A Workshop @ The 27th ACM Conference On Computer-Supported Cooperative Work And Social Computing (CSCW 2024)
Hybrid: on Zoom and in person at San José, Costa Rica on November 9, 2024
Platform-based laborers face unprecedented challenges and working conditions that result from algorithmic opacity, insufficient data transparency, and unclear policies and regulations. The CSCW and HCI communities increasingly turn to worker data collectives as a means to advance related policy and regulation, hold platforms accountable for data transparency and disclosure, and empower the collective worker voice. However, fundamental questions remain for designing, governing and sustaining such data infrastructures.
In this workshop, we leverage frameworks such as data feminism to design sustainable and power-aware data collectives that tackle challenges present in various types of online labor platforms (e.g., ridesharing, freelancing, crowdwork, carework). While data collectives aim to support worker collectives and complement relevant policy initiatives, the goal of this workshop is to encourage their designers to consider topics of governance, privacy, trust, and transparency.
This one-day session strives to convene the research and advocacy communities to reflect on critical platform work issues (e.g., worker surveillance, discrimination, wage theft, insufficient platform accountability) as well as to collaborate on co-designing data collectives that ethically and equitably address these concerns by supporting working collectivism and informing policy development.
As the Towards Justice Policy Director, Nina coordinates the organization’s Policy Program, expands organizational partnerships, participates in state and national coalitions, and serves as a lawyer for the movement to build power and advance economic equity. Nina also strategically engages the media and assists with fundraising for the Policy Program. Nina has recently contributed to passing Colorado Bill SB24-75 mandating transparency around rideshare platform take rates and deactivations.
Joshua is an organizing coordinator and advisor at Drivers Union Washington, affiliated with the Teamsters Local 117. He provides strategic guidance on organizational and representational work part of the organizing and research department.
As the Director of Data Analytics at the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, Avigail manages a team of data analysts and engineers within the TLC Policy division. They “own” everything related to trip data which is provided to them by the companies. They analyze data related to policy research, and evaluation of existing policies. Their team also releases data publicly through the TLC website and NYC Open Data, as well as a dashboard.
Dana is an Assistant Professor at Penn State University, where she studies the social, technical, and legal impacts of datafication and AI on communities, especially workers. As a co-director of the Workers Algorithm Observatory, she develops tools in collaboration with worker groups to understand and challenge algorithmic management systems. Dana was previously a postdoctoral fellow at Princeton’s Center for Information Technology Policy, and received her PhD from MIT in 2023.