Information Sciences and Technology, Summer 2026

Studies of digital platforms have often framed change as either enabling innovation or imposing constraints, assuming users as primary or intended audiences. This project challenges that assumption by focusing on users at the margins, who rely on platforms for visibility, coordination, and livelihood yet are not centered in their design. It argues that these users reveal a more complex dynamic: platform features are creatively appropriated to meet situated needs, even as such practices are co-opted, constrained, or rendered invisible through updates. By pairing user experiences with an analysis of platform communications, the project shows how platform change operates as a social and political process through which visibility, labor, and agency are continuously negotiated.