[Petit Fours 380] On bodywork, trust, and food delivery workers as infrastructure
Hi, all! This week, along with other things, I'm happy to announce two new research articles that will come out at CHI 2024 (pre-prints will go up soon).
#1 Led by Riyaj Shaikh, Not Just A Dot on The Map: Food Delivery Workers as Infrastructure describes gig work on a location-based platform: "Food delivery platforms are location-based services that rely on minimal, quantifiable data points, such as GPS location, to represent and manage labor. Drawing upon an ethnographic study of food delivery work in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, we illustrate the challenges gig workers face when working with a platform that uses their (phone’s) GPS location to monitor and control their movement. Further, we describe how these, along with the platform's opaque, location-based logics, shape the delivery workflow. We also document how the platform selectively represented workers’ bodies during the pandemic to portray them as safe and sterile, describing workers’ tactics in responding to issues arising from asymmetric platform policies. In discussion, we consider what we can learn from understanding gig workers as `infrastructure’, commonly overlooked but visible upon breakdown. We conclude by reflecting on how we might center gig workers’ well-being and bodily needs in design."
#2 Bodywork at Work: Attending to Bodily Needs in Gig, Shift, and Knowledge Work, led by Deepika Yadav, argues that all work practice involves bodywork, and that all systems are bodily systems: "The concept of `bodywork´ refers to the work individuals undertake on their own bodies and the bodies of others. One aspect is attending to bodily needs, which is often overlooked in the workplace and HCI/CSCW research on work practices. Yet, this labour can be a significant barrier to work, consequential to work, and prone to spill over into other aspects of life. We present three empirical cases of bodywork: gig-based food delivery, shift work in hospitals and bars, and office-based knowledge work. We describe what attending to bodily needs at work entails and illustrate tactics employed so that work can be carried on, even when the body (or technology optimising it) breaks down. Arguing that all systems are bodily systems, we conclude with a call to acknowledge the centrality of bodies in all work and the roles technologies can play in supporting or constraining bodywork differently for different workers."
#3 Here's a new ILO report on algorithmic management beyond the platform context: Algorithmic Management practices in regular workplaces: case studies in logistics and healthcare
#4 Starting next week, I'm joining the Trust Issues workshop by Data & Society. Here's info about the open-to-all online conversation that will take place on March 21: What's Trust Got to Do With It? Trust Issues: Perspectives on Community, Technology, and Trust
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