Digital Platforms

Catalog description

Platforms have become central to many of society's most important functions. You use them to find information (Google, Bing, etc.), communicate with friends (iOS, WhatsApp), find a date (Tinder, Bumble), book a flight (Google Flights), make hotel (Kayak) or restaurant reservations (OpenTable). There is a good chance you are reading this course description on a digital platform (OS X, Linux, or Windows). This seminar provides a multidisciplinary lens by which to study these organizations as the intersection of markets, technology, and institutions. The sessions will discuss how platforms have transformed labor, democracy, economics, law, and other aspects of social life. In doing so, this seminar will allow students to engage in discussions about surveillance, capitalism, inequality, power, and cooperation.