Platform Labour Research Articles

Counting ‘micro-workers’: societal and methodological challenges around new forms of labour

‘Micro-work’ consists of fragmented data tasks that myriad providers execute on online platforms. While crucial to the development of data-based technologies, this poorly visible and geographically spread activity is particularly difficult to measure. To fill this gap, we combined qualitative and quantitative methods (online surveys, in-depth interviews, capture-recapture techniques and web traffic analytics) to count micro-workers in a single country, France. On the basis of this analysis, we estimate that approximately 260,000 people are registered with micro-work platforms. Of these, some 50,000 are ‘regular’ workers who do micro-tasks at least monthly and we speculate that using a more restrictive measure of ‘very active’ workers decreases this figure to 15,000. This analysis contributes to research on platform labour and the labour in the digital economy that lies behind artificial intelligence.

The trainer, the verifier, the imitator: Three ways in which human platform workers support artificial intelligence

This paper sheds light on the role of digital platform labour in the development of today’s artificial intelligence, predicated on data-intensive machine learning algorithms. Focus is on the specific ways in which outsourcing of data tasks to myriad ‘micro-workers’, recruited and managed through specialized platforms, powers virtual assistants, self-driving vehicles and connected objects. Using qualitative data from multiple sources, we show that micro-work performs a variety of functions, between three poles that we label, respectively, ‘artificial intelligence preparation’, ‘artificial intelligence verification’ and ‘artificial intelligence impersonation’. Because of the wide scope of application of micro-work, it is a structural component of contemporary artificial intelligence production processes – not an ephemeral form of support that may vanish once the technology reaches maturity stage. Through the lens of micro-work, we prefigure the policy implications of a future in which data technologies do not replace human workforce but imply its marginalization and precariousness.

Reversed Solutionism. The Two Sided Control of Crowdwork

Platform labour is a new phenomenon that brings new forms of labour control with it. The article looks at crowdwork and analyses the various types of control inherent in this phenomenon. It is argued that crowdwork is not controlled by technological instruments alone, such as algorithms. Indeed, the method of organising labour is a complementary control element. Analytically, a technological and an organisational fix can be distinguished. Their specific characteristics are empirically investigated on the basis of crowdwork platforms covering the entire spectrum of qualifications. The result is that already existing asymmetries between capital and labour are intensified by the interaction between the technological and the organisational fix.

Digital Economy and Digital Labour Terminology: Making Sense of the 'Gig Economy', 'Online Labour', 'Crowd Work', 'Microwork', 'Platform Labour', Etc.

Confused about the gig economy vs. platform economy vs. on-demand economy? Befuddled by online labour vs. digital labour vs. platform labour? Bemused by microwork vs. crowdwork vs. digital work? Then read on. This paper analyses the myriad terminologies that have arisen in relation to the digital economy and digital labour. In detailed tables, it assesses the prevalence and currency within research literature of nearly 30 different terms. It then provides a definition for each and summarises the typical content of literature using the term. It also summarises current popularity of related Twitter hashtags. Taking the specific example of online outsourcing of digital tasks, the paper analyses which of the different terms is most appropriate as an identifier (concluding these to be “online labour”, “online outsourcing” and “gig economy” depending on focal interest), and presents a graphical summary. The review data provided can be re-used to identify the most-appropriate term for other labour-related topics in the digital economy.

Platform Labour and Structured Antagonism: Understanding the Origins of Protest in the Gig Economy

This article investigates why gig economy workers who see themselves as self-employed freelancers also engage in collective action traditionally associated with regular employment. Using ethnographic evidence from remote gig economy workers in North America, the United Kingdom and the Philippines, we argue that labour platforms reduce the risk of false self-employment in terms of the worker-client relationship. However, in doing so, they create new forms of worker dependency on the platforms themselves. We term this relationship ‘platform labour’, and demonstrate that it entails a ‘structured antagonism’ which manifests as perceived conflicts over platform fees, pay rates, and lack of worker voice. This creates desires for representation, greater voice and even unionisation towards the platform, while retaining entrepreneurial attitudes towards clients. By refocusing industrial relations on structured antagonism instead of the employment relationship we can understand conflict, protest and organising in new and diverse forms of work.