Amazon and the New Global Connective Architectures of Education Governance

In this analytical essay, part of Harvard Educational Review's symposium on Platform Studies in Education, Ben Williamson, Kalervo N. Gulson, Carlo Perrotta, and Kevin Witzenberger argue that global technology companies have begun acting as governance organizations in education. Their analysis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Harvard educational review 2022-06, Vol.92 (2), p.231-256
Main Authors: Williamson, Ben, Gulson, Kalervo N, Perrotta, Carlo, Witzenberger, Kevin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access to information
Amazon.com
Artificial intelligence
Business
Classrooms
Cloud computing
Commercialisation
Commercialization
Companies
Computer Software
Corporations
Correlation
Data Analysis
Data processing
Decision making
Digital technology
Distance learning
Documentation
Education
Education policy
Educational Administration
Educational Policy
Educational Practices
Educational technology
Global Approach
Globalisation
Governance
Human-computer interaction
Information Sources
Information systems
Information Technology
Interoperability
Learning Management Systems
Political Power
Power Structure
Public services
School Business Relationship
Schools
Software
Standardized Tests
Students
Teaching
Technological change
Technology
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Summary:In this analytical essay, part of Harvard Educational Review's symposium on Platform Studies in Education, Ben Williamson, Kalervo N. Gulson, Carlo Perrotta, and Kevin Witzenberger argue that global technology companies have begun acting as governance organizations in education. Their analysis focuses on the global technology company Amazon, which has begun penetrating education through a connective architecture of digital infrastructure and platform services. Looking at Amazon technical documentation and publicly available materials, the authors identify and examine five interlocking governance operations and their effects: inscribing commercial business models on the education sector, habituating educational users to Amazon technologies, creating new interfaces with educational institutions, platforming third-party education providers on the cloud, and seeking market dominance over provision and control of key information infrastructures of education. In showing how Amazon is potentially developing infrastructural dominance in the education sector as part of its transformation into a statelike corporation with significant social, technical, economic, and political power to govern and control state and public services, this article highlights the broader implications of increasing technological governance in education. [Author abstract]
ISSN:0017-8055
1943-5045
DOI:10.17763/1943-5045-92.2.231