PLATFORMISATION FROM THE SOUTH: MAPPING THE EPISTEMOLOGIES AND IMAGINATIONS OF UBER'S INFILTRATION IN BRAZIL

来自南方的平台：描绘 Uber 渗透巴西的认识论和想象

• 批准号: 2582966
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: London School of Economics and Political Science
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2582966
• 关键词: PLATFORMISATION; SOUTH; MAPPING; EPISTEMOLOGIES; IMAGINATIONS

This study intends to investigate the social, political, cultural and epistemological implications of "platformisation", i.e. the dynamics through which digital platforms' infrastructures, governance and business models infiltrate and re-organize various sectors and spheres of life. This is not a uniform process: as digital platforms expand their reach across the globe, they encounter variable conditions and unexpected local singularities. The proposed research emphasizes the infrastructural dimension of platformisation and its implications in the Global South by exploring one specific platform, Uber, and its infiltration in Brazil, the platform's largest market outside the U.S. I aim to examine Uber's infrastructural dimension and the ways in which they enable the production of predominantly data-oriented ways of knowing and intervening in heterogeneous territories. In order to achieve that, this proposal operates an approximation between platform studies (van Dijck et al., 2018; Poell et al., 2019), infrastructure studies (Plantin et al., 2018) and Southern perspectives (de Sousa Santos, 2007; Milán & Treré, 2019). Whereas most studies about Uber's actions in Brazil investigate its role in the precarization and digitalization of labor (Abilio, 2020; Grohmann, 2020), this proposal focuses on Uber's emergence as an "actor in the existing spatial knowledge infrastructure" (Plantin, 2018, p. 494). The concept of "knowledge Infrastructure" describes "an enduring, widely shared sociotechnical system", which "comprise robust networks of people, artifacts, and institutions that generate, share, and maintain specific knowledge about the human and natural worlds" (Edwards, 2010 p.17). My approach will argue that Uber's efforts to datafy territories, mobility patterns and everyday practices produces totalizing epistemologies that empower the platform to globally manage labor and urban dynamics, according to its own private interests. In datafying territories, Uber produces abstract and homogenizing ways of knowing that extirpate territories of their singularities. This is especially significant for Global South territories, marked by acute inequalities and instabilities. Assessing platformisation from the South can reveal what gets lost when territories, practices and local singularities are abstracted and algorithmically processed, together with limitations of Uber's totalizing aspirations. I intend to combine two methodological approaches First, the technological and epistemological dimension of platformisation can be mapped through technography (Bucher, 2018). I intend to collect, select and analyse a series of documents and inscriptions produced by Uber, including publications on Uber's official websites and specialized blogs; patent applications; research papers authored or co-authored by Uber's scientists. Secondly, I intend to conduct an ethnographic incursion to explore local negotiations, resistances and appropriations and contrast them with the abstract, objective and totalizing capacities envisioned by Uber. I plan to conduct a series of semi-structured interviews in São Paulo, Brazil, with different social actors including Uber riders and drivers, city representatives, Uber employees, and activists. This proposal seeks to contribute to the infrastructural turn in media and communication studies (Plantin & Punathambekar, 2018) and to the combination of platform studies and infrastructure studies. I expect to contribute to the analysis of platforms as epistemic actors, and to highlight how they appropriate cities, labor, and everyday practices as part of a laboratory where knowledge is produced and tested; Finally, by investigating platformisation from the South, I expect to articulate alternative epistemologies that allow for other imaginations and possibilities for a future with and beyond digital platforms.

本研究旨在探讨“平台化”的社会、政治、文化和认识论影响，即数字平台的基础设施、治理和商业模式渗透和重组生活各个部门和领域的动态。这不是一个统一的过程：随着数字平台在地球仪上的扩展，它们会遇到各种各样的条件和意想不到的局部奇点。拟议的研究强调平台化的基础设施方面及其在全球南部的影响，通过探索一个特定的平台，优步，其在巴西的渗透，该平台的最大市场以外的美国，我的目标是研究优步的基础设施方面，他们能够生产的方式，主要是以数据为导向的方式知道和干预异构的领土。为了实现这一点，该提议在平台研究之间进行近似（货车Dijck等人，2018; Poell等人，2019），基础设施研究（Plantin等人，2018）和南方观点（de Sousa桑托斯，2007; Milán & Treré，2019）。尽管大多数关于Uber在巴西行动的研究都调查了其在劳动力预劳动力化和数字化中的作用（Abilio，2020; Grohmann，2020），但该提案的重点是Uber作为“现有空间知识基础设施中的参与者”的崛起（Plantin，2018年，第494页）。“知识基础设施”的概念描述了“一个持久的、广泛共享的社会技术系统”，它“包括由人、人工制品和机构组成的强大网络，这些网络产生、共享和维护关于人类和自然世界的特定知识”（Edwards，2010年，第17页）。我的方法将认为，优步的努力，以丰富的领土，流动模式和日常实践产生了总体化的认识论，使该平台能够全球管理劳动力和城市动态，根据自己的私人利益。在扩张领域，Uber创造了抽象的和抽象的认知方式，消除了它们的奇点。这对于全球南方地区尤其重要，这些地区的特点是严重的不平等和不稳定。从南方评估平台化可以揭示当领土，实践和局部奇点被抽象和算法处理时会失去什么，以及Uber总体化愿望的局限性。我打算将联合收割机两种方法论方法结合起来。首先，平台化的技术和认识论维度可以通过技术地理学来绘制（布赫，2018）。我打算收集、选择和分析Uber制作的一系列文件和铭文，包括Uber官方网站和专业博客上的出版物;专利申请; Uber科学家撰写或合著的研究论文。其次，我打算进行一次民族志的入侵，以探索当地的谈判、抵制和拨款，并将它们与优步所设想的抽象、客观和总体化的能力进行对比。我计划在巴西圣保罗进行一系列半结构化的采访，采访对象包括Uber乘客和司机、城市代表、Uber员工和活动家等不同的社会参与者。该提案旨在促进媒体和传播研究的基础设施转向（Plantin & Punathambekar，2018）以及平台研究和基础设施研究的结合。我希望有助于平台作为认知行为者的分析，并强调他们如何适当的城市，劳动力和日常实践，作为知识生产和测试的实验室的一部分;最后，通过调查南方的平台化，我希望阐明替代的认识论，允许其他想象力和未来的可能性，并超越数字平台。