Pandemic Platform Governance:
Mapping the Global Ecosystem of COVID-19 Response Apps
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📂COVID-19 Apps and Platform Governance This article provides a comprehensive mapping of the global ecosystem of COVID-19 pandemic response apps. After considering policy updates by Google Play’s and Apple’s App Store, we analyse all the available response apps in July 2020; their different response types; the apps’ developers and geographical distribution; the ecosystem’s ‘generativity’ and developers’ responsiveness during the unfolding pandemic; the apps’ discursive positioning; and material conditions of their development. Google and Apple are gatekeepers of these app ecosystems and exercise control on different layers, shaping the pandemic app response as well as the relationships between governments, citizens, and other actors. We suggest that this global ecosystem of pandemic responses reflects an exceptional mode of what we call pandemic platform governance, where platforms have negotiated their commercial interests and the public interest in exceptional circumstances.
🏷app stores 🏷platform governance 🏷COVID-19 apps 🏷pandemic response apps 🏷app studies
📋 ✍Cite
| 📋Cite (APA) | Dieter, M. J., Helmond, A., Tkacz, N. van der Vlist, F. N., & Weltevrede, E. J. T. (2019). Pandemic Platform Governance: Mapping the Global Ecosystem of COVID-19 Response Apps. Internet Policy Review – Journal on Internet Regulation, 10(3). Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. DOI: 10.14763/2021.3.1568. |
|---|---|
| 🔗Link (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.14763/2021.3.1568 |
| Kind | Journal Article; Original Research Article |
|---|---|
| Author | M. J. Dieter; A. Helmond; N. Tkacz; F. N. van der Vlist; E. J. T. Weltevrede |
| Designer | F. N. van der Vlist; DensityDesign Lab |
| Publication Date | 2021, August 6 [first published online]; 2021, August 6 [issue published] |
| Journal | Internet Policy Review – Journal on Internet Regulation |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publisher | Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (Berlin, Germany) |
| Identifier | 10.14763/2021.3.1568 [self]; 2197-6775 [part of]; ES/V004905/1 [funded by]; 275-45-009 [funded by]; 262513311 [funded by]; VI.Veni.191C.048 [funded by] |
| License | CC BY 3.0 |
| Data Availability | The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the Open Science Framework (OSF) at https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/wq3dr. Additionally, the available Android application package (APK) files of the COVID-19 Android apps covered in this study are openly available and preserved in the ‘COVID-19 Apps’ collection of the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/COVID-19 Apps. |
🖇Attached ⋮
| 🖇Attached | Name | 🕓Date Modified ↧ | Kind | Access | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ↩ | [Parent Directory] | ||||
| ↪ | archive.org |
COVID-19 Apps | 2021-06-17 | 🗄Research Data | 🌍Public |
| ↪ | osf.io/wq3dr/ ├ DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/wq3dr |
[COVID-19]-Related Android (Google Play) and iOS (App Store) App Ecosystems | 2021-05-27 | 🗄Research Data | 🔓Open Access |
| ↪ | wiki.digitalmethods.net | Mapping COVID-19 Pandemic Response Apps | 2020-07 | 📝Web Report | 🌍Public |
| ↪ | bit.ly/asirw-1 |
ASI Reference Worksheet I: App Store Data Scraping | 2020-06 | 📑Reference Worksheet | 🌍Public |
| ↪ | appstudies.org/tools |
ASI Tools | 2020-06 | 🔧Research Tools | 🌍Public |
| ↪ | computationalculture.net |
Apps and Infrastructures, Computational Culture #7 | 2019-10-21 | 📗Special Issue | 🔓Open Access |
| apps-and-infrastructures-a-research-agenda.html ├ URL: computationalculture.net |
Apps and Infrastructures – A Research Agenda | 2019-10-21 | 📄 📗Issue Editorial | 🔓Open Access | |
| 📌 | regramming-the-platform.html ├ URL: computationalculture.net |
Regramming the Platform | 2019-10-21 | 📄 🔍Research Article | 🔓Open Access |
| ↪ | wiki.digitalmethods.net | App (Store) Policy Histories | 2019-07 | 📝Web Report | 🌍Public |
| 📌 | multi-situated-app-studies.html ├ DOI: 10.1177/2056305119846486 |
Multi-Situated App Studies | 2019-06-06 | 📄 🔍Research Article | 🔓Open Access |
| ↪ | osf.io/t29g8/ ├ DOI: 10.17605/osf.io/t29g8 |
Historical Google Play and iTunes (App) Store Charts, 2010–2019 | 2019-01-12 | 🗄Research Data | 🔓Open Access |
| ↪ | wiki.digitalmethods.net |
Apps and Their Stories | 2019-01 | 📝Web Report | 🌍Public |
| store-interface-package-connection.html ├ DOI: 10.25819/ubsi/7893 ├ URN-NBN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:467-13410 |
Store, Interface, Package, Connection | 2018-08-30 | 📄Working Paper | 🔓Open Access | |
| ↪ | wiki.digitalmethods.net | App Stores and Their Bias | 2018-07 | 📝Web Report | 🌍Public |
| apps-and-infrastructures-call-for-abstracts.html ├ URL: computationalculture.net |
Apps and Infrastructures (Call for Abstracts) | 2018-02-06 | 📢Call for Abstracts | 🌍Public | |
| ↪ | wiki.digitalmethods.net | Mapping Data-Intensive App Infrastructures | 2018-01 | 📝Web Report | 🌍Public |
| ↪ | wiki.digitalmethods.net | Methods Maps | 2017-06 | 📝Web Report | 🌍Public |
| ↪ | wiki.digitalmethods.net | App Stores as Data Infrastructure | 2017-01 | 📝Web Report | 🌍Public |
| app-studies-conference-panel.html ├ DOI: 10.5210/spir.v6i0.8431 |
App Studies (Conference Panel) | 2016-10-31 | 📄 🔍Conference Proceeding | 🔓Open Access |