Standard Grant: Digital Platforms and the Mediation of Technological Change

该奖项支持一个研究新兴平台经济的研究项目;将研究三个平台，即Uber，Airbnb和Amazon运营的平台该项目将通过揭示当地环境介导平台资本主义的方式及其影响，为新兴平台经济的理论理解做出贡献。更广泛地说，它将有助于美国国家科学基金会的研究为重点的大想法，“工作在人类技术前沿：塑造未来。数字平台为在“零工经济”中工作的独立承包商以及为亚马逊等公司处理配送的仓储和运输组织的工人提供了基本的基础设施。通过生成关于平台资本主义的本地中介的结果，本研究将为希望明智地驾驭这些市场变化的地区政府和公司提供建议。该项目的成果将通过以下方式传播：向区域政府、物流和航运组织、独立承包商和工会提交单独的报告;在大众媒体上提供可查阅的出版物;关于平台经济的本科课程;本项目将通过实证调查分析当地环境如何调解平台资本主义，重点是在这一领域的博士生的培训和支持。将数字平台转化为美国城市地区。监控是这些转化的关键;所有以平台为媒介的商业互动都旨在生成可用于构建消费者档案、绘制和预测趋势以及操纵个人和群体行为的数据。要研究的平台是Uber、Airbnb和亚马逊运营的平台。三个主要的研究问题将指导这项调查：（1）如何改变当地的组织形式和功能，以应对平台资本主义？(2)现有的技术基础设施存在哪些阻力和启示？以及（3）当地文化实践如何调解数字平台的部署和使用？为了解决这些问题，研究人员将使用多种定性方法，包括行业，媒体和政府文件的内容分析;对关键信息提供者的30次半结构化访谈;以及选定城市地区的平台密度和流量的空间映射。对大型数字平台的社会空间影响的探索将借鉴、综合和促进监测研究、科学技术研究和人文地理文献。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

This award supports a research project that studies emerging platform economics; three platforms are to be studied, those operated by Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon The project will contribute to theoretical understandings of emerging platform economies by bringing to light the ways that local environments mediate platform capitalism and to what effect. More broadly, it will contribute to NSF's research-focused Big Idea, "Work at the Human-Technology Frontier: Shaping the Future." Digital platforms provide the fundamental infrastructure for independent contractors working in the "gig economy" as well as for workers in the warehousing and shipping organizations that handle distribution for companies like Amazon. By generating findings about local mediation of platform capitalism, this study will produce recommendations for regional governments and firms looking to navigate these market shifts intelligently. The results of this project are to be disseminated via separate reports for regional governments, logistics and shipping organizations, independent contractors, and labor unions; accessible publications in popular outlets; an undergraduate course on platform economies; and the training and support of a doctoral student working in this area.This project will analyze how local environments mediate platform capitalism through an empirical inquiry that focuses on the translation of digital platforms into urban regions in the US. Surveillance is key to these translations; all platform-mediated commercial interactions are designed to generate data that can be harnessed for building consumer profiles, mapping and predicting trends, and manipulating individual and group behavior. The platforms to be studied are those operated by Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon. Three primary research questions will guide this inquiry: (1) How are local organizational forms and functions altered in response to platform capitalism? (2) What resistances and affordances are presented by existing technological infrastructures? and (3) How does local cultural practice mediate the deployment and use of digital platforms? To address these questions, the researcher will use multiple qualitative methods including content analysis of industry, media, and government documents; 30 semi-structured interviews with key informants; and spatial mapping of platform densities and flows across selected urban regions. The exploration of the socio-spatial implications of large-scale digital platforms will draw upon, synthesize, and contribute to surveillance studies, science and technology studies, and human geography literatures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.