Surplus3: Labour and the Digital A symposium celebrating the publication of Nick Dyer-Witheford’s Cyber-Proletariat: Global Labour in the Digital Vortex (Pluto Press/Between the Lines) A Letters & Handshakes event in partnership with the Digital Labour Group (University of Western Ontario) Tuesday, October 20, 2015 7:00-9:00pm Bahen Centre for Information Technology University of Toronto 40 St. George St. Room BA1180… Continue reading Surplus3: Labour and the Digital – Toronto, October 20th, 2015
Category: News
Tak, København!
My time in lovely Copenhagen has drawn to a close, after a whirlwind visit at the University of Copenhagen's Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, sponsored by Uncertain Archives and the Digital Culture Research Network. Special thanks to Nanna Bonde Thylstrup and to Kristin Veel for their hospitality and generosity with their time. I was honored… Continue reading Tak, København!
Fall in Europe: COST Action in Estonia and University of Copenhagen
Travel has taken me to two exciting and lovely locations in Europe this past week. It was my great pleasure to be invited to the sixth meeting of the COST Action "The Dynamics of Virtual Work," led by a venerable and indefatigable expert in that area, Dr. Ursula Huws, and involving an extraordinary list of… Continue reading Fall in Europe: COST Action in Estonia and University of Copenhagen
Digital Labor Video Series (and a few updates)
It has been a busy few months and my updates have been lax. Travel took me to the American Studies Association's 2014 Meeting in Los Angeles and then, just days later, to New York City for the Digital Labor 2014 conference at The New School. Both were extraordinary events and wonderful opportunities to talk about… Continue reading Digital Labor Video Series (and a few updates)
WIRED Publishes Piece on Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) in Philippines; US
After many months of anticipation, journalist Adrian Chen's piece on commercial content moderation as practiced in BPO (business process outsourcing) sites in the Philippines is out in WIRED magazine today. In it, Chen focuses on the employees of a US firm, TaskUs, whose employees are laboring on behalf of Silicon Valley social media startup Whisper and… Continue reading WIRED Publishes Piece on Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) in Philippines; US
Interview on CBC Ontario Morning
On April 1st, I was interviewed on CBC's Ontario Morning radio program by host Wei Chen. During the 7-minute live interview, Chen asked me about my work on commercial content moderation (CCM) and the workers that do it. It was my pleasure to share an overview of this work, and its implications, with Ontario Morning… Continue reading Interview on CBC Ontario Morning
FIMS CLA-SLA 2014 Conference: Humans of New Librarianship
Many, many thanks to those wonderful FIMS students who created and participated in the joint CLA-SLA conference today, Humans of New Librarianship. I greatly enjoyed presenting my talk, "Human Traces: Searching for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Digital System" to this group of engaged future leaders of the field. In this talk, I encouraged… Continue reading FIMS CLA-SLA 2014 Conference: Humans of New Librarianship
CCM at UCLA: Feb. 20th talk at GSEIS
It was my great pleasure to visit UCLA to deliver a talk on February 20th. The invitation from the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS) could not have come at a better time, in the midst of this brutal Canadian winter. A good combination of students, faculty from GSEIS and Labor Studies, gracious co-sponsorsof… Continue reading CCM at UCLA: Feb. 20th talk at GSEIS
NPR’s All Things Considered: Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) and the Internet Shadows
Greetings to all listeners who just heard the interview with me on today's All Things Considered. If you'd like to learn more about CCM and my research about the practice and people who do it, please hop over to this page for an overview and detailed discussion. For those who missed the story, you may… Continue reading NPR’s All Things Considered: Commercial Content Moderation (CCM) and the Internet Shadows
“The Trouble with Ethics Tests” Online at the Chronicle of Higher Ed
My article on the problematic and ubiquitous university/state employee "ethics test" can be found in an edited version at the Chronicle of Higher Ed's "Conversation" website. Please visit and add your voice! One commenter described the tone as "whiny and PC," so I must be doing something right...
Sarah T. Roberts | The Illusion of Volition 