In Vanishing Culture, editors Luca Messarra, Chris Freeland and Juliya Ziskina bring together voices exploring what it means to lose access to our shared cultural record in the digital age. From disappearing websites and delisted music to fragile licensing agreements and platform shutdowns, the book traces how corporate control, technological change, and neglect are reshaping what survives... and what vanishes.

In this episode, Messarra and Freeland are joined by contributor Katie Livingston to discuss the forces driving cultural loss today, the stakes for libraries and public memory, and what it will take to build a more durable, accessible digital future.

Read Vanishing Culture for free at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/vanishing-culture-2026
Purchase in print from Better World Books or your favorite local bookstore: https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/vanishing-culture-a-report-on-our-fragile-cultural-record-9798995425014/new

This conversation was recorded on 4/17/2026.

Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

In Data Cartels, legal scholar Sarah Lamdan exposes the shadowy industry built around collecting, packaging, and selling our personal data. She reveals how powerful companies hoard information and use aggressive tactics to maintain control—turning data into a commodity that can deepen inequality and restrict the democratic flow of knowledge. Heather Joseph, executive director of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) speaks with Lamdan about the hidden power structures behind the data economy.

Grab your copy of Data Cartels: https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=33205

This conversation was recorded on 11/30/2022. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/book-talk-data-cartels

Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge

In The Secret Life of Data, authors Aram Sinnreich and Jesse Gilbert explore how the information we generate every day—email addresses, phone numbers, browsing habits, even biometric data—circulates through vast digital systems that shape our lives in ways we rarely see. Their book examines the hidden infrastructures of data collection, surveillance, and algorithmic decision-making, revealing how these systems influence culture, power, and identity in a networked world. Internet governance scholar Laura DeNardis speaks with Sinnreich and Gilbert.

Grab your copy of The Secret Life of Data: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262048811/the-secret-life-of-data/

This conversation was recorded on 4/18/2024. Watch the full video recording at: https://archive.org/details/the-secret-life-of-data

Check out all of the Future Knowledge episodes at https://archive.org/details/future-knowledge