Back to "Back to Labor"

Almost thirty years ago, CSCW published an article written by Joan Greenbaum detailing how and why CSCW should consider the framing of "labor" over "work" in researching and designing information systems. This argument is especially salient in the present day, with the increasing wariness of algorithmically-mediated monitoring, surveillance, automation, and management in work processes. Despite its salience, Greenbaum's paper has had relatively low engagement in CSCW so far. As such, this workshop responds to Greenbaum's call-to-action, asking: 1) Where is CSCW research now in thinking about "work" vs. "labor" in designing systems? and 2) How can we support emerging CSCW scholars in grounding themselves in theories of work that includes (if not centers) a labor-oriented economic frame? This workshop will aim to generate a critical consciousness around labor issues in CSCW. Ultimately, by crafting individual commitments to labor, this workshop will aim to contribute to a more worker-centered future.

Our workshop will be on October 14, 2023 from 9am-5pm CT.

Workshop Goals, Themes, and Activities

Our goal for this workshop is to develop community networks for understanding and navigating the complex relationships between technology design and labor with CSCW scholars who have various levels of experience with broader labor framings in their research. The workshop will be a combination of a virtual grounding event followed by a one-day, in-person gathering at CSCW 2023.

This workshop follows a Freirean pedagogy model of social action—involving a cycle of reflection and action, or as commonly exercised in Peoples Movement Assemblies, a cycle of consciousness and commitment. While the goal of the first half of the workshop is to generate a shared consciousness of the ways that CSCW approaches questions of labor (reflection), the goal of the second half of the workshop is to find ways we can commit to critically engaging with the politics and material realities of labor (action).

Planned Activities: Online [moved to day-of]

Grounding: A Labor Roundtable

We will hold a synchronous virtual event approximately one week before the workshop for participants to ground their thinking in the themes of the workshop and familiarize with each other's work. We will begin with brief introductions of the organizers and the workshop background and goals, including a presentation outlining key takeaways from Greenbaum's 1996 paper. 

Then, up to twelve participants will be invited to give short (max 10 minute) presentations on their work to their peers. This activity will allow emerging scholars to discuss ideas or research that may become full papers later on, find shared areas of interest and inquiry, and understand how their peers are currently thinking about labor-related topics.

Planned Activities: In-Person

Session I: Community-Building Exercise

We will kick-off the in-person gathering with a community-building exercise. The exercise will focus on generating a shared consciousness of what it means to consider labor alongside work. Drawing from the Tech Worker's Coalition and our experiences with union organizing as graduate students, this activity will encourage participants to reflect on their relationships with work and labor.

After situating ourselves in our personal/work histories, we will encourage participants to share concerns, fears, and hopes for the workshop, as well as specific community agreements that would make them feel comfortable sharing vulnerabilities, challenging understandings, and giving/receiving feedback.

Session II: Discussion on Current and Future Strategies

Next, we will arrange participants into small groups. Each group will have a facilitator who will take notes, summarize discussion, and later report back to the larger group for a broader discussion. Discussions will focus on three topics which are intended to foster critical reflections on the role of CSCW and work technologies in a broader labor context: disciplinary norms, accountability and relationality, and future(s).

Session III: Synthesis and Future Steps

Finally, the full group will reflect on the entire day and establish future steps. Inspired by grassroots tradition, we will ask each attendee for a commitment to action. In this session, we will plan how to advance these commitments in the CSCW community, which may include brainstorming possible future events, submitting a workshop retrospective to a venue like ACM Interactions, and personal commitments to act on reflections from this workshop in our future work. 

Outcomes

We invite participation from CSCW scholars with research interests in the future of work and labor, including but not limited to topics such as workplace technologies, platform-mediated labor, and technical workplace dynamics. We particularly welcome 1) early-career graduate students and their collaborators and 2) senior scholars wanting to broaden or bridge conversations in CSCW about work and labor. 

Prospective participants must fill out this form, which asks for a ~500-word reflection on their personal and academic orientations to work and/vs. labor, as well as their current or aspirational connections to labor-related research. Prospective participants also have an option to submit a short workshop paper if they would like to share and discuss works in progress in the virtual grounding event. Submissions are due EOD on August 31, 2023 (AOE), and we will get back to applicants by September 12. 

If you need to hear back about workshop acceptance prior to September 12, please let us know and we can make sure to arrange something for you! Also, let us know if the workshop attendance fee would be a significant barrier to your attendance, as we have a limited amount of free workshop attendance codes that we can offer to participants.

Organizing Team

If you have any questions about the workshop, please email joice [at] uw.edu.