Venture Labor| How Venture Labor Sheds Light on the Digital Platform Economy

Authors

  • Antonio Casilli Telecommunication College of the Paris Institute of Technology (Télécom ParisTech)

Keywords:

click workers, digital platforms, value distribution, digital labor

Abstract

I draw attention to the entrepreneurial ideology that underlies both venture labor and several manifestations of digital labor, defined as deskilled and underpaid/unpaid work performed for online platforms. If contemporary workers seem more willing to accept the burden of entrepreneurial risk or the hardships of underpaid undertakings, this is because they reinterpret value-producing tasks as aligned with their private goals. At the same time, both venture labor and “implicit” work on digital platforms raise issues of distributive justice connected to value capture and centralization, thus increasing the potential for social antagonism and conflict.

Author Biography

Antonio Casilli, Telecommunication College of the Paris Institute of Technology (Télécom ParisTech)

Antonio Casilli is an associate professor at the Telecommunication College of the Paris Institute of Technology (Télécom  ParisTech) and a research fellow at the Edgar Morin Centre of the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS, Paris). His  main research foci are human rights and computer-mediated communication. Since  2009, he has been coordinating several international projects touching on privacy, freedom of speech, labor, and health. He is the co-author of Le phénomène “pro-ana” ([The “pro-ana” phenomenon], Paris: Presses des Mines, 2016, with P. Tubaro); Qu’est-ce que le digital labor?  ([What is  digital labor?],  Paris: Editions de l’INA, 2015;  with D. Cardon) and Against the Hypothesis  of the End of Privacy (New York: Springer,  2014; with P. Tubaro and Y. Sarabi). He has  authored Les liaisons numériques ([Digital  relationships]; Paris: Seuil, 2010),  Stop  Mobbing (Rome: DeriveApprodi, 2000),  La  Fabbrica Libertina ([The libertine factory]  Rome: Manifesto Libri, 1997).

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Published

2017-05-09

Issue

Section

Forum