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CFP: Networks, platforms and the form of the socio-technical

EASST-4S Conference Prague 18-21st August 2020.



Convenors:

Dr Lizzie Richardson (University of Sheffield, UK) & Dr James Ash

(Newcastle University, UK)



Abstract:

The relationship between society and technology has long been approached

through networks. Networks have been used variously as a method, as a

rhetorical device for understanding the form of social relations and as

an analytic of social form. In STS, the study of the materialisations of

networks has been a key focus, where the network functions as a metaphor

that enables the tracing of material socio-technical relations. As the

metaphor of the network has increased in popularity, particularly with the

rise of digitalised ICTs, network language and representation have been

increasingly used by people to articulate their relationships with one

another, such that analysis and phenomenon of networks can become

indistinguishable. How do platforms and their social relations sit with

this complex history of networks? To date, platforms have mainly been

approached as a phenomenon, rather than as a metaphor or an analytic for

social form. Yet, formally platforms build upon but also are, in important

ways, distinct from networks, most notably through their “programmable

space” that can be made to perform differently according to how external

networks engage. So just as networks indicate the importance of form for

understanding the socio-technical, the platform must also be approached as

a device that describes social forms or heuristic for understanding the

form of social relations. How can platforms be approached as material and

social organisational arrangements beyond the platform as a company? This

might incorporate empirical investigation of named platforms, but also

includes broader materialisations of the social forms of platforms.



Abstract submission:

Abstracts can be submitted until 29th February 2020 via 4S/EASSTs website,

using your personal login credentials. After you log in, click ‘Submit A

New Proposal’, and then ‘Papers For Open Panels’. Scroll down through

the list of open where you will find ‘Networks, platforms and the form of

the socio-technical’. Abstracts are limited to 250 words.



Please contact Lizzie (e.richardson@sheffield.ac.uk) or James (

james.ash@newcastle.ac.uk) if you have any questions.

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