Dr Daniel Joseph PhD, MA, BA
Senior Lecturer
My profile
Biography
Academic and professional qualifications
PhD (2017) Ryerson & York Universies, Communication and Culture: Distributing Productive Play: A Materialist Analysis of Steam.
MA (2012) Ryerson & York Universities, Communication and Culture
BA (2009) Wilfrid Laurier University, History & Communication Studies, Honours
Personal website address
danieljamesjoseph.net
Teaching
Postgraduate teaching
I am the unit leader for Digital Global Society, a core unit for our new MSc in Digital Society.
Subject areas
Digital Sociology
Research outputs
I am an expert and researcher on the political economy of digital culture. My prior research has focused on a variety of topics such as cultural and industrial policy related to the production of games, the politics of the digital game distribution platform Steam, and the role digital technology plays in Marxist crisis theory. My current research focuses on the past, present, and future of social inequalities in digital infrastructure and app stores. I have published articles in Social Media + Society, Games and Culture, The Canadian Journal of Communication, Triple C, and Loading. I have also worked as an organizer to advocate unionization in the games industry with Game Workers Unite and have written as a freelance writer for magazines such as Vice’s Waypoint, Jacobin, Real Life Mag, and Briarpatch.
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Chapters in books
Joseph, D., Knuttila, L. (2014) 'Single-Player / Multiplayer.' The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies. Routledge,
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Journal articles
Joseph, D., Bishop, S. (2024) 'Advertising as governance: the digital commodity audience and platform advertising dependency.' Media, Culture and Society,
Joseph, D., Nieborg, D., Young, C.J. (2023) 'One big store: source diversity and value capture of digital games in national app store instances.' International Journal of Communication, 17pp. 7246-7264.
Gekker, A., Joseph, D. (2021) 'Selling Elysium : the political economy of radical game distribution.' Baltic Screen Media Review, 9(1) pp. 20-31.
Joseph, D. (2021) 'Battle Pass Capitalism.' Journal of Consumer Culture, 21(1) pp. 68-83.
Nieborg, D.B., Young, C.J., Joseph, D. (2020) 'App Imperialism: The Political Economy of the Canadian App Store.' Social Media and Society, 6(2)
Nieborg, D.B., Young, C., Joseph, D. (2019) 'Lost in the App Store: The Political Economy of the Canadian Game App Economy.' Canadian Journal of Communication, 44(2)
Joseph, D.J. (2018) 'The Discourse of Digital Dispossession: Paid Modifications and Community Crisis on Steam.' Games and Culture, 13(7) pp. 690-707.
Greene, D.M., Joseph, D. (2015) 'The Digital Spatial Fix.' tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society, 13(2)
Joseph, D. (2012) 'The Toronto Indies: Some Assemblage Required.' Loading... The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association, 7(11) pp. 92-105.
Press and media
Media appearances or involvement
Journalism
“Delivering People” - writing about the commodification of audiences at Real Life Magazine
“Two-Faced: The Culture of Platform Capitalism” - A discussion of the political economy of multi-sided markets for Real Life Magazine
“Code of Conduct: Platforms are taking over capitalism, but code convenes class struggle as well as control” - more ruminations on platforms at Real Life Magazine
“Platforms for people, not profit” in Briarpatch Magazine writing about how the left in Canada needs to get serious about democratic platforms
“The Time Canada Wanted Its Own Internet Because It Thought the US Would Mess It Up” A piece I wrote over at Vice’s Motherboard writing about the Science Council of Canada’s 1971 report on the “Trans-Canada Computer Communications Network”
“Digital Games: A Canary in the Coal Mine of Capital” - A recording on YouTube of my talk in Toronto for The Capitalism Workshop at the Workers Action Centre
Media appearances
“The Great Consolidation of the Video Game Industry” - Lewis Gordon interviewed me for a long piece on market concentration in the games industry
“Organizing against precarity” an interview with me about organizing with Game Workers Unite over at The People’s Voice.
My dissertation was discussed by Will Partin in his Waypoint review of Steam’s card game, Artifact.
I was interviewed by freelance journalist Matthew Gault for this story about Fortnite’s business model.
I make a brief appearance over here in a recent CBC report about labour conditions in the digital games industry CBC report here, representing Game Workers Unite.
I also make a brief appearance (based on the footage above) in this recent episode of Patriot Act about labour conditions in the digital games industry.