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samdalefox 's review for:
Work Without the Worker
by Phil Jones
Vital subject, poorly written. Did you know that tech companies that claim their sophisticated algorithms do all the work, actually outsource the work to exploited people to do and pay them pennies, if at all? If not, then you need to read this book.
I am grateful for having read this book since I honestly didn't know that 'Microwork' even existed, let alone what it entailed. The subject matter of microwork and all else it impacts is incredibly important to understanding the state of the world and where we're moving towards. 'Platform capitalism' refers to monolithic companies (platforms) such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. Microwork refers to the "badly paid, psychically damaging tasks – not algorithms – that are primarily what make our digital lives legible". Exploited workers at companies such as MechanicalTurk, Clickworker, and Appen, make tech possible.
The book covers:
I am grateful for having read this book since I honestly didn't know that 'Microwork' even existed, let alone what it entailed. The subject matter of microwork and all else it impacts is incredibly important to understanding the state of the world and where we're moving towards. 'Platform capitalism' refers to monolithic companies (platforms) such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook. Microwork refers to the "badly paid, psychically damaging tasks – not algorithms – that are primarily what make our digital lives legible". Exploited workers at companies such as MechanicalTurk, Clickworker, and Appen, make tech possible.
The book covers:
- what microwork is.
- how it exploits the 'workers' directly (withholding pay, precarity of work, no employee rights) and indirectly (the tech they assist build oppresses them e.g. drones, facial recognition AI etc.)
- highlights the exascerbation of existing inequalities e.g., of the global south and displaced people
- how microwork gives the companies something more valuable than the completed task at hand, e.g., teaching AI how to recognise a cat in a photo, but meta data on how the task was completed. This is valuable data that the companies can use, reuse, and sell on.
- implications of microwork changing the traditional workforce, e.g. informal work affects on the relationship of employer vs employee, the wage, and unionising
- A small, but interesting sight into opportunites of ogranisation and an alterative (better) use for microwork e.g., through universal basic services and freedom of labour (per William Morris, and note; not from labour)
All of these insights are important and interesting. However, the book's organisation into chapters is haphazard at best. Points are consistently repeated, 'wow' moments of realisation are lost, and the flowery language is unecessary. This could be a bug bear just because I'm a scientist and I tend to prefer concise writing, but I strongly dislike how the current leftist literature authors typically write. It is often flowery. I do not think it is engaging to a wider audience and it actively detracts from the power of the points being made. I find this book critically important, but monumentally difficult to read. I encourage you to persevere, or if you can't, read a few of the many credible sources provided and peice it together yourself.