Once again, the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) brought together individuals to their conference on emerging areas of Internet research. The Conference took place from 2-5 November 2022 and had more than 500 attendants.
It was hosted by the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin), Maynooth University (MU), University College Dublin (UCD), and Dublin City University (DCU). The main location of the event was the Grangegorman campus of the Technical University of Dublin.
Paper presented at the conference
On November 4, in the session “Commodification: Commodities and Consumption", the Nordic Centre for Internet and Society ́s Christoph Lutz presented the paper Liquid Consumption in the Platform Economy: A Comparative Case Study of Three Platforms and Six User Groups. The paper is a collaboration between Christoph and Volker Stocker from the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin. There were many insightful discussions with all presenters during the session, and the presentation was very well received.
Their paper examines where different platforms fall on the dimensions of the liquid-solid consumption spectrum. The notion of “liquid consumption” draws on the theory of liquid modernity to describe shifts in consumer behavior in more recent years. It is contrasted to more traditional “solid” consumption, and is characterized by ephemerality (rather than endurance), access (rather than ownership), and dematerialization (rather than material possessions). In the paper, Christoph and Volker study the role of liquidity on three digital platforms in the platform economy: Airbnb, Uber, and Fiverr.
Photo credit: Katrin Tiidenberg via Twitter (@kkatot)
An interdisciplinary and inclusive community
The conference is very interdisciplinary, friendly and inclusive featuring researchers across disciplines such as communication, computer science, sociology, anthropology, law, science and technology studies, and economics. This led to engaging discussions on a broad range of topics, including social media platforms, artificial intelligence and methods to research digital systems.
Christoph was also involved in the early career workshop on November 2, as a senior scholar. This role involved sharing his experiences in terms of collaboration and publication as an interdisciplinary Internet researcher.
The conference was highly tweeted with the hashtag #aoir2022. Next year's conference will be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.