This is the first issue paper, co-written by Anita Gurumurthy, Nandini Chami and Cecilia Alemany, for Feminist Digital Justice -- a collaborative research and advocacy initiative of IT for Change and DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era).
Digital platform companies have emerged as neo-feudal overlords profiting from a…
The platform model has emerged as a game changing force, transforming economic activity across key sectors. Platformization as the process of such a shift towards new modes of production and exchange serves as the pièce de résistance of global economic organization in the…
This report presents emerging insights from the research studies being undertaken under the project. Covering 14 countries and a range of domains and sectors, it examines the current trends in platformization, mapping the emerging policy responses and challenges.
Read more from the 'Policy Frameworks for Digital Platforms' research…
Developing countries need to recognise that in the datafying economy, any step towards creating a level playing field for local platforms must foreground and tackle the question of data in digital trade regimes. Read more in our submission to the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on E-commerce and the Digital Economy on ‘Fostering Development…
This document puts forth a research framework for ‘Policy Frameworks for Digital Platforms - Moving from Openness to Inclusion’. It outlines and clarifies the key concepts invoked in this project and offers a broad meta research framework for the project. This framework has been constructed ground-up from a synthesis of the research proposals…
Platforms are to the network age what the factory was to the industrial revolution. From popular imagination to research activity, there is a palpable sense of a new turn in economic reorganization, implicating productivity, growth, jobs and skills in the future economy. The dominant mood is about innovation and opportunity. However, there is a…
In April 2017, IT for Change with support from the International Development Research Centre, Canada participated in a multi-country research study to map the key issues/concerns for the rights and inclusion agenda, stemming from pervasive platformization, in three key domains – economy, knowledge and governance. Through a detailed analysis of…
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Understanding platformizationPlatformization is a key facet of the global economy today. Platforms, as understood through informational capitalism, are not just online market places – they are market makers. As “a set of digital frameworks for social and marketplace interactions” (Kenny & Zysman, 2016), platforms replace…
In this background paper, IT for Change maps the key issues/concerns for the rights and inclusion agenda, stemming from pervasive platformization. Scoping the platform economy from a development justice perspective, this paper outlines the many intersecting challenges that platforms pose for regulation and puts forth a…
IT for Change participated in the National Consultation for reviewing the Zero draft of the Agreed Conclusions of the 61st Session of the CSW, convened by Programme on Women's Economic Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR) in February 2017. The submission highlights the need to work towards the larger agenda of building a…