Platform Logic: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Platform‐Based Economy

Digital platforms are not just software‐based media, they are governing systems that control, interact, and accumulate. They also solidify markets; that is, social networks of exchange that do not necessarily leave data traces, into infrastructure, that is, material arrangements of traceable activity. This article examines the forms of domination found in this digital platform model, and corrects some existing simplistic theoretical conclusions about digital platforms. It first provides a schematic overview of digital infrastructures of governance, and the attendant systemic mechanics they engender. It then argues that we need a more syncretic, interdisciplinary approach to the platform‐based economy. The shifting emphases of different academic disciplines in relation to digital platforms are only partially grounded in their different normative biases; they can also be attributed to use of different disciplinary lenses. The field of information systems management and design studies is chiefly concerned with direct, technical interplatform affordances and connections, and with providing observations of certain systemic attributes of digital platforms. Critical political economy, by contrast, mainly considers the emerging transnational, geopolitical formations of platform capitalism. The interplay between these different systemic mechanics is summarized and presented here in the concept of “platform logic.” 摘要 数字平台并不仅仅是基于软件的媒体, 它们还是负责控制、相互影响和积累的治理系统。同时还可以巩固市场, 也就是说, 相互交流的社交网络并不会将数据跟踪留给基础结构, 这也是可追溯活动的重要安排。本文检测了该数字平台模型中发现的主导形式, 并纠正了现存的一些被过分简单化的数据平台理论总结。文章首先为数字治理的基础结构, 以及结构产生的系统性力学提供了严谨的概述。之后本文认为: 我们需要整合跨学科方法来对待平台经济。关于数字平台, 不同学术学科间的重点转移仅部分基于各自不同的规范性偏见；它也可以被归因为使用了不同的学科观点。信息系统管理和设计研究主要与直接的, 技术性的平台间功能可见性和关联相联系, 同时还和数据平台的某些系统属性相联系。相比而言, 批判性政治经济主要考虑兴起的跨国性平台资本主义, 以及该主义形成的地缘政治。本文简要总结了这些不同系统性力学之间的相互影响, 并以“平台逻辑”的概念进行呈现。 Resumen Las plataformas digitales no solo son medios basados en software, también son sistemas de gobierno que controlan, interactúan y acumulan. Adicionalmente, solidifican los mercados, es decir, las redes sociales de intercambio que no necesariamente dejan rastros en la infraestructura, es decir, los arreglos materiales de actividad rastreable. Este artículo examina los métodos de dominación que se encuentran en este modelo de plataforma digital y corrige algunas conclusiones teóricas simplistas que ya existían acerca de las plataformas digitales. Esto provee un panorama esquemático de las infraestructuras digitales de gobernanza, y de la mecánica sis