IP 7: Digital Labour

Overview

"Rather than representing a radical shift from established forms of work, the encroachment of AI into the workplace should properly be understood as a return to older practices of industrial labour exploitation that were well established in the 1890’s and the early twentieth century." (Crawford, 2021, p. 58)

Your Task

This IP is based on a close reading and careful analysis of Kate Crawford’s chapter on “Labour” in her book Atlas of AI. Identify and describe, in Crawford's terms, a kind of work you regard as “digital labour”—this might be influencer, video game developer, digital content creator, amazon employee or online educator, or.... Illustrate your observations, where possible with examples and ideas drawn from any or all of:

1. the research paper you select from the suggested special issue on video games and labour;

2. the chapter/s you chose from Duffy’s text, and/or;

3. Abidin’s keynote on TikTok Influencers.

Use any cartoon-creation/animation software of your choice (Please try something different if you’ve already used e.g. Powtoons) to communicate your understanding of how, why, and in what ways work today has revived older practices of industrial labour exploitation—and focus especially on trying to work out the role of AI in this reversal. Try to be as careful as you can (stick close to the task and the text), and as be comprehensive as you can (try to cover the main points, not just pick a few easier things and miss the larger picture). Hand-drawn work is completely fine—in that case, aim for a 6-8-frame cartoon sequence.

This IP offers you an opportunity to experiment and play---its challenge is to bring two media together, and to try using a ludic medium to communicate a serious ‘message’. Irony is fine, humour always welcomed.