[Air-L] ‘Behind the Scenes’ online talk series, session 13: Robyn Caplan

[J.C. Vieira Magalhaes]

Dear all,

Next Tuesday (26th November), our ‘Behind the Scenes’ online talk series will host Robyn Caplan (Duke University), who will discuss her approach to studying platform governance from multiple empirical perspectives.

This is an unmissable opportunity for both established and emerging researchers to hear from one of the most original thinkers in this field. We hope to see many of you there!

See the details below and register for free here: https://platform-governance.org/online-talk-series/session-13-robyn-caplan-studying-networked-platform-governance-a-multi-perspective-approach/ 



João, also on behalf of Christian and Paloma

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Time and Date: November 26, 2024, 3-4 pm (CET, Berlin time)
 

Studying Networked Platform Governance: A Multi-Perspective Approach
 
Platform companies, like Facebook, Google, and Twitter have been repeatedly critiqued in the past for their unilateral approach to content governance, and their lack of transparency around the setting and enforcement of content policies. Their importance within the public sphere (van Dijck, 2012) has led scholars like Gillespie (2018) to “share the tools to govern collectively” (p. 212).
 
But there has been little research examining whether, and how, platforms acknowledge the dynamic relationship that often exists within these companies, with their users, and with those on the outside. Understanding these dynamics in the lens of networked governance (Sørenson & Torfing, 2005; Caplan, 2023) enables us to see the ways that interdependence – between platforms, users, governments, media, and other networked actors – shapes the regulation of expression.
 
This talk will be a reflection on Robyn Caplan’s multi-perspective approach to studying platforms, and will highlight the importance of triangulation when it comes to studying networked actors. This talk will give an overview of Caplan’s research (touching on research on platform personnel, media associations, online creators, civil society actors) and will explore the theoretical grounding of using multiple perspectives to study platforms.
 
Presenting Author
 
Robyn Caplan is an Assistant Professor of Tech Policy at Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, and a Senior Lecturing Fellow at the Center for Science and Society. She is a research affiliate at Data & Society Research Institute, where she was a Senior Researcher studying media policy and platform governance.
 
About the Series 
 
This talk is part of the series Behind the Scenes – Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Research <https://platform-governance.org/online-talk-series/> that invites scholars in this field to share their experiences and views, fostering  community exchange about how we can study platform governance in this challenging context. It is hosted by the Lab “Platform Governance, Media, and Technology” (PGMT) at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), <https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/zemki> University of Bremen, and the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies <https://www.rug.nl/research/icog/research/research-centres/centre-for-journalism-and-mediastudies/>, University of Groningen.


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João C. Magalhães
Assistant Professor in Media, Politics and Democracy
University of Groningen | Centre for Media and Journalism Studies
https://jcmagalhaes.com/

Selected publications: Governance by technological design, a critique <https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781800887206/book-part-9781800887206-32.xml>, 2024 (Handbook of Media and Communication Governance) | A history of objectionability in Twitter’s moderation practices <https://academic.oup.com/joc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/joc/jqad015/7204763?utm_source=authortollfreelink&utm_campaign=joc&utm_medium=email&guestAccessKey=fe630b65-d137-4378-bfb2-44026df942a7&login=false>, 2023 (Journal of Communication, w/ Emillie de Keulenaar, Bharath Ganesh) | Social media, social unfreedom <https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/commun-2022-0040/html>, 2022 (Communications, w/ Jun Yu) | Big Tech, data colonialism and the reconfiguration of social good <https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/15995>, 2021(International Journal of Communication, w/ Nick Couldry) | Algorithmic visibility and bottom-up authoritarianism in the Brazilian crisis <http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/4042/>, 2019 (PhD, LSE) | Considering algorithmic ethical subjectivation <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118768301>, 2018 (Social Media + Society)