Cartography of controversies with digital platforms: theoretical and methodological notes

Abstract

This paper proposes to organize and contextualize a set of discussions on theoretical and methodological speci cities of the studies on controversies in digital platforms. Dialoguing with authors who coordinate Science and Technologies Studies (STS), Actor-Network Theory and Internet studies, we emphasize, among other aspects, the political and material dimensions of the formation of social life (LATOUR, 2012) in artifacts such as Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia. The study starts with a revision of the controversy concept and then focuses on the singularities of the moments of disputes and conflicts in the digital platforms. Then we present the “digital methods” perspective (ROGERS, 2016) and some case studies inspired by the “radical empiricism” approach (MARRES, 2015). Finally, , the paper discusses how the technopolitical dimension of the “platformization of the web” (HELMOND, 2015) reveals new challenges to research on the issue.