Shifting Paths: How the Sequencing of Product Decisions Communicates Institutional Direction in Early-Stage Media Platforms
- Author
- Sesi Morgan, University of Nicosia, Department of Media & Communications
- Format
- Poster
- Conference
- 11th European Communication Conference (ECREA), Brno
- Date
- 8 to 11 September 2026
- Status
- Work in progress from a broader doctoral project, currently in first-wave analytic phase
A platform’s early decisions can shape the expectations through which its later ones are read.
The argument
Early-stage media platforms are still becoming institutions, and their audience, rules, value model and public identity are not yet settled.
People encounter later changes in light of what they have already experienced. Earlier decisions may have established expectations about who the platform is for, how it behaves, or what it owes them. The question behind the poster is whether the order of these decisions helps explain how those interpretations develop.
The poster explores temporal sequencing as a sensitising concept. The provisional pattern is that earlier decisions may establish or reinforce expectations, later use or pressure can test them, and subsequent decisions may clarify or redirect the relationship once a mismatch becomes visible.
The case
The case is Oriire, a non-profit digital publication and archive of African mythology, folklore and cultural memory, which I founded in 2020 and still run.
The study uses analytic autoethnography within constructivist grounded theory. This first wave draws on a dated decision log, the production database, contributor correspondence and other platform records. The wider study will continue through 2027, with founder interviews planned for a later wave.
The poster examines three sequences at Oriire, covering a submission redesign, a prize voting system and the introduction of reader support. Across the three sequences, an earlier decision appears to shape the context for what comes later. A later event then exposes some tension around that arrangement, and a subsequent decision may respond to that tension. The strength of the interpretive evidence differs across the three cases.
My involvement in Oriire gives me access to decisions and records that would otherwise be difficult to reconstruct. It also means that I am studying a single case from within, including decisions I was directly involved in making.
Feedback wanted
Feedback is welcome on two questions.
- 01 Is temporal sequencing useful as a sensitising concept here?
- 02 Which evidence best supports claims about interpretation, correspondence, cohort behaviour, or repair decisions?
This poster is based on my doctoral project on how product decisions function as a form of communication in founder-led media platforms.