Decade of working with the working crowd

burrough, xtine

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/112909 Copy

Description

Title

Decade of working with the working crowd

Author(s)

burrough, xtine

Issue Date

2020-03

Keyword(s)

• Amazon
• Mturk
• Digital Labor
• Mechanical Olympics
• Laboring Self
• Return to Sender
• Meditation
• Activism

Abstract

In this contribution to the Media-N special issue, “Humans Are Underrated: Art & Labor in the Amazon Economy,” I narrate creative projects that disrupt or interfere with the Mechanical Turk platform. My place as an artist and employer in the elastic workforce since 2008 has given me a close and nuanced view of life online in the virtual workplace. The jobs I have created on the platform ask workers to perform athletic events, create videos, meditate, and talk back to Jeff Bezos. The materials I collect from the workers are integrated into art works that amplify the visibility of the workers and their unique voices. This article shows how those “underrated” humans in the Amazon economy are creative, thoughtful, and intelligent.

Series/Report Name or Number

Media-N, vol. 16, issue 1

Type of Resource

text

Language

eng

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/112909

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21900/j.median.v16i1.221

Copyright and License Information

• Copyright 2020 xtine burrough
• This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

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