuXinOu express', International Journal of Communication, vol 15 , pp 2613 - 2630.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2019), 'Extracting concepts', Synoptique, vol 8, no 2 .
Rossiter, N. (2018), 'Book review : Eco-aesthetics and the politics of mediation', Cultural Politics, vol 14, no 2 , pp 275 - 280.
Rossiter, N. (2017), 'Paranoia is real : algorithmic governance and the shadow of control', The Occasional Papers, Institute for Culture and Society (tOPICS), vol 8, no 1 .
Rossiter, N. (2017), 'FCJ-220 imperial infrastructures and Asia beyond Asia : data centres, state formation and the territoriality of logistical media', Fibreculture Journal, vol 29 , pp 1 - 20.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2017), 'The experience of digital objects : toward a speculative entropology', Spheres: Journal for Digital Cultures, vol 3 .
Rossiter, N. (2017), 'Paranoia is real : algorithmic governance and the shadow of control', Media Theory, vol 1, no 1 , pp 88 - 102.
Zeeuw, D., Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2015), 'Of piracy, anonimity, and parametric politics : an interview with Ned Rossiter and Soenke Zehle', Krisis, vol 1 , pp 39 - 47.
Rossiter, N. (2015), 'Coded vanilla : logistical media and the determination of action', South Atlantic Quarterly, vol 114, no 1 , pp 135 - 152.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2015), 'Data politics and infrastructural design : between cybernetic mediation and terminal subjectivity', A Peer-Reviewed Journal About, vol 4, no 1 .
Kanngieser, A., Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2014), 'What is a research platform? : mapping methods, mobilities and subjectivities', Media, Culture and Society, vol 36, no 3 , pp 302 - 318.
Rossiter, N. (2014), 'Logistical worlds', Cultural Studies Review, vol 20, no 1 , pp 53 - 76.
Rossiter, N. and Zehle, S. (2014), 'Experience machines', Sociologia del Lavoro, vol 133 , pp 111 - 132.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2011), 'Understanding cartopolitics : the logic of networks, from visualisation to organisation', Acoustic Space: Journal for Transdisciplinary Research of Art, Science, Technology and Society, vol 10 , pp 53 - 56.
Rossiter, N. (2011), 'Logistics, labour and new regimes of knowledge production', Transeuropeenes: International Journal of Critical Thought, vol 8 August .
Rossiter, N. (2010), 'The informational university : the uneven distribution of expertise and the racialization of labour', Edu-Factory Journal, , pp 62 - 73.
Rossiter, N. (2010), 'The Informational University, the Uneven Distribution of Expertise and the Racialization of Labour', darkmatter, vol 7 .
Zehle, S. and Rossiter, N. (2009), 'Organizing Networks: Notes on Collaborative Constitution, Translation and the Work of Organization', Cultural Politics, vol 5, no 2 , pp 237 - 264.
Rossiter, N. (2009), 'Networks, Institutions, Translation', Television & New Media, vol 10, no 1 , pp 138 - 140.
Ippolita, I., Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2009), 'The Digital Given: 10 Web 2.0 Theses', Fibreculture Journal, vol 14, no N/A .
Rossiter, N. (2009), 'Translating the Indifference of Communication: Electronic Waste, Migrant Labour and the Informational Sovereignty of Logistics in China', International Review of Information Ethics, vol 11, no N/A , pp 36 - 42.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2008), 'Precarity as a Political Concept, or, Fordism as Exception', Theory, Culture & Society, vol 25, no 40762 , pp 51 - 72.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2006), 'Towards a Political Anthropology of New Institutional Forms', Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, vol 6, no 4 , pp 393 - 410.
Rossiter, N. (2006), 'Creative Industries in Beijing: Initial Thoughts', Leonardo: Journal of International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, vol 39, no 4 , pp 367 - 370.
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2005), 'From Precarity to Precariousness and Back Again: Life, Labour and Unstable Networks', Fibreculture Journal, vol 5 .
Neilson, B. and Rossiter, N. (2005), 'Action without Reaction: A Mongolian Border Intervention', Ephemera: Theory and Politics in Organization, vol 5, no X , pp 744 - 749.
Rossiter, N. (2005), 'Virtuosity, Processual Democracy and Organised Networks', Cultural Studies Review, vol 11, no 2 , pp 110 - 128.
Lovink, G. and Rossiter, N. (2005), 'Dawn of the Organised Networks', Fibreculture Journal, vol 5 .

Conference Papers

Rossiter, N. (2004), 'The World Summit on the Information Society and Organised Networks as New Civil Society Movements', Mobile Boundaries/Rigid Worlds: The Contemporary Paradox, Centre for Research on Social Inclusion, Macquarie University, Sydney.

Other Publications

2021, 'Data Farms Sonification', Published Work
2011, 'The Logistical City, in Transit Labour: Circuits, Regions, Borders', Published Work
2010, ''From IT Factory to Electronic Markets: Speculations on Circuits, Regions, Labour', in Transit-Labour: Circuits, Regions, Borders', Published Work
2010, ''What is a Research Platform?', in Transit-Labour: Circuits, Regions, Borders', Published Work
2010, ''From Flows of Culture to the Circuits of Logistics: Borders, Regions, Labour in Transit', Transit-Labour: Circuits, Regions, Borders', Published Work
2010, ''"Design criteria future, love it or leave it"', in Geert Lovink and Mieke Gerritzen (eds) Everyone is a Designer in the Age of Social Media', Published Work
2010, ''The Portable Guide to Organized Networks', Networks and Sustainability', Published Work
2008, 'Style First', Published Work

Current Projects

Title:	The Geopolitics of Automation
Funder:	Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers:	Ned Rossiter, Brett Neilson and Liam Magee
Years:	2020-06-03 - 2025-06-02
ID:	P00025641

Previous Projects

Title:	Logistics as Global Governance: Labour, Software and Infrastructure along the New Silk Road
Funder:	Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers:	Brett Neilson and Ned Rossiter
Years:	2013-06-30 - 2018-06-28
ID:	P00020849
Title:	COST Action IS1202: Dynamics of Virtual Work
Funder:	Australian Academy of Science
Western Researchers:	Ned Rossiter
Years:	2013-05-13 - 2013-07-19
ID:	P00021348
Title:	Clouded Data: Technologies and policies for balancing information privacy and use
Funder:	University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers:	Liam Magee, Ned Rossiter, Brett Neilson, Teresa Swist and Tsvetelina Hristova
Years:	2018-07-01 - 2018-09-30
ID:	P00025111
Title:	Culture in Transition: Creative Labour and Social Mobilities in the Asian Century
Funder:	Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers:	Brett Neilson, Ien Ang and Ned Rossiter
Years:	2009-06-30 - 2012-09-30
ID:	P0016038
Title:	Data Centres and the Governance of Labour and Territory
Funder:	Australian Research Council (ACRG)
Western Researchers:	Brett Neilson, Ned Rossiter and Tanya Notley
Years:	2016-06-30 - 2022-05-31
ID:	P00022589
Title:	Between Logistics and Migration: Duisburg and the New Silk Road
Funder:	German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers:	Brett Neilson and Ned Rossiter
Years:	2017-01-01 - 2018-12-31
ID:	P00023577
Title:	Big Data and the Social Sciences: New Issues in Data Ethics and Governance
Funder:	University of Western Sydney
Western Researchers:	Liam Magee and Ned Rossiter
Years:	2018-09-01 - 2019-12-31
ID:	P00025256

Supervision

Professor Rossiter is available to be a principal supervisor for doctoral projects

Current Supervision

Thesis Title:	A Scripted Engagement: Mapping Social Experience for the Digital Writers' Festival
Field of Research:
Thesis Title:	Creative Labour in the Cultural Industries of China: self-realisation, governmentality and subjectivity.
Field of Research:

Previous Supervision

Thesis Title:	Arab 2.0 Revolutions: Investigating Social Media Networks during Waves of the Egyptian Political Uprisings Occurring in 2011, 2012 and 2013
Field of Research:	Communication And Media Studies; Communications Technologies
Thesis Title:	The Hinterland of Power: Rethinking Mediatised Messy Policy
Field of Research:	Policy Studies; Political Science; Journalism
Thesis Title:	Infrastructure, Labor and Government: A Study of Delhi Airport
Field of Research:	Sociology; Society And Culture; Anthropology; History; Human Geography
Thesis Title:	Risky Expertise in Chinese Financialisation: <i>Haigui</i> Returnee Migrants in the Shanghai Financial Market
Field of Research:	Other Society And Culture
Thesis Title:	Money/Code/Space Bitcoin, Blockchain, and Geographies of Algorithmic Decentralisation
Field of Research:	Society And Culture; Human Geography
Thesis Title:	The Making of Smart Cities: Borders, Security and Value in New Town Kolkata and Cape Town
Field of Research:	Society And Culture, N.e.c.; Urban Design And Regional Planning
Thesis Title:	Approaching Algorithmic Power
Field of Research:	Other Society And Culture