Dr. Jean Christophe Plantin

Biography

Jean-Christophe Plantin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics. His research investigates the increasingly infrastructural role that digital platforms play in society. He authored the book 'Participatory Mapping: New Data, New Cartography' published by Wiley in 2014, which details how web-based mapping platforms allow non-experts to participate in socio-technical debates, with a focus on radiation mapping initiatives during the Fukushima disaster in March 2011. His postdoctoral research delved into the invisible labor surrounding knowledge infrastructures and processing work in data archives, as well as platformization within research data repositories. Currently, he is writing a monograph on how large tech companies shape global communication infrastructure through projects involving data centers, satellites, and undersea cables. In addition, he is co-editing the SAGE Handbook of Data & Society. Dr. Plantin joined LSE in 2015 after completing his postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan in the Department of Communication and the School of Information. He holds a PhD in Communication and Information Studies from Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France, and Master’s degrees from Université Paris 8, France, and the European Graduate School in Switzerland. He has held visiting fellowships at Northwestern University, Fudan University, Sciences Po, and Microsoft Research New England. His work has been published in leading journals across Media & Communications and Science & Technology Studies, supported by funding from notable organizations including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Gordon Betty Moore Foundation.

Research Interests

Experience