Download or read book Digital Labor written by Trebor Scholz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Digital Labor' asks whether life on the Internet is mostly work, or play. We tweet, we tag photos, we link, we review books, we comment on blogs, we remix media and we upload video to create much of the content that makes up the web.

Download or read book The Digital Factory written by Moritz Altenried and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2022-01-05 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In recent years, tech companies such as Google and Facebook have rocked the world as they have seemingly revolutionized the culture of work. We've all heard stories of lounges outfitted with ping pong tables, kitchens with kombucha on tap, and other amenities that supposedly foster creative thinking. Nothing could seem further from earlier workplaces associated with a different revolution in capitalism: factories, in which employees are required to perform highly circumscribed tasks as quickly as possible to meet quotas--for next to no pay. However, as Moritz Altenried shows in The Digital Factory, these types of workplaces are not so far from the Googleplex as we might think. While recent accounts of the transformation of labor after the demise of the factory highlight the creative, communicative, immaterial, or artistic features of contemporary labor, Altenried uncovers the factory-like conditions in which many new digital workers perform their jobs. These workers, such as video game testers, social media content moderators, and Amazon fulfillment center workers, perform highly repetitive, unskilled tasks for low and often contingent wages. Based on more than five years of research in different sites using ethnography and interviews combined with an analysis of infrastructural technologies, Altenried's book gives us a first-hand account of many new forms of digital labor that drive contemporary capitalism. He shows that though today's factories might look and feel different than they did 150 years ago, they still follow the same logics and produce the same unequal outcomes"--

Download or read book Digital Labour and Prosumer Capitalism written by Mathieu O'Neil and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the digital age tasks are increasingly modularised and consumers are increasingly becoming prosumers. Replacing digital labour and prosumption within an American context and the wider political economy, this volume presents a critical account of the forces which shape contemporary subjects, networks, and labour practices.

Download or read book Labor in the Global Digital Economy written by Ursula Huws and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For every person who reads this text on the printed page, many more will read it on a computer screen or mobile device. It’s a situation that we increasingly take for granted in our digital era, and while it is indicative of the novelty of twenty-first-century capitalism, it is also the key to understanding its driving force: the relentless impulse to commodify our lives in every aspect. Ursula Huws ties together disparate economic, cultural, and political phenomena of the last few decades to form a provocative narrative about the shape of the global capitalist economy at present. She examines the way that advanced information and communications technology has opened up new fields of capital accumulation: in culture and the arts, in the privatization of public services, and in the commodification of human sociality by way of mobile devices and social networking. These trends are in turn accompanied by the dramatic restructuring of work arrangements, opening the way for new contradictions and new forms of labor solidarity and struggle around the planet. Labor in the Global Digital Economy is a forceful critique of our dizzying contemporary moment, one that goes beyond notions of mere connectedness or free-flowing information to illuminate the entrenched mechanisms of exploitation and control at the core of capitalism.

Download or read book The Digital Transformation of Labor written by Anthony Larsson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-11-11 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a series of studies, the overarching aim of this book is to investigate if and how the digitalization/digital transformation process causes (or may cause) the autonomy of various labor functions, and its impact in creating (or stymieing) various job opportunities on the labor market. This book also seeks to illuminate what actors/groups are mostly benefited by the digitalization/digital transformation and which actors/groups that are put at risk by it. This book takes its point of departure from a 2016 OECD report that contends that the impact digitalization has on the future of labor is ambiguous, as on the one hand it is suggested that technological change is labor-saving, but on the other hand, it is suggested that digital technologies have not created new jobs on a scale that it replaces old jobs. Another 2018 OECD report indicated that digitalization and automation as such does not pose a real risk of destroying any significant number of jobs for the foreseeable future, although tasks would by and large change significantly. This would affects welfare, as most of its revenue stems from taxation, and particularly so from the taxation on labor (directly or indirectly). For this reason, this book will set out to explore how the future technological and societal advancements impact labor conditions. The book seeks to provide an innovative, enriching and controversial take on how various aspects of the labor market can be (and are) affected the ongoing digitalization trend in a way that is not covered by extant literature. As such, this book intends to cater to a wider readership, from a general audience and students, to specialized professionals and academics wanting to gain a deeper understanding of the possible future developments of the labor market in light of an accelerating digitalization/digital transformation of society at large.

Download or read book Journalism and Digital Labor written by Tai Neilson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-12-29 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates journalists’ work practices, professional ideologies, and the power relations that impact their work, arguing that reporters’ lives and livelihoods are shaped by digital technologies and new modes of capital accumulation. Tai Neilson weaves together ethnographic approaches and critical theories of digital labor. Journalists’ experiences are at the heart of the book, which is based on interviews with news workers from Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States. The book also adopts a critical approach to the political economy of news across global and local contexts, digital start-ups, legacy media, nonprofits, and public service organizations. Each chapter features key debates illustrated by journalists’ personal narratives. This book will be of great interest to researchers and students of journalism, media and communication, cultural studies, and the sociology of work.

Download or read book Digitized Labor written by Lorenzo Pupillo and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As with previous technological revolutions, innovations in the online world have triggered transformations in the labor market and the economy. While the Internet is trumpeted as a great job creator, there are also downsides that need to be identified and dealt with. The book discusses the following topics: Is the Internet a net creator of jobs? How are job profiles changed by the digital economy? What are the impacts on income distribution? Is it a winner-takes-all tournament? What models can facilitate adjustment without slowing innovation? This book features essays from major experts in the field coming from academia, international organizations, the private sector, and civil society. It blends theoretical and applied research presenting results from many countries, with particular emphasis on Europe, the USA, Canada and Asia.

Download or read book Digital Labour Platforms and the Future of Work written by Janine Berg and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The emergence of online digital labour platforms has been one of the major transformations in the world of work over the past decade. This report provides one of the first comparative studies of working conditions on five major micro-task platforms that operate globally. It is based on an ILO survey covering 3,500 workers in 75 countries around the world and other qualitative surveys. The report analyses the working conditions on these micro-task platforms, including pay rates, work availability and intensity, social protection coverage and work-life balance. The report recommends 18 principles for ensuring decent work on digital labour platforms.

Download or read book Work in the Digital Age written by Miriam A. Cherry and published by Aspen Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-31 with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first of its kind, this coursebook examines the work of the future. Work in the Digital Age: A Coursebook on Labor, Technology, and Regulation focuses on certain technologies: the platform economy and gig work, big data and people analytics, gamification, artificial intelligence and algorithmic management, blockchain technology, drones, and 3D printing. The book provides perspectives on these new and emerging technologies from employers, unions, individual workers, national courts and governments, and international organizations. Altogether, the book questions whether current systems of labor and employment regulation are adequate and appropriate to respond to these new technologies. Finally, the book examines potential policy solutions to technological unemployment including universal basic income, shorter hours, and job guarantees. The best way to shape the future of work is to create the policy changes that we wish to see now, and this book provides a blueprint for thinking about a future of work that is productive, efficient, equitable, and sustainable. Professors and student will benefit from: A focus on certain technologies: The platform economy and gig work Big data and people analytics Gamification Artificial intelligence and algorithmic management Blockchain technology Drones 3D printing Global perspectives on these new and emerging technologies from employers, unions, individual workers, national courts and governments, and international organizations Exploration of whether new systems of labor and employment regulation are necessary to better respond to these new technologies Discussion of potential policy solutions to technological unemployment including universal basic income, shorter hours, and job guarantees Notes and Questions, Problems, Exercises, and Examples, to help reinforce concepts and issues

Download or read book Digital Labour and Karl Marx written by Christian Fuchs and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-03 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How is labour changing in the age of computers, the Internet, and "social media" such as Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter? In Digital Labour and Karl Marx, Christian Fuchs attempts to answer that question, crafting a systematic critical theorisation of labour as performed in the capitalist ICT industry. Relying on a range of global case studies--from unpaid social media prosumers or Chinese hardware assemblers at Foxconn to miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo--Fuchs sheds light on the labour costs of digital media, examining the way ICT corporations exploit human labour and the impact of this exploitation on the lives, bodies, and minds of workers.

Download or read book Digital Labour Society and the Politics of Sensibilities written by Adrian Scribano and published by Springer. This book was released on 2019-03-18 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a multidisciplinary perspective on a set of transformations in social practices that modify the meaning of everyday interactions, and especially those that affect the world of labour. The book is composed of two types of texts: some dedicated to exploring the modifications of labour in the context of the ‘digital age’, and others that point out the consequences of this era and those transformations in the current social structuration processes. The authors examine interwoven possibilities and limitations that act in renewed ways to release/repress the creative energy of human beings, just a few of the potential paths for investigating the connections between work and society that are nowadays involved in the battle of sensibilities.

Download or read book Digital Labor written by Kylie Jarrett and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2022-06-08 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the working lives of tech entrepreneurs and delivery platform workers seem far removed, both are engaged in digital labor. What unites their experience and allows us to speak of their work under the same umbrella? Is it even possible to talk about digital labor as if it were a single form of work? Digital Labor explores these questions and critically examines the economics, politics, and experiences of workers in these new modes of employment. Using a novel definition of the term "digital labor," Kylie Jarrett explores unpaid user activity, platform-mediated gig work, and formal employment within the digital media industries, mapping the common features of these varied practices. Applying a critical Marxian lens, the book interrogates the structures of exploitation in this sector, the organisation of the labor process, the dynamics of alienation associated with this work, and the commodification of workers' lives. It also documents the struggle of digital laborers to resist the iniquities and inequalities of their working environments. Ultimately, the book identifies what is specific about this form of labor and, in doing so, offers insight into the nature of work as it is being reconstituted in digital capitalism. Synthesising an extensive range of studies and sources, Digital Labor offers a comprehensive overview – and a rich critical appraisal – of work in the high-tech economy. It is suitable for students and scholars of media and communication, sociology, labour studies, and anyone interested in emerging forms of work.

Download or read book Humans at Work in the Digital Age written by Shawna Ross and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Humans at Work in the Digital Age explores the roots of twenty-first-century cultures of digital textual labor, mapping the diverse physical and cognitive acts involved, and recovering the invisible workers and work that support digital technologies. Drawing on 14 case studies organized around four sites of work, this book shows how definitions of labor have been influenced by the digital technologies that employees use to produce, interpret, or process text. Incorporating methodology and theory from a range of disciplines and highlighting labor issues related to topics as diverse as census tabulation, market research, electronic games, digital archives, and 3D modeling, contributors uncover the roles played by race, class, gender, sexuality, and national politics in determining how narratives of digital labor are constructed and erased. Because each chapter is centered on the human cost of digital technologies, however, it is individual people immersed in cultures of technology who are the focus of the volume, rather than the technologies themselves. Humans at Work in the Digital Age shows how humanistic inquiry can be a valuable tool in the emerging conversation surrounding digital textual labor. As such, this book will be essential reading for academics and postgraduate students engaged in the study of digital humanities; human-computer interaction; digital culture and social justice; race, class, gender, and sexuality in digital realms; the economics of the internet; and technology in higher education.

Download or read book Invisibility by Design written by Gabriella Lukács and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-03 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of labor market deregulation during the 2000s, online content sharing and social networking platforms were promoted in Japan as new sites of work that were accessible to anyone. Enticed by the chance to build personally fulfilling careers, many young women entered Japan's digital economy by performing unpaid labor as photographers, net idols, bloggers, online traders, and cell phone novelists. While some women leveraged digital technology to create successful careers, most did not. In Invisibility by Design Gabriella Lukács traces how these women's unpaid labor became the engine of Japan's digital economy. Drawing on interviews with young women who strove to sculpt careers in the digital economy, Lukács shows how platform owners tapped unpaid labor to create innovative profit-generating practices without employing workers, thereby rendering women's labor invisible. By drawing out the ways in which labor precarity generates a demand for feminized affective labor, Lukács underscores the fallacy of the digital economy as a more democratic, egalitarian, and inclusive mode of production.

Download or read book The Future of Digital Labor written by David Durward and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2020-01-01 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crowd Work is a phenomenon of the digital economy as well as the modern IT era. It provides a great potential for changing the way how businesses create value. As a result, organizations increasingly apply crowd work to reach out to their own employees ("Internal Crowd Work") or individuals outside the company boundaries ("External Crowd Work") to outsource certain tasks. However, the individual crowd workers perspective has been neglected within this new form of digital gainful employment. Therefore, this dissertation addresses the perception of internal as well as external crowd work and its effects on the individuals' well-being. As main result, the dissertation shows that perceived satisfaction with external crowd work mediates the effects of several perceived task characteristics on identification with external crowd work. These effects are stronger for external crowd workers that can realize greater financial compensation. Furthermore, the findings illustrate that the influence of the task characteristics on the identification with internal crowd work is mediated by the employees' psychological empowerment.

Download or read book Feminism Labour and Digital Media written by Kylie Jarrett and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a contradiction at the heart of digital media. We use commercial platforms to express our identity, to build community and to engage politically. At the same time, our status updates, tweets, videos, photographs and music files are free content for these sites. We are also generating an almost endless supply of user data that can be mined, re-purposed and sold to advertisers. As users of the commercial web, we are socially and creatively engaged, but also labourers, exploited by the companies that provide our communication platforms. How do we reconcile these contradictions? Feminism, Labour and Digital Media argues for using the work of Marxist feminist theorists about the role of domestic work in capitalism to explore these competing dynamics of consumer labour. It uses the concept of the Digital Housewife to outline the relationship between the work we do online and the unpaid sphere of social reproduction. It demonstrates how feminist perspectives expand our critique of consumer labour in digital media. In doing so, the Digital Housewife returns feminist inquiry from the margins and places it at the heart of critical digital media analysis.

Download or read book Uberworked and Underpaid written by Trebor Scholz and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-05-23 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is about the rise of digital labor. Companies like Uber and Amazon Mechanical Turk promise autonomy, choice, and flexibility. One of network culture's toughest critics, Trebor Scholz chronicles the work of workers in the "sharing economy," and the free labor on sites like Facebook, to take these myths apart. In this rich, accessible, and provocative book, Scholz exposes the uncaring reality of contingent digital work, which is thriving at the expense of employment and worker rights. The book is meant to inspire readers to join the growing number of worker-owned "platform cooperatives," rethink unions, and build a better future of work. A call to action, loud and clear, Uberworked and Underpaid shows that it is time to stop wage theft and "crowd fleecing," rethink wealth distribution, and address the urgent question of how digital labor should be regulated and how workers from Berlin, Barcelona, Seattle, and São Paulo can act in solidarity to defend their rights.