The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Moreschi, Bruno
Data de Publicação: 2020
Outros Autores: Pereira, Gabriel, Cozman, Fabio G.
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: por
eng
Título da fonte: Contracampo
Texto Completo: https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252
Resumo: Contributing to research on digital platform labor in the Global South, this research surveyed 149 Brazilian workers in the Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) platform. We begin by offering a demographic overview of the Brazilian turkers and their relation with work in general. In line with previous studies of turkers in the USA and India, AMT offers poor working conditions for Brazilian turkers. Other findings we discuss include: how a large amount of the respondents affirmed they have been formally unemployed for a long period of time; the relative importance of the pay they receive to their financial subsistence; and how Brazilian turkers cannot receive their pay directly into their bank accounts due to Amazon restrictions, making them resort to creative circumventions of the system. Importantly, these “ghost workers” (Gray & Suri, 2019) find ways to support each other and self-organize through the WhatsApp group, where they also mobilize to fight for changes on the platform. As this type of work is still in formation in Brazil, and potentially will grow in the coming years, we argue this is a matter of concern.
id UFF-5_59b094345bcba970e4829a53823609d5
oai_identifier_str oai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/38252
network_acronym_str UFF-5
network_name_str Contracampo
repository_id_str
spelling The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workersdigital laborAmazon Mechanical TurkGlobal Southplatformdigital capitalismContributing to research on digital platform labor in the Global South, this research surveyed 149 Brazilian workers in the Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) platform. We begin by offering a demographic overview of the Brazilian turkers and their relation with work in general. In line with previous studies of turkers in the USA and India, AMT offers poor working conditions for Brazilian turkers. Other findings we discuss include: how a large amount of the respondents affirmed they have been formally unemployed for a long period of time; the relative importance of the pay they receive to their financial subsistence; and how Brazilian turkers cannot receive their pay directly into their bank accounts due to Amazon restrictions, making them resort to creative circumventions of the system. Importantly, these “ghost workers” (Gray & Suri, 2019) find ways to support each other and self-organize through the WhatsApp group, where they also mobilize to fight for changes on the platform. As this type of work is still in formation in Brazil, and potentially will grow in the coming years, we argue this is a matter of concern. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da Universidade Federal Fluminense2020-04-17info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersiontext/htmltext/htmlapplication/pdfhttps://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/3825210.22409/contracampo.v39i1.38252Contracampo; v. 39 n. 1 (2020): Trabalho de Plataforma2238-25771414-748310.22409/contracampo.v39i1reponame:Contracampoinstname:Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)instacron:UFFporenghttps://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252/html_pthttps://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252/htmlhttps://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252/pdfCopyright (c) 2020 Revista Contracampoinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessMoreschi, BrunoPereira, GabrielCozman, Fabio G.2020-07-26T14:21:57Zoai:ojs.pkp.sfu.ca:article/38252Revistahttps://periodicos.uff.br/contracampoPUBhttps://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/oai||contracampo.uff@gmail.com2238-25771414-7483opendoar:2020-07-26T14:21:57Contracampo - Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)false
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
title The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
spellingShingle The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
Moreschi, Bruno
digital labor
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Global South
platform
digital capitalism
title_short The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
title_full The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
title_fullStr The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
title_full_unstemmed The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
title_sort The Brazilian Workers in Amazon Mechanical Turk: Dreams and realities of ghost workers
author Moreschi, Bruno
author_facet Moreschi, Bruno
Pereira, Gabriel
Cozman, Fabio G.
author_role author
author2 Pereira, Gabriel
Cozman, Fabio G.
author2_role author
author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Moreschi, Bruno
Pereira, Gabriel
Cozman, Fabio G.
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv digital labor
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Global South
platform
digital capitalism
topic digital labor
Amazon Mechanical Turk
Global South
platform
digital capitalism
description Contributing to research on digital platform labor in the Global South, this research surveyed 149 Brazilian workers in the Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT) platform. We begin by offering a demographic overview of the Brazilian turkers and their relation with work in general. In line with previous studies of turkers in the USA and India, AMT offers poor working conditions for Brazilian turkers. Other findings we discuss include: how a large amount of the respondents affirmed they have been formally unemployed for a long period of time; the relative importance of the pay they receive to their financial subsistence; and how Brazilian turkers cannot receive their pay directly into their bank accounts due to Amazon restrictions, making them resort to creative circumventions of the system. Importantly, these “ghost workers” (Gray & Suri, 2019) find ways to support each other and self-organize through the WhatsApp group, where they also mobilize to fight for changes on the platform. As this type of work is still in formation in Brazil, and potentially will grow in the coming years, we argue this is a matter of concern.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020-04-17
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252
10.22409/contracampo.v39i1.38252
url https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252
identifier_str_mv 10.22409/contracampo.v39i1.38252
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv por
eng
language por
eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252/html_pt
https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252/html
https://periodicos.uff.br/contracampo/article/view/38252/pdf
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 Revista Contracampo
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Copyright (c) 2020 Revista Contracampo
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv text/html
text/html
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da Universidade Federal Fluminense
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da Universidade Federal Fluminense
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Contracampo; v. 39 n. 1 (2020): Trabalho de Plataforma
2238-2577
1414-7483
10.22409/contracampo.v39i1
reponame:Contracampo
instname:Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)
instacron:UFF
instname_str Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)
instacron_str UFF
institution UFF
reponame_str Contracampo
collection Contracampo
repository.name.fl_str_mv Contracampo - Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)
repository.mail.fl_str_mv ||contracampo.uff@gmail.com
_version_ 1799705522627149824

Registros relacionados