Apologies for cross-posting:
<br>
<br>CFP: Networks, platforms and the form of the socio-technical
<br>EASST-4S Conference Prague 18-21st August 2020.
<br>
<br>Convenors:
<br>Dr Lizzie Richardson (University of Sheffield, UK) & Dr James Ash
<br>(Newcastle University, UK)
<br>
<br>Abstract:
<br>The relationship between society and technology has long been approached
<br>through networks. Networks have been used variously as a method, as a
<br>rhetorical device for understanding the form of social relations and as
<br>an analytic of social form. In STS, the study of the materialisations of
<br>networks has been a key focus, where the network functions as a metaphor
<br>that enables the tracing of material socio-technical relations. As the
<br>metaphor of the network has increased in popularity, particularly with the
<br>rise of digitalised ICTs, network language and representation have been
<br>increasingly used by people to articulate their relationships with one
<br>another, such that analysis and phenomenon of networks can become
<br>indistinguishable. How do platforms and their social relations sit with
<br>this complex history of networks? To date, platforms have mainly been
<br>approached as a phenomenon, rather than as a metaphor or an analytic for
<br>social form. Yet, formally platforms build upon but also are, in important
<br>ways, distinct from networks, most notably through their “programmable
<br>space” that can be made to perform differently according to how external
<br>networks engage. So just as networks indicate the importance of form for
<br>understanding the socio-technical, the platform must also be approached as
<br>a device that describes social forms or heuristic for understanding the
<br>form of social relations. How can platforms be approached as material and
<br>social organisational arrangements beyond the platform as a company? This
<br>might incorporate empirical investigation of named platforms, but also
<br>includes broader materialisations of the social forms of platforms.
<br>
<br>Abstract submission:
<br>Abstracts can be submitted until 29th February 2020 via 4S/EASSTs website,
<br>using your personal login credentials. After you log in, click ‘Submit A
<br>New Proposal’, and then ‘Papers For Open Panels’. Scroll down through
<br>the list of open where you will find ‘Networks, platforms and the form of
<br>the socio-technical’. Abstracts are limited to 250 words.
<br>
<br>Please contact Lizzie (e.richardson@sheffield.ac.uk) or James (
<br>james.ash@newcastle.ac.uk) if you have any questions.
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