Datafication of communication and work activities in communicators' arrangements: the struggles with the determinations of platform companies

• Grant number: 22/05714-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: February 01, 2023
• End date: January 31, 2028
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Communications
• Principal Investigator: Roseli Aparecida Figaro Paulino
• Grantee: Roseli Aparecida Figaro Paulino
• Host Institution: Escola de Comunicações e Artes (ECA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Flavia Marques da Silva ; Camila Acosta Camargo ; Cláudia do Carmo Nonato Lima ; Cláudia Nociolini Rebechi ; Cristiane Pereira Costa Dias ; Daniela Ferreira de Oliveira ; Diego Alonso Garcia Ramirez ; Fernando Felício Pachi Filho ; Gilson Soares Raslan Filho ; Greciely Cristina da Costa ; Jamir Osvaldo Kinoshita ; Janaina Visibeli Barros ; João Augusto Moliani ; Naiana Rodrigues da Silva ; Rafael do Nascimento Grohmann ; Rafael Rodrigues da Costa ; Thales Vilela Lelo ; Vânia Cristina Pires Nogueira Valente
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/16640-3 - The bibliographic production in area of studies of platforms, data and algorithmic applications in the field of Communication, BP.IC; 24/09105-4 - Post-Doctoral Research Plan and Project Proposal for the Project "Datification of Communication Activity and Communicators' Work Arrangements: The Clashes with Platform Companies' Determinations", BP.PD; 24/14447-1 - Mapping research and innovation centers in the area of digital information and communication technologies, BP.IC; 24/14466-6 - Datafication of communicators' work: multiple case study, BP.IC; 24/04095-0 - PROCEDURES INVOLVED IN DATA COLLECTION BY DIGITAL PLATFORM ALGORITHMS, BP.TT

Abstract

Considering that communication on digital media requires communicators' work, this research investigates how communication professionals, who develop their arrangements to exercise their profession, act in the face of the subsuming logics of human living work, assumed in the uses of digital tools of platform companies. Our fundamental question is: How and by what means do digital platform companies capture the living work of professionals working in the communication area's productive arrangements? The 'sensitive materialities', a concept being formulated, encompass all human interactions with the environment and the social. They are the raw material for the file composition that provides a scannable database for algorithmic reconfigurations and formatting marketable profiles. The uniqueness of these technological structures (Google [Alphabet], Amazon, Facebook [Meta], Microsoft) lies in their characteristic of operating, at the same time, in the intertwining of communication and work activities. Therefore, this research is an exploratory study on the reality aspects of platform mediated work. It aims to advance research strategies, conceptual elaboration, and subsequent technological solutions. The methodology uses the triangulation of methods, data, and researchers. The theoretical approach is based on the binomial Communication and Work (Fígaro, 2018), platform studies (van Dijck; Poell; de Waal, 2018; Srnicek, 2018), and discourse analysis (Orlandi, 2012; Dias, 2018). The methods to be triangulated are information collected from interviews with communicators, technologists, data scientists, and platform companies managers'. It also includes observational data, documentary surveys, discussion groups, and multiple case studies. The research results envisage theoretical-conceptual elaboration, methodological experimentation, and social technology development capable of articulating academia and civil society. It aims to create prototypes of open-access tools for the work of communicators and communication between workers. The research objectives and the expected results are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (UN). (AU)