Title: Mapping Platform-Mediated Authorship

Kirsten Bray

Ph.D. Student in Human-centered Computing 

School of Interactive Computing 

Georgia Institute of Technology 

Date: 10/26/26

Time:  10:00 AM

Location:   TSRB 222 Online:  https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/227686993815279?p=pjm5MW9yCkxgfpRFTB

Committee:

Dr. Rebecca Grinter (Advisor) - Professor, School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Neha Kumar - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Munmun DeChoudhury - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Andrea Parker - School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology 

Dr. Christina Harrington - HCI Institute, Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract: Research on platform-based creative work has established the significance of digital platforms for social media, marketplace, and publication in enabling creative workers to facilitate aspects of work previously distributed across various roles in publishing houses. The newfound independence and autonomy afforded by online platforms for content publication and networking thus offer new capacities to support individual workers using online platforms. Challenges surrounding platform-based work thus are frequently framed as individual experiences shared by networks of workers or domains within a field rather than challenges that influence the structures of their broader collaborative network across fields. Furthermore, while for some workers, online platforms may function as one of many tools used to produce, publish, or promote their work, for others, they may also serve as the primary or sole intermediary for creative work. These differences in platform reliance may significantly impact experiences of autonomy and the role precarity of platform-based work, as well as the connections formed in work supported by or reliant on online platforms for the creation, publication, and marketing of their work. This research explores the reported impacts of platformization on independent authors and journalists and the community configurations and cooperative patterns that have both been enabled by it and persisted despite the challenges of it.