Empowering users to impact how platforms are government and participate in value creation; and

Platforms are increasingly governing participants’ opportunities and livelihoods, and with that comes the need for mutual accountability and evolving protections and responsibilities.

So, of course, now it makes sense to investigate the nature of these digital innovations, how they form part of the architecture of our daily lives, how they come to market, who controls them and their heteroskedastic affects on different groups. We need to ask whether the interplay of these technologies with society and market forces has led to or... See more

Many issues people have with social networks and technology arise from a mismatch between the nature of these networks and the legacy corporate structures that govern them.

“The way that power has been exercised in our society through these decades of mass systems has been about people in conference rooms arguing with each other over control of these mass mechanisms.”

But as we’ve seen, monetization is only one dimension to the platform legitimacy crisis. It’s not just about money: it’s about agency and autonomy, and having the opportunity to participate in decisions that directly impact your livelihood. It’s about breaking the unilateral power that platforms hold as centralized points of control in the ecosyste... See more

In the earliest days, their legitimacy was largely charismatic: founders like Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos built auras around themselves as technological geniuses and philosopher kings by painting compelling visions of the future their creations would make possible. There’s a strong traditional bent to platform legitimacy as well. Platforms are f... See more