Saving here as much for posterity as to share it, the following announcement for a position in Michigan's School of Information for the 2018-19 has appeared. Of particular interest to me, and likely to many readers, is the fact that the job as specifically mentions "content moderation" as an area of specialization. To my knowledge,… Continue reading First(?) Academic Job to Reference “Content Moderation” Appears at Michigan
Tag: Digital Labor
CCM in the Atlantic connects phenomenon to key questions of democracy
I'm pleased to report that, after many, many months in the works, my article on commercial content moderation has appeared in the Atlantic today. The story has taken many forms over the past few months of work on it, and has undergone necessary evolutions in response to rapid developments in social media-related conversations, and public pushback… Continue reading CCM in the Atlantic connects phenomenon to key questions of democracy
CCM on “The Agenda”
On March 22nd, I had the honor of appearing as a guest on TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin. I appreciated the opportunity to introduce the concept and existence of commercial content moderation to a wider audience. Here is the segment of the program in which I appeared.
“It’s not Science Fiction”: Hidden Labor, and Trauma, of USAF Drone Pilots
On Friday of last week, Democracy Now! devoted its program to interviews with four whistle-blowing ex-Air Force personnel who were charged with piloting drones and unleashing bombs on people under the auspices the U.S.'s policy of "targeted killing." The interviews coincide with the release of a documentary film, Drone, making its North American début this… Continue reading “It’s not Science Fiction”: Hidden Labor, and Trauma, of USAF Drone Pilots
Now available: New Publications on CCM; Google Glass, Race and Class; LIS, Diversity as Social Justice and Calls to Action;Digital Literacy
In the spirit of making academic work, so often cloistered in esoteric journals or inaccessible behind paywalls, accessible to all and in a timely fashion, I have begun the process of creating pre-production files of my upcoming publication. I have deposited these files in our open access institutional repository, Scholarship@Western. I intend to negotiate for… Continue reading Now available: New Publications on CCM; Google Glass, Race and Class; LIS, Diversity as Social Justice and Calls to Action;Digital Literacy
Surplus3: Labour and the Digital – Toronto, October 20th, 2015
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
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
Digital Labor: Sweatshops, Picket Lines, Barricades [#dl14]
The third in a series of conferences focused on digital labor will take place from November 14-16 in New York City. The event is open to to all and registration is free. Trebor Scholz, the visionary behind the series, shared the following words about his hopes for this fall's conference, which I have reprinted below. My… Continue reading Digital Labor: Sweatshops, Picket Lines, Barricades [#dl14]
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