Digital Labour at Economic Margins: African Workers and the Global Information Economy. (Forthcoming Publication)

I have a new publication coming out soon in the Review of African Political Economy, with my colleague Mark Graham. The paper is based on the research we have been carrying out over a number of years in Africa. It… Continue Reading

“Perish or Globalize:” Network Integration and the Reproduction and Replacement of Weaving Traditions in the Thai Silk Industry

The practice of handmade silk weaving has disappeared from much of the world, but continues to be practiced by thousands of people in Northeastern Thailand. However, as the Thai economy becomes increasingly embedded into global flows and networks of commodities,… 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

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

Fieldwork in our Development and Digital Labour Project

  The photographs above come from a conference for online freelancers that Isis, Vili, and I attended in Manila a few days ago. The conference hall was packed with freelancers and potential freelancers looking to hear about ‘the future of work.’… Continue Reading

Digital Labour and Development

The picture above was taken in Pasig City in the Philippines. The poster advertising free wifi is symbolic of the changing connectivities of a country in which more than 30 million people are now Internet users. Whereas the advert on the the left is symbolic of… Continue Reading