Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-245) and index.
Contents:
Introduction. Why does digital labor matter now? / Trebor Scholz -- pt. 1. The shifting sites of labor markets. In search of the lost paycheck / Andrew Ross ; Free labor / Tiziana Terranova ; The political economy of cosmopolis / Sean Cubitt ; Considerations on a hacker manifesto / McKenzie Wark -- pt. 2. Interrogating modes of digital labor. Return of the crowds : Mechanical Turk and neoliberal states of exception / Ayhan Aytes ; Fandom as free labor / Abigail De Kosnik ; The digital, labor and measure beyond biopolitics / Patricia Ticineto Clough ; Whatever blogging / Jodi Dean -- pt. 3. The violence of participation. Estranged free labor / Mark Andrejevic ; Digitality and the media of dispossession / Jonathan Beller ; Don't hate the player, hate the game : the racialization of labor in World of Warcraft / Lisa Nakamura -- pt. 4. Organizing networks in an age of vulnerable publics. Thesis on digital labor in an emerging P2P economy / Michel Bauwens ; Class and exploitation on the Internet / Christian Fuchs ; Acts of translation : organizing networks as algorithmic technologies of the common / Ned Rossitter and Soenke Zehle.
Summary:
Digital Labor calls on the reader to examine the shifting sites of labor markets to the Internet through the lens of their political, technological, and historical making. Internet users currently create most of the content that makes up the Web: they search, link, tweet, and post updates -- leaving their "deep" data exposed. Meanwhile, governments listen in, and big corporations track, analyze, and predict users' interests and habits. This unique collection of essays provides a wide-ranging account of the dark side of the Internet. It claims that the divide between leisure time and work has vanished so that every aspect of life drives the digital economy. The book reveals the anatomy of playbor (play/labor), the lure of exploitation and the potential for empowerment. Ultimately, the 14 thought-provoking chapters in this volume ask how users can politicize their troubled complicity, create public alternatives to the centralized social Web, and thrive online--From the publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.