However, many fear their ability to find work on the site will be affected if they speak out. Low pay remains one of the main reasons not all Australians are enthused with Airtasker. Trade union body Unions NSW, representing 600,000 workers in the Australian state of New South Wales, has called Airtasker a “ superhighway to serfdom”, and warns on its website that it “flagrantly disregards the minimum wage and other labour standards by encouraging workers to compete and underbid each other for bite-sized pieces of work”. They fear that the likes of Airtasker are the next step in the gig economy: driving down wages, busting union agreements and labour standards, and ignoring health and safety in a race to the bottom. Photograph: Airtaskerīut critics – and there are many – see it very differently. It also raised questions about what might happen in a world where the technologies we create outsmart us and take over.Airtasker is launching in the UK this month. Person of Interest spoke to how technology created for “good” (in this case, surveillance to preempt crime) can be appropriated toward other ends. It aimed to showcase some of the opportunities, ethical dilemmas, and limitations of AI.
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The TV show Person of Interest provided an accessible example of how tech might be used in everyday life. What’s your favorite example of tech in pop culture, and why? In tackling issues of social justice, we need to be clear about where and how that's happening. What do you really want people working to advance social justice to know about tech?ĭigital technology-including mobile devices and apps, platforms, data, algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and GPS-can play a role in addressing or exacerbating systems of inequality. More inclusive societies would mean more people are able to access and benefit more equitably from innovation, especially along class, race, gender, and geographic lines.
What are you most excited about in the world of tech innovation today? What about in the area of social justice you’re specifically focused on-or at the intersection of the two?Īdvances in digital innovation are helping us address complex societal challenges, but there is still much to be done to ensure greater inclusion.
The spectrum of winners and losers seems to make the political dimensions of technology more explicit. And many who turn to these platforms for employment often find themselves without the kinds of protections that people in standard employment typically enjoy. Yet the on-demand nature of work these platforms generate often leaves many people without the consistency and quantity of work they need. TaskRabbit, a labor platform available in the United States and the United Kingdom, offers the flexibility some people desire within their working lives. In the Global South, labor platforms such as Upwork are expanding participation in global labor markets. Regular people are turning their homes and cars into income-generating assets, through platforms like Airbnb and Lyft. Take, for instance, tech’s disruption of industries, democratization of certain capital flows, and reorganization of labor markets. Consequently, the outcomes of a given technology differ for various groups of people. The technologies we see created and applied, and the means and ends to which this happens, are value laden. Give us an example that’s especially resonant for you. Technology is essentially neutral, but it can be used for good or evil purposes-or something in between. As I took on various projects, particularly in the global development space, I began exploring the human aspects and social implications of technology. My journey started out in engineering and computer science school, where I focused on developing artifacts.
Because of these dualities, technology can have unintended consequences-even when deployed with the best of intentions. Yet they understand it is both political and neutral, biased and unbiased, proprietary and agnostic. They are often excited about the transformative potential of technology. They try to make sense of how technology impacts people and shapes societal processes.
Technologists who are focused on the public interest and on fostering social good typically operate at the intersection of people, process, and technology. Technologist is one of those amorphous terms that can mean a whole range of things. What does being a technologist mean to you? How did you become one? Learn more about the tech fellows program here and the growing field of Public Interest Tech.
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