From Platform to Platformisation: A Workshop

Date: Tuesday 19 June, 2018
Time: 9:15am-3:00pm
Location:
Seminar Room, Level 4, Forgan Smith Tower, UQ St Lucia

It is common to talk of Media Platforms, the Platform Press, and the Platform Economy. We see processes of platformisation extending well beyond media platforms to include retail, tourism, accommodation, taxi services, agriculture, and the home. We are seeing not only the transformation of our media system, advertising and marketing, but the thoroughgoing platformisation of much of our economic and social life. This first workshop of the “Media Platforms: Algorithms, Accountability and Media Design” HASS Research initiative is designed to illuminate and sort through these various issues. It will host two project collaborators, A/Prof Vibodh Parthasarathi of the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, New Delhi and Dr Ramon Lobato of RMIT’s Digital Ethnography Research Centre who lead the discussion of various aspects of these processes of platformisation with project Investigators A/Prof Adrian Mabbott Athique and Dr Nic Carah.

 

In the first session, From Platform to Platformisation, Vibodh Parthasarathi will begin the Workshop by unpacking the concept of the platform itself. He argues that platforms are best understood as processes and strategies of platformisation which variously intersect with each other and have a deep history (whether in pay-TV, telecommunication and newspapers). By considering platforms as platformisation, as a verb rather than as a noun, the processes by which various platforms are becoming infrastructures and in a parallel move various infrastructures are taking on an increasingly platformised form are becoming more visible. Ramon Lobato will lead the second session, The Platform Media: Platformising the Media System. Ramon will discuss processes of media platformisation drawing on his research on emerging pirate media platforms and subscription video on demand media (Netflix). His presentation will open out into a discussion of the various competing ways in media platformisation is occurring. Nic Carah will lead discussion of  Platformisation, Advertising and Machine Learning. With online advertising principally on Facebook and Alphabet platforms now responsible for half of Australian advertising expenditures Carah will lead a discussion of the ways platformisation is changing the shape and character of advertising and its technical realisation in new advertising and marketing settlements. In the fourth session and final session, Adrian Athique will lead the discussion ofPlatforms, Capitalism and Market Systems, locating transactional platforms which are increasingly impacting on various areas of our social and economic life whether in travel, retail, accommodation, the smart home or employment. These processes are forging different settlements  between media and mediatised operations bringing them within an integrated process.

 

The Workshop is an initiative of the “Media Platforms: Algorithms, Accountability and Media Design” HASS Research initiative. It brings together researchers from the School of Communication and Arts, the Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities, and the TC Beirne Law School.

 

Venue: Forgan Smith Seminar Room, Level 4. 

Date: 19th June 2018

 

 

Timetable

9:15am Introduction to the “Media Platforms: Algorithms, Accountability and Media Design”  Strategic Initiative.

Prof Tom O’Regan, University of Queensland.

 

9:30am “From Platform to Platformisation”

A/Prof Vibodh Parthasarathi, Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Islamia University, New Delhi.

Discussants: Dr Allison Fish (T.C. Beirne Law School) and Dr Dan Angus (CoimArts, UQ)

 

10:30am Morning Tea

 

11am “The Platform Media: Platformising the Media System”

Dr Ramon Lobato, Digital Ethnography Research Centre, RMIT, Melbourne

Discussants: Prof Tom O’Regan (ComArts UQ) & Dr Nina Li (IASH, UQ)

 

12pm Lunch

 

1pm “Platformisation, advertising and machine learning”

Dr Nic Carah, School of Communication and Arts, UQ.

Discussants: A/Prof Jane Johnston & A/Prof Vibodh Parthasarathi (perhaps Liam Pomfret, UQ Business School)

 

2pm “Platforms, Capitalism and Market Systems”

A/Prof Adrian Mabbott Athique, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, University of Queensland

Discussants: Dr Barbara Jedlickova (TC Beirne Law School) and Dr Alex Bevan (ComArts UQ)

 

3pm. Afternoon Tea and Close.

 


 

About Platform Media: Algorithms, Accountability and Media Design EVENTS

Platform Media: Algorithms, Accountability and Design is a Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences initiative that brings together researchers in the School of Communication and Arts and the T.C. Beirne Law School.  

Please see below for upcoming and past events or follow this link back to Platform Media: Algorithms, Accountability and Design homepage

 

Venue

Seminar Room, Level 4, Forgan Smith Tower, UQ St Lucia