Presentation at department weekly research seminar during research visit at Freie Universität Berlin in November 2017
Full title: Exploring platform boundary resources with a data-driven approach: first insights on digital ecosystem for work
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Exploring platform boundary resources with a data-driven approach
1. Exploring platform boundary
resources with a data-driven
approach: first insights on digital
ecosystem for work
Jukka Huhtamäki
@jnkka
November 21, 2017
Research seminar
Freie Universität Berlin
3. Boundary
resources
“the software tools and
regulations that serve as
the interface for the
arm’s length relationship
between the platform
owner and the
application developer”
(Ghazawneh &
Henfridsson, 2013)
21.11.2017 3
6. My worldview on APIs and
digital work
• Memex (Bush, 1945)
• The Mother of all Demos (Engelbart, 1968)
• Xanadu (Nelson, 1960)
• REST & HATEOS (Fielding, 2000)
• AJAX (Garrett, 2005)
• Web 2.0 (O’Reilly, 2005)
21.11.2017 6
9. Why APIs?
• APIs are replacing “traditional” interfirm
relationships
• APIs are lightweight boundary resources that
allow for complementors to create value for
the focal companies
• APIs are artifacts of both lightweight software
development and business strategy21.11.2017 9
15. Why boundary resources?
de Reuver, Sørensen, and Basole (2015)
“The units of analysis chosen must allow for the
theoretical treatment of the fundamental
characteristics of digital platform characteristics
and innovation arrangements. […] The
boundary resource concept could be such unit
of analysis.”
21.11.2017 15
16. Digital work
Stein, Jensen, and Hekkala (2015):
“To make sense of this distributed nature of work,
we build on the concept of liminality, which refers to
an ‘in-betweenness’, where times and tasks of work
and leisure, spaces and technologies of the office
and home tend to blend.”
21.11.2017Freie Universität Berlin 2017 16
17. Digital entrepreneurship
Kelestyn and Henfridsson (2014):
“seizing digitally enabled innovation opportunities
discovered in their everyday life to build new business
ventures.”
“future shaping practices […] by digitally empowered
user(s) with an entrepreneurial vision to address the
current needs in imaginative and innovative ways.”
21.11.2017 17
19. We ask
• How to study the boundary resources for
digital work with a data-driven approach?
• Does a specific boundary resources sector
exist for digital work or is digital work
ubiqituos – a layer on top of sectors?
• How are APIs transforming (digital) work and
organizations?
21.11.2017 19
31. Takeaways
• Digital work is not a clear segment in the API
ecosystem; we suggest that is is a (meso-
level) layer instead
• API co-use is not API usage
• Public APIs vs. Private APIs
• API ecosystem is particularly flexible for
actors to offer, consume, and create services
32. Future work
• Developing (ML-based) means to classify digital work-
related APIs
• Generative/transformative mechanism of digital work
(traditional work in the digital vs. born-digital work)
• Introducing dynamics to the analysis: API diffusion
studies
• How will the changes in legislation impact the digital
work ecosystem (GDPR)
21.11.2017 32
Notes de l'éditeur
Comments (MR):
Shared mindset, network connections for need identification and development
Access to customers, market, deals
Financing perspectives
Implications for further study – national security and data management policies