Module 1.1: Intro to Platforms will introduce you to the concept of platforms and how platforms can impact the activity of users. We recommend the following readings for contextualizing platforms:
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- Gillespie, Tarleton. “The Politics of ‘Platforms.” New Media & Society 12, no. 3 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444809342738
- Orgad, Shani. “How Can Researchers Make Sense of the Issues involved in Collecting and Interpreting Online and Offline Data?” In Internet Inquiry: Conversations about Method, edited by Annette Markham and Nancy K. Baym, 33-53. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, Inc., 2008.
To supplement these readings, the following materials (created by Dr. Jennifer deWinter) provide an overview of platform studies and their relevance to digital culture research.
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- First, review these Intro to Platforms slides and watch the accompanying video, narrated by deWinter.
- Then, review A Platform Heuristic for Digital Humanities, which provides you with a framework for interrogating your platform of choice. This heuristic is designed to enable you to interrogate the influences that help shape which type of content gets shared.
Finally, you should focus on refining the research question you will be pursuing throughout the workshop. In thinking about your research question, you should use this Research Question Flowchart (developed by Dr. Mel Stanfill) to further refine your area of interest. You will be applying this flowchart in your response to Discussion One.
