Open this publication in new window or tab >>2017 (English)In: Policy & Internet, ISSN 1944-2866, E-ISSN 1944-2866, Vol. 9, no 4, p. 374-394Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Digital platforms are not just software-based media, they are governing systems that control, interact, and accumulate. They also solidify markets; that is, social networks of exchange that do not necessarily leave data traces, into infrastructure, that is, material arrangements of traceable activity. This article examines the forms of domination found in this digital platform model, and corrects some existing simplistic theoretical conclusions about digital platforms. It first provides a schematic overview of digital infrastructures of governance, and the attendant systemic mechanics they engender. It then argues that we need a more syncretic, interdisciplinary approach to the platform-based economy. The shifting emphases of different academic disciplines in relation to digital platforms are only partially grounded in their different normative biases; they can also be attributed to use of different disciplinary lenses. The field of information systems management and design studies is chiefly concerned with direct, technical interplatform affordances and connections, and with providing observations of certain systemic attributes of digital platforms. Critical political economy, by contrast, mainly considers the emerging transnational, geopolitical formations of platform capitalism. The interplay between these different systemic mechanics is summarized and presented here in the concept of "platform logic."
Keywords
Big data, Infrastructure, Media ecology, Multi-sided markets, Platform management, Platform power, Platform regulation, Platformization
National Category
Media and Communications Economic Geography Other Civil Engineering Media and Communication Technology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-33143 (URN)10.1002/poi3.159 (DOI)000417860200002 ()2-s2.0-85026729641 (Scopus ID)
2017-08-222017-08-222018-11-13Bibliographically approved