Interview from ‘Shaping the New World of Work’ conference
A short video interview that I did about digital labour markets at the ETUI conference on ‘Shaping the New World of Work’.
microwork
Organising in the “digital wild west”: Can strategic bottlenecks help prevent a race to the bottom for online workers?
For decades, large firms have been outsourcing and offshoring jobs. Work flowed from developed economies to developing ones, where wages were lower and regulations were of a lighter touch. Europeans and North Americans lost jobs, and Asians, South Americans, and… Continue Reading
Digital Transformations of Work
The conference will explore issues such as the degree to which information technology is transforming capitalism and opening up new means of exploitation, whether the traditional regulation of working time, structured around a stable 9-5 5-day week, is being fractured;… Continue Reading
Tracing employment rights through online labour markets
Online labour markets represent a rapidly growing feature of the world of work. Dozens of international online market places exist for the buying and selling of labour. The number of hours worked on oDesk.com (now known as Upwork), a leading… Continue Reading
Introducing Alex Wood to the Microwork and Virtual Production Networks project
We are lucky to have Alex Wood joining our team in the Microwork and Virtual Production Networks project! Alex is a sociologist of work and employment, and his work has focused on the changing nature of employment relations and labour markets. He is… Continue Reading
Can virtual workers strike? Book chapter on identity and collective action in microwork
I’ve posted online a pre-print version of my upcoming chapter in Space, place and global digital work, edited by Jörg Flecker (Palgrave-Macmillan 2016). The chapter is titled Algorithms That Divide and Unite: Delocalization, Identity, and Collective Action in ‘Microwork’. I… Continue Reading
“Virtual products aren’t built with virtual work”: new comment piece about concerns about digital labour for development
SciDevNet has just published some of my preliminary thoughts about digital labour in development. The argument being that just because digital work is international, doesn’t mean it operates outside of the realm of resistance or regulation. Virtual products aren’t… Continue Reading
New job at the Oxford Internet Institute: ‘Researcher in Development and Digital Labour’
We are now hiring a researcher to work with us to investigate low-wage digital work being carried out in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Researcher in Development and Digital Labour Grade 7 (£30,434 to £37,394 per annum) The Oxford Internet… Continue Reading
Do platforms connect clients directly to providers? The new network patterns of digital work
As part of our project on digital labour and development, Isis Hjorth, Mark Graham, Helena Barnard and I have been meeting and interviewing over a hundred people who do freelance work over the Internet, through platforms such as Upwork and… Continue Reading
New job working with the Geonet team at the Oxford Internet Institute: ‘Researcher in ICTs, Geography and Development’
We are now hiring a researcher to work with us to investigate low-wage digital work being carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Oxford Internet Institute is a leading centre for research into individual, collective and institutional behaviour on the Internet.… Continue Reading
