Platform or infrastructure or both at once? Detangling the two concept's knotty cross-articulations

Abstract

With the ever-increasing presence of digital technology and media, scholars have explored the cross-articulations of infrastructure and platform to investigate the contemporary digital landscape. However, cross-articulations of the two concepts vary according to the empirical setting and focus. The present paper investigates the ways the two concepts relate to each other and their relevance to library and information science. The findings were obtained from a conceptual review of the literature on cross-articulations of infrastructure and platform. The cross-articulations were categorised as the interrelated forms of process and practice: first, cross-articulations are understood as processes that occur separately or simultaneously, altering the dynamic between public and private spheres and highlighting the scale, invisibility, and indispensability. Second, some cross-articulations encompass a practice-discursive dimension, emphasising the relations between different actors. The two selected cross-articulations are sustained by data-generating processes and practices involving both platform and users. Cross-articulations of platform and infrastructure can assist library and information scholars to conceptualise contemporary, datafied information infrastructures. The authors suggest including perspectives on user practices, aligned with the current focus on platforms, in future cross-articulations to gain greater insight into the user-platform dynamic.