Abstract
Economic activities are built on several essential factors such as capital, technology, and notably, labour. Despite extensive exploration of economic activities in the last decade, prior design research has overlooked the impact of Design on Labour. Designers play crucial roles as creators of gig platforms, yet research on the intersection between design and gig work is lacking. To bridge this gap, we conducted a literature review using grounded theory methodology to scrutinize the contributions of the HCI community to the gig work and gig economy, with the goal of sparking dialogue on the Design on Labour research. This paper revealed three layers of significance: i) sketching a preliminary service landscape of gig work and their associated trends in HCI research; ii) identifying five types of HCI research contributions by HCI methods (informing and designing) and objects (platform, outside-of-platform, and gig ecology); iii) presenting emerging research topics to inform the future of Design on Labour research and practice. Starting from the lens of gig work, our study highlights the importance of future Design on Labour research in addressing worker-related concerns to foster a sustainable, inclusive, and fair future
Keywords
gig work; HCI; design on labour; literature review
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.473
Citation
Ma, S., Nisi, V., Zimmerman, J.,and Nunes, N.(2023) Mapping the Research Landscape of the Gig Work for Design on Labour Research, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.473
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Mapping the Research Landscape of the Gig Work for Design on Labour Research
Economic activities are built on several essential factors such as capital, technology, and notably, labour. Despite extensive exploration of economic activities in the last decade, prior design research has overlooked the impact of Design on Labour. Designers play crucial roles as creators of gig platforms, yet research on the intersection between design and gig work is lacking. To bridge this gap, we conducted a literature review using grounded theory methodology to scrutinize the contributions of the HCI community to the gig work and gig economy, with the goal of sparking dialogue on the Design on Labour research. This paper revealed three layers of significance: i) sketching a preliminary service landscape of gig work and their associated trends in HCI research; ii) identifying five types of HCI research contributions by HCI methods (informing and designing) and objects (platform, outside-of-platform, and gig ecology); iii) presenting emerging research topics to inform the future of Design on Labour research and practice. Starting from the lens of gig work, our study highlights the importance of future Design on Labour research in addressing worker-related concerns to foster a sustainable, inclusive, and fair future