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
The book publishing industry is going through a period of profound and turbulent change brought about in part by the digital revolution. What is the role of the book in an age preoccupied with computers and the internet? How has the book publishing industry been transformed by the economic and technological upheavals of recent years, and how is it likely to change in the future? This is the first major study of the book publishing industry in Britain and the United States for more than two decades. Thompson focuses on academic and higher education publishing and analyses the evolution of these sectors from 1980 to the present. He shows that each sector is characterized by its own distinctive ‘logic’ or dynamic of change, and that by reconstructing this logic we can understand the problems, challenges and opportunities faced by publishing firms today. He also shows that the digital revolution has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on the book publishing business, although the real impact of this revolution has little to do with the ebook scenarios imagined by many commentators. Books in the Digital Age will become a standard work on the publishing industry at the beginning of the 21st century. It will be of great interest to students taking courses in the sociology of culture, media and cultural studies, and publishing. It will also be of great value to professionals in the publishing industry, educators and policy makers, and to anyone interested in books and their future.
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.
This book's progressive approach, unmatched scope and up-to-date guidance will open the doors to a wide range of exciting information-age careers to undergraduates, high school students, parents, and advisors along with Information students and recent graduates who are interested in exploring emerging career paths.
This book explores the legal and practical implications of the digital age for employment and industrial relations. To that end, the book analyses the problems arising from the digitalisation of work and the negative effects on working conditions in fields such as platform work, robotisation, discrimination, data protection, and freedom of speech. It also looks at how to ensure decent working conditions for workers affected by digitalisation, by investigating the minimum standards that should be ensured to mitigate negative effects – and how these could be best guaranteed by legislation and collective bargaining. The book presents a theoretical framework on the impact of automatisation, robotics, and digitalisation on the very basic principles of individual and collective labour law. The chapters provide an in-depth analysis of new patterns of work prompted by digitalisation, including: classification of platform workers; recognition of employment and social security rights; competition law aspects of platform work; remote (tele)work arrangements; algorithmic decision-making and remote surveillance; data protection and privacy; and social media in working environments. The book is an important reference for academics and researchers, social partners, and policy makers with an interest in labour law and industrial relations.
This book explores the lives of male sex workers living in Dublin, Ireland. It focuses on the stories of young Brazilian and Venezuelan migrants who use their micro-celebrity on social media to construct a brand that can be converted into financial advantage within the sex industry. The book focuses on two sites: Grindr, which these men use to build a transient pop-up escort profile that is linked to Instagram, which in turn provides followers with access to a curated digital identity built around consumption. Ryan explores how the muscular body acts as a form of physical and erotic capital providing the raw material of these digital identities as they are broadcast on new online subscription platforms like OnlyFans. Male Sex Work in the Digital Age offers fascinating insights into the role social media plays in (re)creating a new and more flexible understanding of commercial sex. Students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, gender studies, sexuality studies, LGBTQ studies, media studies and law, will find this book of interest.
Within the digital era, agile working is imperative for organisations and workers to meet the needs of customers, service-users and ever-changing markets. This needs to be achieved whilst meeting goals of effectiveness and well-being. In this book, state-of-the-art theory is used to understand how to optimise agile working by addressing key issues around personality, team-working and management. The authors define the concept of agile working and unpack often-misunderstood terms associated with this, such as remote working and telework. The book explores the well-being consequences of agile work including sedentary behaviours, digital distraction, and digital resistance before offering insights for the future. Examining current practice in the context of established and emerging theory, the book paves the way towards further advances in the field and supports organisations seeking to make agile working work for them. Agile Working and Well-being in the Digital Age provides a valuable new resource for practitioners and scholars in the fields of occupational and organizational psychology, human resource management, organisational development, mental health and well-being.
In our digital age we can communicate, access, create, and share an abundance of information effortlessly, rapidly, and nearly ubiquitously. The consequence of having so many choices is that they compete for our attention: we continually switch our attention between different types of information while doing different types of tasks--in other words, we multitask. The activity of information workers in particular is characterized by the continual switching of attention throughout the day. In this book, empirical work is presented, based on ethnographic and sensor data collection, which reveals how multitasking affects information workers' activities, mood, and stress in real work environments. Multitasking is discussed from various perspectives: activity switching, interruptions as triggers for activity switching, email as a major source of interruptions, and the converse of distractions: focused attention. All of these factors are components of information work. This book begins by defining multitasking and describing different research approaches used in studying multitasking. It then describes how multiple factors occur to encourage multitasking in the digitally-enabled workplace: the abundance and ease of accessing information, the number of different working spheres, the workplace environment, attentional state, habit, and social norms. Empirical work is presented describing the nature of multitasking, the relationship of different types of interruptions and email with overload and stress, and patterns of attention focus. The final chapter ties these factors together and discusses challenges that information workers in our digital age face.