-
Marisol Sandoval
City University London
-
Christian Fuchs
University of Westminster, UK
-
Jernej A. Prodnik
Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic; Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
-
Sebastian Sevignani
University of Jena, Germany
-
Thomas Allmer
Thomas Allmer studied media and communication at the University of Salzburg, Austria, and the Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, and completed his PhD in 2013. He currently is a postdoctoral fellow at the Uni-fied Theory of Information Research Group, Austria. My publications include Towards a Critical Theory of Surveillance in Informational Capitalism (Peter Lang, 2012) and Critical Theory and Social Media: Between Emancipation and Commodification (Routledge, forthcoming). Further information: http://allmer.uti.at
Keywords:
digital labour, virtual work, Karl Marx
Abstract
In 1845, Karl Marx (1845, 571) formulated the 11th Feuerbach Thesis: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.” Today, interpreting the world has become an important form of labour that is expressed on and with the help of digital media. In this context it has become common to talk about digital labour and virtual work. Yet the changes that digital, social, and mobile media bring about in the world of labour and work have thus far only been little theoretically interpreted. In order to change the information society for the better, we first have to interpret digital labour with the help of critical theories. Social theorists of the world from different fields, backgrounds, interdisciplines, transdisciplines, and disciplines have to unite for this collective philosophical task.
This special issue of tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique aims to contribute to building a theoretical framework for the critical analysis of digital labour, virtual work, and related concepts that can initiate further debates, inform empirical studies, and inspire social struggles connected to work and labour in and beyond digital capitalism. The papers collected in this special issue (a) provide systematic definitions of digital labour, (b) analyse its specific dimension, and (c) discuss different forms of digital labour.
Author Biographies
Marisol Sandoval, City University London
Marisol Sandoval s a Lecturer at the Department of Culture and Creative Industries at City University London. She is author of “From Corporate to Social Media. Critical Perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility in Media and Communication Industries” (Routledge 2014) and editor of the open access journal tripleC – Communication, Capitalism and Critique. Currently Marisol is working on a study of potentials and contradictions of worker co-operatives in the cultural sector.
Christian Fuchs, University of Westminster, UK
Christian Fuchs is professor of social media at the University of Westminster’s Communication and Media Research Institute and the Centre for Social Media Research. He is editor of tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique and author of many publications, including the books Social Media: A Critical Introduction (Sage 2014), Digital Labour and Karl Marx (Routledge 2014), OccupyMedia! The Occupy Movement and Social Media in Crisis Capitalism (Zero Books 2014), Foundations of Critical Media and Infor-mation Studies (Routledge 2011), Internet and Society: Social Theory in the Information Age (Routledge 2008). He recently edited together with Marisol Sandoval the collected volume Critique,
Social Media and the Information Society (Routledge 2014).
Jernej A. Prodnik, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic; Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Jernej A. Prodnik is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism (the PolCoRe research group) at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic), and a researcher at the Social Communication Research Centre, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). He defended his PhD in media and communication studies at the University of Ljubljana in 2013 under the title "Political Economy of Communication and Structural Transformations of Capitalism". His principal research interests include critique of political economy (with a focus on media and communication) and the wider social context of technological changes and democratic potentials brought about by new technologies. He is a member of the editorial board of Casopis za kritiko znanosti [Journal for the Critique of Science] and international journal for critical studies of media, information and power in capitalist societies tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique.
Sebastian Sevignani, University of Jena, Germany
Sebastian Sevignani is member of the Unified Theory of Information Research Group (UTI) and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Jena’s institute of sociology. His dissertation deals with economic and ideological aspects of commodification of privacy in the Internet age (forthcoming with Routledge). Currently, he works on a re-actualisation of the concept of false needs. Further information: http://sevignani.uti.at and http://www.soziologie.uni-jena.de/en/
Thomas Allmer, Thomas Allmer studied media and communication at the University of Salzburg, Austria, and the Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, and completed his PhD in 2013. He currently is a postdoctoral fellow at the Uni-fied Theory of Information Research Group, Austria. My publications include Towards a Critical Theory of Surveillance in Informational Capitalism (Peter Lang, 2012) and Critical Theory and Social Media: Between Emancipation and Commodification (Routledge, forthcoming). Further information: http://allmer.uti.at
UTI Research Group, Austria
Section
Philosophers of the World Unite! Theorising Digital Labour and Virtual Work - Definitions, Dimensions and Forms
