Market Information in the Age of Platform Dominance:  Implications for Computational Social Science

Date: Monday 24 June 2019
Time: 11am - 12:30pm
Location: IASH Seminar Room, Level 4, Forgan Smith Tower (#1), UQ St Lucia

Abstract:

We find ourselves in an era where much of audience activity centers around a handful of digital platforms. This also has impacted how we learn about audiences.  Traditionally, audience measurement has been the province of  neutral "third-party" firms such as Nielsen, which provide regularly updated, market information about media use, using methods mutually agreed upon by all invested parties including advertisers,media owners and in some cases even the state. Digital platforms on the other hand provide their own measurement estimates, the production of which is largely shielded from external stakeholders. This talk delineates this ongoing shift in market information regimes in media markets raising critical questions for the emerging area of computational social science, as the latter remains heavily invested in the potential of "big data" made available by digital platforms.

About the Presenter: 

Dr Taneja currently is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Advertising and Institute for Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He completed his PhD at Northwestern University where with James Webster and colleagues he developed new approaches to the repurposing of large commercial datasets to provide evidence-based contributions to fundamental issues and debates in Communication and Media Studies. Dr Taneja’s UQ visit is supported by the HASS Strategic Research Fund initiative, “Platform Media: Algorithms, Accountabiliy and Media Design”. While in Australia Dr Taneja who also researches Indian media is giving a presentation in Perth to the “Platform Capitalism, Communication and Culture in South Asia” research symposium 18-19th June co-organised by A/Prof Adrian Athique in IASH, co-lead of "Platform Media" initiative. 

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.  

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Venue

IASH Seminar Room, Level 4, Forgan Smith Tower (#1), UQ St Lucia