Written by: Casey O’Donnell
Abstract: This essay explores the ephemeral character of platforms and the critical role that theoretical frameworks play in making sense of platforms as socio-technical assemblages. Through an exploration aimed at further complicating the Nintendo Wii as platform and exploring Twitter as platform, the essay considers the crucial role of theory in the unpacking of black boxes. In an attempt to render platforms accessible, it is quite possible they have been presented as more opaque, and their analysts have not adequately debugged the messes they have encountered.
Keywords: Platform Studies; Alien Phenomenologies; Science and Technology Studies; Twitter; Debugging