The Workshop on Platform Analytics presents new scientific research on platform analytics.

Platforms enable direct interactions between agents. Marketplaces connect buyers and sellers; media platforms connect advertisers, creators and consumers; sharing platforms connect resource owners with resource users; app stores connect software developers and users. Network externalities distinguish platforms from traditional business models: Platform value to customers depends on how many other customers, of various types, are using the same platform.

Platforms have become pervasive in the digital economy. Most of the largest firms in the world are platforms, and there are also platforms of all sizes. Platform design enables valuable connections, platform policies structure customer transactions, and platforms remediate when things go wrong. Yet platform incentives may diverge from some customer interests, leading to some questionable practices. Policymakers at all levels are grappling with platform issues, suggesting a need for deeper understanding of platform topics.

"The purpose of knowledge is action." We construe Platform Analytics broadly as using data to improve decisions in a platform context. The decisions might be taken by platforms themselves, the customers they connect, policymakers or others. The data might come from within a platform or outside it, and the improvement may be from any party's perspective.

WoPA's goal is to facilitate scholarly communication about platform analytics. We seek to promote high standards of evidence, relevance, openness, inclusivity and multidisciplinarity.

Submission Guidelines

We invite unpublished working papers on platform analytics for a competitive submission process. We welcome relevant submissions from government, industry, or any academic discipline, including computer science, economics, information systems, marketing, operations or others.

The submission deadline is December 4, 2024.

We focus on new, unpublished work in the spirit of a workshop to help improve works in progress. Please do not submit papers that are already published, accepted, or invited for revision. Please do not submit working papers that were first written prior to January 2023. Maximum one submission per submitting author.

Venue

WoPA will be held in-person in San Diego. It is tentatively scheduled for April 2025, pending venue availability. The organizers are Minkyung Kim (CMU), Davide Proserpio (USC) and Kenneth C. Wilbur (UCSD). The workshop is sponsored by the USC Marshall Initiative on Digital Competition.

Contact

Organizers: Minkyung Kim (CMU), Davide Proserpio (USC), Kenneth C. Wilbur (UCSD)

Workshoponplatformanalytics@gmail.com