Platform Politics and Policy

This interdisciplinary seminar series seeks to highlight cutting-edge conceptual and empirical work on the various political-economic dimensions of digital capitalism, with a focus on the platform economy and the growing (and increasingly contested!) role of multinational technology ‘platform’ companies. Topics of interest include: historical or comparative perspectives on the evolution of platform power across various sectors; the politics of European digitally-oriented public policy; critical approaches to understanding the digital economy. We seek to tackle a wide range of platform ‘types’ (from search engines, social networks, and other user-generated content platforms, to ‘locally-tethered,’ infrastructural, and industrial platforms) and maintain a global perspective as much as possible.

What: A 75-minute seminar with a presentation (approx. 30 min), followed by Q&A

When: Every six weeks or so on a Wednesday afternoon, 16:00-17:15 Berlin time

Where: Online, or at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin

Who: The researchers of the Digitalization and Societal Transformation research cluster, and other interested colleagues at the WZB.

Researchers from outside the WZB who would like to attend may email the organizer, robert.gorwa [at] wzb.eu, to be put onto the seminar series mailing list.