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VOX-POP VOX-POP

The Web of Knowledge: Encyclopedias and Authority in the Digital Age

A book talk with Giota Alevizou

What we know as an "encyclopedia" has dramatically expanded in scope, scale, and popularity in the digital age and with Wikipedia. These objects are both gateways to information and demand our renewed attention to the controversies over authority, expertise, and cultural perspectives. In this talk, Giota Alevizou will dive into the genre of encyclopedias.
Date
9 June 2026
Time
17:00 -18:30
Location
BG 3
Room
VOX-POP

Giota Alevizou’s innovative book The Web of Knowledge: Encyclopedias and Authority in the Digital Age (2026) traces the historical roots of digital encyclopedias in the early development of information science and cyberculture. It identifies trends within their digital evolution to reveal a complex web of relationships between media technology, knowledge, and culture.

In her talk, Alevizou will discuss several case studies to analyse how major technological shifts have impacted the publishing models, governance, and creative labour of reference works; the evolution of the genre and the modalities of representation and access; and the range of uses and symbolic meanings of encyclopedias as diverse nodes within broader information economies, as commodities and as public goods.

Speakers

Giota Alevizou

Giota Alevizou is a Lecturer in Digital Humanities and Culture, and co-director of the Master's programme in Digital Futures. Her work examines civic media, encyclopedias, platforms, and emerging AI systems as sites where authority, expertise, and trust are produced and contested. She is the author of The Web of Knowledge: Encyclopedias and Authority in the Digital Age (Polity, 2026).