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Rocco Bellanova

@ikkibop.bsky.social

580 followers 330 following 15 posts

Research Professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium). PI of the ERC DATAUNION project - www.dataunion-project.eu. Views my own. RT ≠ endorsement.

Political science 58%

Sociology 20%

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Reposted by Stefan Auer, Rocco Bellanova

Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · Feb 4

We are in the era of hyper-competitive and hyper-transactional geopolitics.

in this hot-headed world, Europe’s best approach is to remain level-headed.

And build a foreign policy that stays true to who we are and deliver for our people and partners.

Read my full speech here → europa.eu/!C7FvF7

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

CURATE Project @curateproject.bsky.social · Jun 12

The CURATE team is meeting up with an amazing group of interdisciplinary scholars in Zurich for a two-day workshop to reflect on human-data interactions.

The weather and the view are on our side - and so are the draft papers 😍

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Arghavan Salles, MD, PhD @arghavansallesmd.medsky.social · Jun 6

Holy smokes! Our article is on the cover of The Lancet!!!!!!!!!! Nbd 💅

The cover of The Lancet with this quote from our commentary: "If we in academic medicine give in to the campaigns against diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, the consequences will include resegregation and fewer opportunities for marginalised groups."

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

PSA Technology, Internet, & Policy (TIP) @techpolicy.bsky.social · Jun 2

We look forward to welcoming our panel of experts! @jessrmorley.bsky.social (Yale University); @kzenner.bsky.social (EU Parliament); @ikkibop.bsky.social (Vrije Universiteit Brussel); @markscott.bsky.social (Atlantic Council); Huw Roberts (Oxford Internet Institute/RUSI)

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

PSA Technology, Internet, & Policy (TIP) @techpolicy.bsky.social · Jun 2

🚨 Roundtable alert! 🚨 Wed 25 June 2-3pm BST
We are delighted to announce our next roundtable on ‘Digital Sovereignty in the EU and the UK’ where our expert panel will discuss how legal frameworks, tech infrastructures and policy measures are shaping digital autonomy
👇 Sign up link in comments👇

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Alt18F @alt18f.bsky.social · May 28

We have some news to share with you. 🥄

Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.

18F files legal challenge

A statement about 18F’s appeal filed with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · May 13

EU tech law

EU Commission issues draft guidelines on protection of children online under Digital Services Act - ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Daily News 13 \/ 05 \/ 2025

Commission publishes draft guidelines on protection of minors online under the Digital Services Act \nToday, the Commission launched a public consultation on draft guidelines for the protection of min...

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · May 3

Tonight Danny Snelson told me about his forthcoming book, The Little Database: A Poetics of Media Formats — and I am so incredibly stoked for this 💥

The Little Database

A poetics for reading the everyday objects that populate a hard drive Bespoke online archives like PennSound and Eclipse host an astounding array of “old m...

www.upress.umn.edu

Reposted by Luca Rossi, Anastasia Salter, Jessica Vitak , and 3 more Luca Rossi, Anastasia Salter, Jessica Vitak, Tama Leaver, John R. Kerr, Rocco Bellanova

Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) @aoir.bsky.social · May 2

We are delighted to share the publication of Risky Research: An AoIR Guide to Researcher Protection and Safety, the culmination of over two years of collaborative effort by the AoIR Risky Research Working Group.

aoir.org/riskyresearc...

Cover Image for:

Risky Research: An AoIR Guide to Researcher Protection and Safety

AoIR Risky Research Working Group

Contributors: Alice Marwick, Dafna Kaufman, Jacob Smith, Patricia Aufderheide, Jessica
Beyer, Emma L. Briant, Coppélie Cocq, Laura Dilley, Sam DiBella, Radhika Gajjala, Kamile
Grusauskaite, Alex D. Ketchum, Zelly Martin, Janice Metzger, Erin McInerney, Rachel Moran,
John McNutt, Suay Melisa Oezkula, Victoria O’Meara, Riccardo Nanni, Carolina Parreiras,
Katy Pearce, Ryan Payne, Meredith Pruden, Christian Sandvig, Caighlan Smith, Sam Srauy,
Zeerak Talat, Leonie Tanczer, Robert Tynes, Antonia Vaughan, Shenja van der Graaf, Courtney
Vowles, Michele White.

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Nanna B Thylstrup @nannathylstrup.bsky.social · Apr 28

What a lovely Monday present ! Thanks @illinoispress.bsky.social for sending the physical copy of the very good looking Feminist Digital Humanities edited by @lmrhody.bsky.social and Susan Schreibman! The good news is that it’s also OA: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...

Book in windowsill

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Apr 25

"Any chair is useful but a very striking looking chair—something that isn’t like a usual chair—can make people perhaps more flexible in their attitudes to accept more things—to become more democratic about what a chair is. They may even become more democratic about what a person is."

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · Apr 22

In Poetry's Data, @mmvty.bsky.social explores why literary studies must confront digital mediation.

Out now. Learn more about this engaging book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Poetry's Data: Digital Humanities and the History of Prosody

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Apr 16

Divorce, death, a big move, illness: Food may not fix anything, but these lovingly prepared meals can bring some much-needed comfort and nourishment. nyti.ms/3EpVEPW

A baked lasagna in a white dish, with text overlay "20 Dishes to Make For Someone Going Through A Hard Time."

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Thomas Poell @tpoell.bsky.social · Apr 7

Just out! Open access article with @nieborg.bsky.social on "Analyzing institutional platform power" journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.... #power #platforms #digital #bigtech Preparing the ground for our book on Platform Power!

Analyzing institutional platform power: Evolving relations of dependence in the mobile digital advertising ecosystem - David B Nieborg, Thomas Poell, 2025

This article calls for systematic analysis of the accumulation and exercise of institutional platform power in the digital economy. We examine how the relativel...

journals.sagepub.com

Reposted by Tristan Henderson, Rocco Bellanova

Steve Peers @stevepeers.bsky.social · Apr 7

CJEU, new cases, data protection law

Does a lapsed Catholic have a right under the GDPR to change the data in the baptism register?
eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-conten...

Questions sent by the national court. Full text in the link.

Reposted by Francis Pakes, Aleksandra Kuczerawy, Tom Daems , and 1 more Francis Pakes, Aleksandra Kuczerawy, Tom Daems, Rocco Bellanova

Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · Apr 4

Come and work with me in Brussels @crisresearch.bsky.social! I’m looking for a postdoc specialised in children’s rights and digital #criminology. Please repost& send to anyone who might be interested.

Deadline 9th of May

#digitalcriminology #surveillance

jobs.vub.be/job/Elsene-P...

Postdoctoral Researcher Children's Rights and Online Child Sexual Abuse Investigations

Postdoctoral Researcher Children's Rights and Online Child Sexual Abuse Investigations

Reposted by Lisa Hajjar, Sharon S. Dawes, Salla-Maaria Laaksonen , and 1 more Lisa Hajjar, Sharon S. Dawes, Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Rocco Bellanova

John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · Mar 21

I helped build a government AI system. DOGE fired me, rolled the AI out to the whole agency, and implied the AI can do my job and the jobs of the others they've fired.

It can't. But, what DOGE accidentally revealed about themselves in the process is fascinating. 🧵

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Duke University Press @dukepress.bsky.social · Mar 21

We are mourning the loss of Jonathan Sterne: author, editor, contributor, mentor, and friend.
buff.ly/HcoVX9x

A bald white man wearing black rectangular glasses leans against a wall. He is wearing a red linen button-down shirt. His arms are crossed and he is smiling mischieviously.

Cover of Diminished Faculties: A Political Phenomenology of Impairment by Jonathan Sterne. Cover features a photograph of a dork-o-phone in its faux-leather case, with lanyard attached. Colors are a hazy blue, red, and green.

Reposted by Sharon S. Dawes, Kathleen M. Comerford, Michel Bouchard , and 1 more Sharon S. Dawes, Kathleen M. Comerford, Michel Bouchard, Rocco Bellanova

Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · Mar 16

This is blood-boiling. Charles Rogers was awarded the Medal of Honor in Vietnam after being wounded three times leading the defense of a position.

Google his name and the entry below comes up. When you click, you'll see the page has been deleted and the URL changed to include "DEI medal."

Wikipedia image of Major General (Ret.) Charles C. Rogers

Defense.gov google return: Medal of Honor Monday: Army Maj. Gen. Charles Calvin Rogers

Defense.gov
404 - Page Not Found

https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2824721/deimedal-of-honor-monday-army-maj-gen-charles-calvin-rogers/

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Journal of International Relations and Development @jird-jour.bsky.social · Mar 12

Thinking about publishing with JIRD? We have a thematically open annual Special Issue call with a deadline set for 🚨 October 30 🚨 More details on how to put together a proposal for a JIRD SI can be found here: shorturl.at/0RGlc

Rocco Bellanova @ikkibop.bsky.social · Mar 9

Thank you for the generous mention @nannathylstrup.bsky.social + already thanks for the other links @miriamposner.com. I d say that Francis Hunger is the right person to reach out to (www.irmielin.org) when it comes to the history of databases!

www.irmielin.org

Rocco Bellanova @ikkibop.bsky.social · Mar 9

One more example of how much the relation between statecraft and (data) infrastructures is THE political challenge of our polities.

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Rosamunde Van Brakel @rosamundevb.bsky.social · Mar 9

Great project at VUB! www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

‘You are free again’: farewell letters of executed Belgian resistance fighters found, 80 years on

Last words shed new light on the lives and deaths of the ‘ordinary people’ who stood up to Nazi regime

www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Jill Walker Rettberg @jilltxt.bsky.social · Mar 6

TechCrunch writes that OpenAI will charge $20,000 a month for access to an AI agent that can do “PhD level research”. Maybe all the PhDs and postdocs recently fired by DOGE should band together and sell their services as “AI agents” - apparently some people will pay more for robots than people.

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Jacob Öberg @profjacob.bsky.social · Mar 5

🚨🚨 #Greenland: “We strongly support your right to determine your own future,” Trump tells Greenlanders — before vowing he’ll “try and get” the territory ‘one way or the other. Trump's respect for a any state's or region's self-determination only goes so far... 🧵
www.politico.eu/article/us-w...

US will take Greenland ‘one way or the other,’ Trump says

“We strongly support your right to determine your own future,” Trump tells Greenlanders — before vowing he’ll “try and get” the territory.

www.politico.eu

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Pete Fussey @petefussey.bsky.social · Mar 5

De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Criminology now published as open access. I've written a short essay on #facialrecognition exploring how FRT structures & alters suspicion. The book is worth reading for the great range of essays in this developing area of criminology
www.degruyter.com/document/doi...

De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Criminology

The De Gruyter Handbook of Digital Criminology examines how digital devices spread and cut across all fields of crime and control. Providing a glossary of key theoretical, methodological and criminolo...

www.degruyter.com

Reposted by Brett J. Baker, Rocco Bellanova

ACLU @aclu.org · Mar 4

BREAKING: We're sending an open letter to universities across the country, offering support and urging them to reject pressure to punish international students and faculty for exercising their First Amendment rights.

Schools must hold firm against the Trump administration's censorship attempts.

Reposted by Jeremy Grimshaw, Caleb T. Hasler, Rocco Bellanova

David Moscrop @davidmoscrop.com · Mar 4

Easy to lose this in the noise of the day, but the prime minister of Canada just said the US president, leader of the global hegemon, wants to soften us up economically so he can annex us.

That is one of the most remarkable statements, and realities, in our history.

Reposted by Esther Peeren, Rocco Bellanova

Rens Bod @rensbod.bsky.social · Mar 4

Almost all Dutch universities will go on strike next week, against the budget cuts. Join us!

10 March: Leiden
11 March: Utrecht
13 March: Nijmegen
17 March: Amsterdam
18 March: Groningen
25 March: Twente
8 April: Rotterdam
10 April: Tilburg
14 April: Wageningen
15 April: Maastricht

Reposted by Rocco Bellanova

Bristol University Press @brisunipress.bsky.social · Mar 1

Are you a #SocialSciences researcher seeking a publisher for your #Research?

Get in touch with your commissioning editor today: #AcademicPublishing