Introduction

The Construction of the Future of Platforms

Authors

  • Nico Carpentier Charles University, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8996-4636
  • Miloš Hroch Charles University, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.17.1(35).737

Keywords:

Future, Futures Studies, Constructionism, Delphi method, Centralized Data Gathering, Platforms, Communication Technologies

Abstract

The introduction of the special issue on the construction of the future of platforms provides the paradigmatic, conceptual and methodological framework for this special issue. Starting from a brief outline of the characteristics of the field of futures studies, the article supports the call to better embed in social and political theory, and frames the special issue, with its constructionist emphasis, as a contribution to this debate. In addition, the article provides an overview of the Delphi+ workshop method that was used, and describes the centralized data gathering process, into which all research articles of this special issue tap, to then produce their distinct analyses. This motivates the need to read this introduction alongside the five research articles that have been included in this special issue.

Author Biography

Nico Carpentier, Charles University, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism

Nico Carpentier is Extraordinary Professor at Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic) and President of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (2020-2023). He also holds a part-time position at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB - Free University of Brussels, Belgium), as Associate Professor. Moreover, he is a Research Fellow at Loughborough University.

References

Adams, T. E., Holman Jones, S. L., & Ellis, C. (Eds.). (2022). Handbook of autoethnography (Second edition). Routledge.

Ahlqvist, T., & Rhisiart, M. (2015). Emerging pathways for critical futures research: Changing contexts and impacts of social theory. Futures, 71, 91–104. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2015.07.012

Amadae, S. M. (2003). Rationalizing capitalist democracy: The cold war origins of rational choice liberalism. University of Chicago Press.

Andersson, J. (2018). The future of the world: Futurology, futurists, and the struggle for the post cold war imagination. Oxford University Press.

Bell, W. (2007). Foundations of futures studies. Volume 1: History, purposes, and knowledge. Transaction Publishers.

Brozović, D. (2023). Societal collapse: A literature review. Futures, 145, 103075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2022.103075

Butler, A. M. (2014). Futurology. In R. Lantham (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of science fiction (pp. 513-523). Oxford University Press.

Carpentier, N., & Hroch, M. (2023). The EUMEPLAT Delphi+ workshops: A Manual. Culture and Communication Research Centre, Charles University.

Critical Methodologies Collective (Eds.). (2022). The politics and ethics of representation in qualitative research: Addressing moments of discomfort. Routledge.

Das, R., Wong, Y. N., Jones, R., & Jackson, P. J. (2024). How do we speak about algorithms and algorithmic media futures? Using vignettes and scenarios in a citizen council on data-driven media personalisation. New Media & Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448241232589

Deller, R. A. (2019). Safer spaces. In R., Kinna & U. Gordon (Eds.), Routledge handbook of radical politics (pp. 222-239). Routledge.

Díaz­‑Domínguez, A. (2020). How futures studies and foresight could address ethical dilemmas of machine learning and artificial intelligence. World Futures Review, 12(2), 169–180. https://doi.org/10.1177/1946756719894602

Ellis, C., Adams, T., & Bochner, A. (2010). Autoethnography: An overview. Forum: Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 12(1). Retrieved from http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1589/3095

Flechtheim, O. K. (1970). Futurologie: Der Kampf um die Zukunft. Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik.

Gallagher, M., Haywood, S. L., Manon, W. J., & Milne, S. (2010). Negotiating informed consent with children in school­‑based research: A critical review. Children & Society, 24, 471-482. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2009.00240.x

Glenn, J. C. (2009). Introduction to the futures research methods series. In J. C. Glenn and T. Gordon (Eds.), Futures research methodology — Version 3.0 (pp. 1-106). The Millennium Project.

Gordon, T. (2009). Delphi. In J. C. Glenn and T. Gordon (Eds.), Futures research methodology — Version 3.0 (pp. 1-29). The Millennium Project.

Harrison, J. (2023). Inscribed in code: Depictions of computational algorithms in twenty-first century fiction. Textual Practice, 37(12), 1875–1893. https://doi.org/10.1080/0950236X.2022.2148728

Helmer­‑Hirschberg, O. (1967). Analysis of the future: The Delphi method. RAND. https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3558.html

Hennink, M. M. (2014). Focus group discussions. Oxford University Press.

Hmelo­‑Silver, C. E., & Barrows, H. S. (2008). Facilitating collaborative knowledge building. Cognition and Instruction, 26(1), 48–94. https://doi.org/10.1080/07370000701798495

Inayatullah, S. (2012). Futures studies: Theories and methods. In F. G. Junquera (Ed.), There’s a future: Visions for a better world (pp. 37-65). BBVA.

Kahn, H. (1962). Thinking about the unthinkable. Horizon Press.

Kristóf, T., & Nováky, E. (2023). The story of futures studies: An interdisciplinary field rooted in social sciences. Social Sciences, 12(3), 192. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci12030192

Landeta, J. (2006). Current validity of the Delphi method in social sciences. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 73(5), 467–482.

Lie, R., & Witteveen, L. (2017). Visual informed consent: Informed consent without forms. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20(1), 63–75.

Motti, V. V. (2023). Futures studies. In V. P. Glăveanu (Ed.), The Palgrave encyclopedia of the possible (pp. 609-612). Palgrave Macmillan.

Pan, S. Q., Vega, M., Vella, A. J., Archer, B. H., & Parlett, G. R. (1996). A mini-Delphi approach: An improvement on single round techniques. Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2(1), 27-39.

Poli, R. (2018). A note on the classification of future-related methods. European Journal of Futures Research, 6(1), 15.

Robinson, J. B. (1988). Unlearning and backcasting: Rethinking some of the questions we ask about the future. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 33, 325-338.

San­‑Jose, L., & Retolaza, J. L. (2016). Is the Delphi method valid for business ethics? A survey analysis. European Journal of Futures Research, 4(1), 19.

Seefried, E. (2014). Steering the future: The emergence of ‘Western’ futures research and its production of expertise, 1950s to early 1970s. European Journal of Futures Research, 2(1), 29.

Sixtensson, J. (2022). ‘To say no wasn’t something we could do’: Reflexive accounts and negotiations of the ethical practice of informed consent during the research and beyond. In Critical Methodologies Collective (Eds.), The politics and ethics of representation in qualitative research: Addressing moments of discomfort (pp. 30-42). Routledge.

Son, H. (2015). The history of Western futures studies: An exploration of the intellectual traditions and three-phase periodization. Futures, 66, 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2014.12.013

Spry, T. (2001). Performing autoethnography: An embodied methodological praxis. Qualitative Inquiry, 7(6), 706-732.

Toffler, A. (1970). Future shock. Random House.

Toffler, A. (1978). Foreword. In M. Maruyama, & A.M. Harkins (Eds.), Cultures of the future (pp. ix-xi). Mouton.

Tutton, R. (2017). Wicked futures: Meaning, matter and the sociology of the future. The Sociological Review, 65(3), 478–492.

Van Lente, H., & Peters, P. (2022). The future as aesthetic experience: Imagination and engagement in future studies. European Journal of Futures Research, 10(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40309-022-00204-8

Winkler, J., & Moser, R. (2016). Biases in future-oriented Delphi studies: A cognitive perspective. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 105, 63–76.

Downloads

Published

2024-07-04

How to Cite

Carpentier, N., & Hroch, M. (2024). Introduction: The Construction of the Future of Platforms. Central European Journal of Communication, 17(1(35), 2-16. https://doi.org/10.51480/1899-5101.17.1(35).737