Department of Humanities

Research products

All my research products

Selected research products

MONOGRAPHS

Natale, S. Deceitful Media: Artificial Intelligence and Social Life after the Turing Test. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021.
- Trad. italiana: Macchine ingannevoli: Comunicazione, tecnologia, intelligenza artificiale. Torino: Einaudi, 2022.
- Chinese translation: 西蒙尼·纳塔莱, 媒介的欺骗性：后图灵时代的人工智能和社会生活. Shanghai, China: Fudan University Press, 2023. Translation by Rang Wang.

Natale, S. Supernatural Entertainments: Victorian Spiritualism and the Rise of Modern Media Culture. University Park, Pa.: Penn State University Press, 2016 (reprinted as paperback in 2017).

EDITED BOOKS

Natale, S., Foti, P. & Parry, R. (eds.) Museums and the History of Computing: Objects, Narratives and Practice. London: Routledge, 2024. 

Natale, S. & Pasulka, D. (eds.) Believing in Bits: Digital Media and the Supernatural. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.

Leonardi, N. & Natale, S. (eds.) Photography and Other Media in the Nineteenth Century. University Park, Pa.: Penn State University Press, 2018 (reprinted as paperback in 2019).

SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES

Natale, S. Digital Media and the Banalization of Deception. Convergence, published online before print 23 December 2024. 

Natale, S. & Depounti, I. Artificial Sociality. Human-Machine Communication 7.5 (2024): 83-98.

Natale, S. & Henrickson, L. The Lovelace Effect: Perceptions of Creativity in Machines. New Media and Society 26.4 (2024): 1909-26. 

Natale, S. & Treré, E. Dreaming of Seamless Interfaces: Media and Friction from the Feuilleton to Personal Computing. Information, Communication & Society 27.10 (2024): 1945–1963.

Bory, P., Natale, S. & Katzenbach, C. Strong and Weak AI Narratives: An Analytical Framework. AI & Society (2024).

Depounti, I., Saukko, P. & Natale, S. Ideal Technologies, Ideal Women: AI and Gender Imaginaries in Redditors' Discussions on the Replika Bot Girlfriend. Media, Culture & Society 45.4 (2023): 720-36.

Keightley, E., Li, E., Natale, S. & Punathambekar, A. Encounters with Western Media Theory. Media, Culture & Society 45.2 (2023): 406-12.

Natale, S. & Guzman, A.L. Reclaiming the Human in Machine Cultures: Introduction. Media, Culture & Society 44.4 (2022): 627–637. doi: 10.1177/01634437221099614

Sardá, T., Natale, S. & Downey, J. Inventing the Dark Web: Criminalization of Privacy and the Apocalyptic Turn in the Imaginary of the Web. First Monday 27.11 (2022). doi: 10.5210/fm.v27i11.12691

Natale, S. E se l’inganno è banale? Per una nuova teoria dei media nell’epoca della disinformazione. Studi Culturali 18.3 (2021): 437-448. doi: 10.1405/102367

Natale, S. & Ballatore, A. Imagining the Thinking Machine: Technological Myths and the Rise of Artificial Intelligence. Convergence 26.1 (2020): 3-18. 

Natale, S. Communicating through or Communicating with: Approaching Artificial Intelligence from a Communication and Media Studies Perspective. Communication Theory 31.4 (2021): 905-10.

Natale, S. & Treré, E. Vinyl Won’t Save Us: Reframing Disconnection as Engagement. Media, Culture and Society 42.4 (2020): 626-33. 

Natale, S. If Software Is Narrative: Joseph Weizenbaum, Artificial Intelligence and the Biographies of ELIZA. New Media and Society 21.3 (2019): 712–728. 

Natale, S., Bory, P., & Balbi, G. The Rise of Corporational Determinism: Digital Media Corporations and Narratives of Media Change. Critical Studies in Media Communication 36.4 (2019): 323-38. 

Natale, S. There Are No Old Media. Journal of Communication 66.4 (2016): 586-603. 

Natale, S. Unveiling the Biographies of Media: On the Role of Narratives, Anecdotes and Storytelling in the Construction of New Media’s Histories. Communication Theory 26.4 (2016): 431–449. 

Ballatore, A. & Natale, S. E-Readers and the Death of the Book: or, New Media and the Myth of the Disappearing Medium. New Media & Society 18.10 (2016): 2379-2394. 

Natale, S. & Ballatore, A. The Web Will Kill Them All: New Media, Digital Utopia, and Political Struggle in the Italian 5-Star Movement. Media, Culture & Society 36.1 (2014): 105-21. 

Natale, S. & Balbi, G. Media and the Imaginary in History: The Role of the Fantastic in Different Stages of Media Change. Media History 20.2 (2014): 203-218. 

Natale, S. Photography and Communication Media in the Nineteenth Century. History of Photography 36.4 (2012): 451-56.

JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUES

Depounti, I. & Natale, S. (eds.) Decoding Artificial Sociality: Technologies, Dynamics, Implications. Special issue, New Media & Society (forthcoming).

Keightley, E., Cheuk-Yin Li, E., Natale, S. & Punathambekar, S. (eds.) Encounters with Western Media Theory. “Crosscurrents” themed Section, Media, Culture & Society vol. 45 No. 2 (2023).

Natale, S., Treré, E. (eds.) The Limits and Boundaries of Digital Disconnection. Special “Crosscurrent” themed section, Media, Culture & Society vol. 42 no. 4 (2020).

Lesage, F., Natale, S. (eds.) Rethinking the Distinctions between Old and New Media. Special issue of Convergence vol. 25 no. 4 (2019).

Sardá, T., Natale, S., Sotirakopoulos, N. & Monaghan, M. (eds.) Understanding Online Anonymity. Special “Crosscurrent” themed section, Media, Culture & Society vol. 41 no. 4 (2019).

Beil, B. & Natale, S. (eds.), New Media and the Imagination of the Future. Special issue of WI: Journal of Mobile Media vol. 8 no. 2 (2014). 

Courses

• Laboratori vari I- Digital disconnection (-)
  Corso di laurea in Scienze della Comunicazione
• Storia dei media (-)
  Corso di laurea magistrale in
  Comunicazione e Culture dei media
• Storia del cinema e dei media (corso aggregato) (LET0858)
  Corso di laurea magistrale in
  Comunicazione e Culture dei media
• Storia e teoria dei media (A-D) (STU0638)
  Corso di laurea in Scienze della Comunicazione

Research topics

Simone Natale's research focuses broadly on media theory and history. His latest monograph, "Deceitful Media: Artificial Intelligence and Social Life after the Turing Test," was published by Oxford University Press in 2021 (Italian translation: Macchine ingannevoli: Comunicazione, tecnologia, intelligenza artificiale, Einaudi 2022).

After completing his Ph.D. in Communication Studies at the University of Turin in 2011, Simone has researched and taught in numerous international institutions, including Columbia University in New York, USA, Loughborough University in the UK, Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Cologne in Germany, and Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He joined the University of Turin in 2020 as an Associate Professor. His articles have been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, Communication Theory, Media, Culture & Society, Convergence and Media History. He was awarded research fellowships by world-leading institutions such as the the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK, the Humboldt Foundation in Germany, and Columbia University’s Italian Academy in the US. He is an Editor of Media, Culture & Society, one of the leading international journals of his field. 

Research projects

• Culture della comunicazione umano-macchina: Intelligenza artificiale, media e cultura in un contesto globale

Activities in agenda

See my calendar

Academic bodies

• Consiglio di Dipartimento

• Commissione pratiche studenti - CdL in Scienze della Comunicazione
• Consiglio CdL in Scienze della Comunicazione

• Collegio docenti del Dottorato in Lettere XL ciclo

Office hours

Il ricevimento potrà essere effettuato tramite WebEx o di persona tramite appuntamento richiesto via email.