Film and media studies have been immensely transformed by the recent development of platforms, from smartphones and game systems, to Netflix and other streaming services. In this talk Dr. Marc Steinberg offers an overview of the historical findings and methods of his recent book, The Platform Economy: How Japan Transformed the Consumer Internet. In doing so he’ll address some of the key political, cultural, and economic questions surrounding platforms today, including what is a platform, when and where does platform capitalism develop, and how has platform capitalism transformed our worlds.