The Emergence of Online Delivery Platforms as Capital, Culture and Code: The Changing Paradigm

  • Nabil Afifi Centre for Studies in Science Policy
  • Reeta Sony Centre for Studies in Science Policy
Keywords: food aggregator, algorithms, platforms, intermediary liabilities, labour law, urban spaces

Abstract

The author’s aims in the article are to address the understanding of platforms, through their shared properties of infrastructure and how the lines of differentiation are blurring in urban spaces. In doing so, authors of the article outline the growth of online food aggregator delivery platforms and factors that accelerated their growth. Further, the authors try to shed light on the multiplicity of algorithms by dissecting online platforms into individual algorithmic components. The disassembling of the platform improved the cognizance of various ways in which algorithms within these platforms affects the users and partners. Lastly, the authors highlight various ways and means in which online platforms are governed in urban spaces. The study finds that although both platforms and government have certain safeguards for their users and partners, but lack in strategy efforts for technological innovation under the realm of trust.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Nabil Afifi, Centre for Studies in Science Policy

PhD Scholar

 

Reeta Sony, Centre for Studies in Science Policy

PhD., Associate Professor

References

Baldwin C., Woodward C. (2008) The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View. Harvard Business School, no. 9, p. 32. Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1265155 (accessed: 16.04.2020

Card J. (2017) Financial crises are a ‘filtering mechanism’ for startups. The Guardian. January 24. 2017. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2017/jan/24/financial-crises-filtering-mechanism-startups (accessed: 24.01.2017)

Chan S., Klareld A.-S. (2022) Platform or infrastructure or both at once? Detangling the two concept’s knotty cross-articulations. Information Research, no. 27. Available at: https://doi.org/10.47989/colis2205(accessed: 30.11.2022)

Daley J. (2019) Recently Uncovered Thermopolium Reminds us that Romans Loved Fast Food as Much as We Do. Smithsonian Magazine. Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/romansloved-fast-food-much-we-do-180971845/ (accessed: 16.04.2020)

Davidson N., Infranca J. (2016) The Sharing Economy as an Urban Phenomenon. Yale Law and Policy Review, vol. 34, no. 2, p. 67.

Davis G., Shibulal S. (2018) Taming Platform Capitalism to Meet Human Needs. In: S. Rangan (ed.) Capitalism Beyond Mutuality? Perspectives in Integrating Philosophy and Social Science. Oxford: University Press, pp. 207–226. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198825067.003.0011 (accessed: 11.05.2021)

Devendorf L., Goodman E. (2014) The algorithm multiple, the algorithm material: reconstructing creative practice. Available at: https://www.confectious.net/may-15-the-algorithm-multiple-the-algorithm-material-reconstructing-creative-practice-uc-davis/ (accessed: 06.12.2021)

Dijck J. van (2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford: University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199970773.001.0001(accessed: 16.04.2020)

Doorn N. (2019) A new institution on the block: On platform urbanism and Airbnb citizenship. New Media & Society, vol. 22, no. 10, pp.1808–1826. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444819884377 (accessed: 11.05.2021)

Doorn N., Mos E., Bosma J. (2021) Actually existing platformization: embedding platforms in urban spaces through partnerships. South Atlantic Quarterly, vol. 120, no. 4, pp. 715–731. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-9443280 (accessed: 12.01.2022)

Ecker Y., Strüver A. (2022) Towards alternative platform futures in post-pandemic cities? A case study on platformization and changing socio-spatial relations in on-demand food delivery. Digital Geography, no. 3. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diggeo.2022.100032 (accessed:04.11.2022)

Ganguly S., Ramesh A. (2022) Rules governing India’s gig economy. International Bar Association press release. October 7, 2022. Available at: https://www.ibanet.org/rules-governing-india-gig-economy#_edn3 (accessed: 07.12.2022)

Ghai D. (2003) Decent work: concept and indicators. International Labour Review, vol. 142, no. 2, pp. 113–145.

Gillespie T. (2010) The politics of ‘platforms’. New Media and Society, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 347–364. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/ 1461444809342738 (accessed: 16.04.2020)

Guyer J. (2016) Legacies, Logics, Logistics: Essays in the Anthropology of the Platform Economy. Chicago: University Press, 329 p.

Iqubbal A. (2021) Food delivery workers in India: emerging entrepreneurs or informal labour? Digital Empowerment Foundation.

Jalote P., Natarajan P. (2019) The growth and evolution of India’s software industry. Communications of the ACM, vol. 62, no.11, pp. 64–69. Available at: doi:10.1145/3347863 (accessed: 16.04.2020)

Langlois G., Elmer G. (2013) The research politics of social media platforms. Culture Machine, no. 14.

Mahadevan K. (2021) Demystifying the Dabbawallahs: India’s Lean Food Delivery Operations Explained with Operations Management Practices. Operations and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, vol.14, no. 3, pp. 277–288. Available at: http://doi.org/10.31387/oscm0460302 (accessed: 10.06.2022)

Mattelart A. (1996) The invention of communication. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 255 p.

Mol A. (2002) The Body Multiple: Ontology in Medical Practice. In: B.H. Smith (ed.). Durham: Duke University Press, 388 p.

Mooshammer H., Mörtenböck P. (eds.) (2021) Platform Urbanism and Its Discontents. NAi Uitgevers / Publishers Stichting.

Mullen A. (2021) Ancient residues, dietary clues. Nature Food, vol. 317, no. 2. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00296-8 (accessed: 20.05.2022)

Nariman F. (2019) Uber India Systems Pvt. Ltd. vs. Competition Commission of India on 3 September, 2019. Indian Kanoon. Retrieved. Available at: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/152787062/ (accessed: 07.12.2022)

Plantin J.-C., Lagoze C., Edwards P. et al. (2016) Infrastructure studies meet platform studies in the age of Google and Facebook. New Media and Society, vol. 20, no.1, pp. 293-310. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816661553 (accessed: 16.04.2020)

Poell T., Dijck J. van, Waal M. (2018) The Platform Society: Public Values in a Connective World. Oxford: University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190889760.001.0001 (accessed: 16.04.2020)

Pujadas R., Curto-Millet D. (2019) From Matchmaking to Boundary Making: Thinking Infrastructures and Decentring Digital Platforms in the Sharing Economy. In: G. Bowker, P. Miller et al. (eds.) Thinking Infrastructures (pp. 273-286). Tamil Nadu: Emerald Publishing, pp. 273–286. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X2019Tamil Nadu0000062017 (accessed: 16.04.2020)

Reeves S. (2019) Online food-delivery scrambling more than the restaurant industry. China Daily. Global Edition. 20.02.2019. Available at: http://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201902/20/WS5c6d7116a3106c65c34ea6f3.html (accessed: 16.04.2020)

Rossi U. (2019) The common-seekers: Capturing and reclaiming value in the platform metropolis. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, vol.37, no. 8, pp. 1418–1433. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/2399654419830975 (accessed:16.04.2020)

Scholz T. (2017) Uberworked and Underpaid: How Workers Are Disrupting the Digital Economy. New York: Wiley, 310 p.

SFLC.in. (2019) Intermediary Liability 2.0: A Shifting Paradigm. SFLC.in. Available at: https://sflc.in/sites/default/files/reports/Intermediary_Liability_2_0_-_A_Shifting_Paradigm.pdf (accessed: 20.06.2020)

Srnicek N. (2017) Platform Capitalism. New York: Wiley, 409 p.

Vanolo A. (2014) Smart mentality: The Smart City as Disciplinary Strategy. Urban Studies, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 883-898. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098013494427 (accessed: 16.04.2020

Published
2022-12-16
How to Cite
AfifiN., & SonyR. (2022). The Emergence of Online Delivery Platforms as Capital, Culture and Code: The Changing Paradigm. Legal Issues in the Digital Age, 3(4), 14-33. Retrieved from https://lida.hse.ru/article/view/16457