New Media & Society· 2016Q1
Infrastructure studies meet platform studies in the age of Google and Facebook
- 1,535citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2016year
Short summary
This paper proposes a combined theoretical framework by integrating 'infrastructure studies' and 'platform studies' to better understand contemporary digital media.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Integrates infrastructure studies (shared systems) and platform studies (enabled/constrained expression).
- Demonstrates the combined framework's utility with case studies of Open Web, Facebook, and Google.
- Highlights how platform services gain infrastructure characteristics and vice-versa.
- Proposes this combined framework as valuable for future digital media research.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Two theoretical approaches have recently emerged to characterize new digital objects of study in the media landscape: infrastructure studies and platform studies. Despite their separate origins and different features, we demonstrate in this article how the cross-articulation of these two perspectives improves our understanding of current digital media. We use case studies of the Open Web, Facebook, and Google to demonstrate that infrastructure studies provides a valuable approach to the evolution of shared, widely accessible systems and services of the type often provided or regulated by governments in the public interest. On the other hand, platform studies captures how communication and expression are both enabled and constrained by new digital systems and new media. In these environments, platform-based services acquire characteristics of infrastructure, while both new and existing infrastructures are built or reorganized on the logic of platforms. We conclude by underlining the potential of this combined framework for future case studies.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. New Media & Society, 2016 · DOI ↗
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Field: Communication
CommunicationSocial Sciences