Eva MOS, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
While platforms are sometimes presented as technological artifacts or ‘infrastructures’ and thereby overlooking the human perspective, platform transactions are regularly resulting in two – or more – people meeting up. More specifically, it often concerns meeting strangers, either in or around the private space of the home or in public places. This has been analyzed in the context of dating (Koch and Miles 2021, Peetz 2021) and homecare (Ticona and Mateescu 2018). These platform-mediated interactions shine a new light on Simmel’s notion of ‘the stranger’ in urban settings.
In this contribution, I examine the connection between strangers on so-called volunteer platforms. These are platforms - predominantly operating in big and middle-size cities - through which people help each other out voluntarily. On these platforms, a wide variety of support-related practices are carried out, ranging from socializing with elderly or disabled people and dog walking, to practical chores in the home such as fixing a lamp or closet. These platforms don’t operate according to full algorithmic management (full automation) where the algorithm decides on the match between demand and supply, rather there's a lot of room for ‘looking around’, selection and (consumer) ‘choice’, in line with ideas on the marketization of care.
First, this contribution examines the position of these platform-mediated services vis-à-vis traditional social and care services. Which kinds of services are neither provided by social and care professionals nor by family members and are thus filled up by relative strangers mediated via a platform?
Second, it is discussed how strangers meet via the platform: how do they go about in choosing and selecting ‘the other’, what criteria and considerations play a role here and how does the platform ‘guide’ this stranger interaction?
The interviews with users of these volunteer platforms show how, in urban settings, meeting strangers via an app becomes a ‘default’ way of caring.
Mots clés : platforms|strangers|volunteerism|civil society|platform urbanism
A105020EM