Over the last two decades, visibility has emerged as an organizing principle within internet studies research--from sociologies of digital labor and theories of surveillance capitalism to critical reappraisals of mediated identity politics. In commercial contexts, visibility has been defined as a valuable form of currency or capital--be it achieved, bestowed through an incentive system, or manipulated through so-called “gaming” practices (Bucher, 2012; Hearn, 2010; Gandini, 2016; Cotter, 2018). Visibility can also be understood as an expression of power, particularly when it is exerted by platforms and/or individuals in order to enable or thwart scrutiny and surveillance. These and other works foreground the role of algorithms in the allocation of visibility; indeed, algorithmic systems organize, select, and distribute different types of content, either revealing or concealing particular subjectivities, representations and values.

However, despite its rich analytical purchase, the concept of visibility calls for grounding in particular contexts and communities of practice. The four papers in this panel thus seek to explore how contemporary economies of visibility (Wiegman, 1995; Banet-Weiser, 2015) play out in particular platform labor markets. Drawing on distinctive case studies across cultures and platforms, we consider how visibility is defined, by whom, and to what ends for various social actors in the platform economy.

Writing from different theoretical and methodological perspectives, each panelist examines how visibility is constructed--and, in some cases, contested--within a particular context.