motivations, lifestyles and the representation of interests on commercial platforms
TRANSCRIPT
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Motivations, Lifestyles and the
Representation of Interests on
Commercial Platforms:
Results from a survey on creative and IT crowdworkers.
Cross-media-konferenz, February 2016Stefan Stumpp
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Working in the crowd Software industry: salaried programmers
came together in their spare time to
work on interesting, unpaid projects on
P2P platforms.
New principles of cooperation emerged:
the intrinsically motivated peers work in
a self-directed manner and
autonomously seek out their challenges.
(Wikipedia, Linux)
The obvious success of P2P platforms
also led to a growing interest among
companies in this form of organisation
and especially in the capacities of the
peers.
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Platforms: partners and competitors of the firm
Efficiency platforms
Innovation platforms
Agency platforms
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1. Expert Workshop 2. Quantitative Online Survey
3. Jovoto Crowdstorm
Research design
Opening the field:
Workshop was conducted for platform representatives, representatives of trade
unions and scholars who address the phenomenon of crowdworking.
Typologies of individual commercial platforms were analysed, and scenarios were
outlined for trade union support of crowdworkers based on international experience.
Based on this discussion, the strategy for the present study was developed.
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1. Expert Workshop 2. Quantitative Online Survey
3. Jovoto Crowdstorm
Research design
Participants in the online survey were crowdworkers from the platform jovoto and an
international IT crowdworking platform Applause.
The sample size for Applause was n = 93 and for jovoto, it was n = 72 crowdworkers
(Total: 165).
The survey was conducted in the period from 15/09/2015 to 30/10/2015.
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1. Expert Workshop 2. Quantitative Online Survey
3. Jovoto Crowdstorm
Research design
Parallel to the online survey, the jovoto platform held an ideas competition on behalf
of the service union ver.di.
Crowdworkers were asked to visually represent the opportunities and risks as well as
personal experiences and visions for fair crowdworking.
In total, around 51 projects/concepts with over 1.100 comments were submitted,
which were assessed by the participants of the platform and ranked (crowd-voting).
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Crowdstorm on jovoto
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Crowdstorm on jovoto
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Sociodemographics
0
20
40
60
80
Female Male
Gender distribution
IT crowd Creative crowd
Figure 1: Gender distribution within the sample (in per cent)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Up to 34 years 35 - 49 years 50+
Age of crowdworkers
IT crowd Creative crowd
Figure 2: Age of crowdworkers (in per cent)
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Sociodemographics
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Completed tertiary degree
University entrance certificate
Vocational upper secondary w/ouniversity entrance
Elementary or lower secondaryschool
Highest educational level reached
Creative crowd IT crowd
Figure 3: Highest educational level of the crowdworkers (in per cent)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Freelance/self-employed
No paid employment
Standard employment
N/A
Employment status of crowdworkers (in per cent)
Creative crowd IT crowd
Figure 4: Employment status of crowdworker (in per cent)
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Sociodemographics
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Up to €1,500 €1,500–€3,000 More than €3,000 N/A
Household net income of crowdworkers
Creative crowd IT crowd
Figure 5: Household net income of crowdworkers (in per cent)
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Motivations
Figure 5: Household net income of crowdworkers (in per cent)
IT crowd
Creativecrowd
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Earning a living
Earning extra money
Fun
Social relationships
Learning new skills
Entrepreneurial thinking
Reputation/references
Appreciation
Earning a living
Earning extra money
Fun
Social relationships
Learning new skills
Entrepreneurial thinking
Reputation/references
Appreciation
I agree completely I somewhat agreeFigure 6: Motivations of the crowdworkers (in per cent)
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Time spent crowdworking
Figure 7: Period of time active as a crowdworker (in per cent)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
One year
Two to three years
Three years and longer
I’ve been working as a crowdworker for....
Creative crowd IT crowd
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Crowdwork on different platforms
Figure 8: Crowdworkers who work on different platforms (in per cent)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
IT crowd
Creative crowd
Crowdwork on different platforms
I agree completely I somewhat agree
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Time Spent per Month
Figure 9: Time spent crowdworking per month (in hours)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0 to 3 hours 4 to 10 hours 11 to 40 hours 41 to 100 hours More than 100 hours
Time spent per month (in hours)
IT crowd Creative crowd
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Supporting Crowdwork
IT crowd
Creativecrowd
Figure 10: Strategies for supporting crowdwork (in per cent)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Development of a platform-independent community
The certification of platforms’ work algorithms by an independent body
A platform-independent reputation system
An evaluation system to rate crowdwork platforms
Development of a platform-independent community
The certification of platforms’ work algorithms by an independent body
A platform-independent reputation system
An evaluation system to rate crowdwork platforms
I agree completely I somewhat agree
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The role of the trade union?
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Unions should develop their own crowdworking platforms
Unions should support crowdworkers in self-organising
Unions should act as a neutral body
Unions should rate CS platforms
Unions should certify CS platforms
Unions should advise crowdworkers
Unions should mediate in conflicts
None
What expectations do you have of trade unions with respect to influencing crowdwork?
IT crowd Creative crowd
Figure 11: Strategies for supporting crowdwork (in per cent)
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Union alliance against Uber
Figures: CADA and TEAMSTERS against Uber, Source: businessinsider.com
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(Click-)worker movements
Figures: Freelancers Union, Turkopticon, Crowdworker App (Mock-up). Source: Al-Ani/ Arxes-Tolina/ Stumpp.
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Conclusion and outlook
From a crowdworkers perspective, platforms today primarily operate as a kind of learning laboratory.
Platforms may increase support functions for crowdworkers. An interplay between crowdworker’s self-organisation and trade
union functions is needed. Adaptations and transformations of unions on the way to
cooperation will be likely.
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Download
Screenshot SSRN, http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2699065
