Uncovering Labour in Information Revolutions, 1750-2000

The readings for class this week covered less abstract topics and looked at four case studies about "information labor." The following is a short recap.

Hands and Minds: Clerical Work in the First ‘Information Society’ Eve Rosenhaft
German clerical workers from the 19th century go bonkers when their workload skyrockets. Divorce, mental illness, and arthritis make this an interesting read.

Compressing Time and Constraining Space: The Contradictory Effects of ICT and Containerisation on International Shipping Labour Helen Sampson and Bin Wu
Sailors go bonkers when ICTs alter industrial shipping by decreasing shore leave and providing a window an outside world that they can't take part in.

‘Computers in the Wild’: Guilds and Next Generation Unionism in the Information Revolution Chris Benner
Chris Benner compares Silicon valley 'guilds' to medieval guilds, professional associations, and unionism and attempts to show that the new guilds are a result of an increasingly volatile work environment in a network world.

Emerging Sources of Labor on the Internet: The Case of America Online Volunteers Hector Postigo
AOL volunteers go postal when the company tries to reorganize its business. AOL takes away many of the benefits that it gives volunteers and expects things to just be 'OK' (like the soda of yore). Lawsuits ensue.

There was also an introduction by Aad Block and a conclusion by former information laborer (and instructor of LIS 810) Greg Downey which provided a theoretical framework and some suggestions for future research. My main problem with the reading for this week is the ambiguous definition of information labor. In all the cases presented we see hidden labor problems, but why is this labor necessarily information labor? The idea of information labor is so general case that it could be taken to mean anything that involves human communication (information). I feel like someone hung up a piece of Velcro, labeled it as information, and started tossing garbage at it; Anything that sticks qualifies as information labor.

Other than that minor complaint, the material was a fun read. Maybe it's the nerd in me, but I liked the comparison of the new tech guilds with old medieval craft guilds. The other readings were equally nerd friendly, and should make for interesting discussion in class.