The Center for Global Culture and Communication,

an interdisciplinary initiative of Northwestern University’s School of Communication,

and

The Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University

present:

Jean-Christophe Plantin

(London School of Economics)

Digital Platforms Meet Infrastructures:

Characterizing Complex Data Configurations

Monday, April 18, 2016

4:00-5:30pm 

Frances Searle Building, Room 3-417

(Reception to Follow)

Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1672845666310152/

Abstract: Two theoretical approaches are available to characterize data-driven objects of study: infrastructure studies and platform studies. While scholarship in the former emphasizes robustness, reliability, transparency, and breakdown, the latter insists on programmability, data flows, and connecting heterogeneous actors. How do these concepts and fields relate? How do they differ in terms of scale, fields of investigation, and analytical power? Which objects, and which methods of investigation, do they bring to the fore? Are they complementary, or oppositional — or are they basically the same thing?

To answer these questions, this talk will characterize digital platforms through their complex interactions with existing infrastructures. Using literature from STS, communication studies and management, along with case studies from citizen science, scientific data sharing, and open data initiatives, it will first show the different configurations this encounter can take: opposition, cooperation, or mutual influence between the two entities. Second, it will show the consequences these configurations have on shaping access to information, knowledge production, and circulation and valuation of data.

Biography: Dr. Jean-Christophe Plantin is an Assistant Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, department of Media & Communications. His research investigates the civic use of mapping platforms, the collaborative challenges in big data science, and the political implications of data science. His work has been published in Media, Culture & Society, International Journal of Communication, and Digital Humanities Quarterly.

This talk is a part of the Northwestern University and London School of Economics Initiative, sponsored by the Center for Global Culture and Communication and the Buffett Institute for Global Studies at Northwestern University.

For more information, please contact Gabby Garcia at gabbygarcia@u.northwestern.edu.