What’s Going On in the Workforce?
“Suppose we found that the only way to guarantee full employment is to institute a 10 hour work week.” Robots are coming, people. It’s just a question of when…and how we decide to react. They say that the best jobs of the future will be those that combine machine creativity with human ingenuity. IBM’s super computer, Watson, is going to be a key player. Even if you’re a chef. Would a universal basic income create freedom from jobs? And why do people think that’s a bad thing?
Ever wonder how worker-owned coops decide what to pay their CEOs? Here’s a good analysis on that topic by Ed Mayo.
An excellent post from Fast Company about efforts by musicians to remind producers that synthesizers are not the same as people playing real instruments.
Fascinating look at the business of being a cartoonist in this post by Grigory Kogan about how he’s building a tool for cartoonists to use, in order to maximize their cartoons’ earning potential. Relatedly, how do you prevent piracy on the internet, if you run one of the world’s largest sources for digital photos? Maybe you just don’t. Getty’s decision to give away 35 million photos in exchange for link backs is good news for the rest of us, maybe not so good for the photographers who created the work.
Amazing reporting by Vice & ProPublica about temp work in the US—here’s part 1 (of 5)
Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability
New companies have been launched to help AirBnb hosts manage their properties. I’ve gotta say, there’s a pretty long tradition of this kind of thing at the Jersey Shore—are we counting beach houses as part of the sharing economy?
Some interesting points in this post by NYU’s @erinmorgangore on how non-profits could use the sharing economy & its demands, to improve their own efficiency or help low-paid workers do better, economically.
Chokwe Lumumba, mayor of Jackson, MS was a tremendous supporter of co-ops, and his recent passing was a blow to anyone who supports organizing for better economic equality in the South. Join the folks who are supporting his legacy, by making a donation to their Jackson Rising: New Economies conference.
Despite the fact that Mondragon had a bit of a rocky year, there was still a 32% increase in the founding of new worker-owned coops in Spain last year.
Reputation, Reputation, Reputation
So you’re telling me you don’t need more things to be creeped out about, privacy-wise? Best not to read this article about license plate scanners and the databases they feed, then.
If we start living with robots, will we trust them with all our secrets? Or forget to shut them down, when we don’t want those secrets recorded?
From Partners
Swedish union Kommunal made this brilliant ad for International Women’s Day, featuring their union’s president doing the fastest thing a woman can do to get paid like a man…
Organizing Theory
If you’re online, and an activist with a smart phone, you’ve probably committed an act of “crowd-enabled connective action,” even if you didn’t know it was called that. Now, researchers are starting to study it. Good luck with those millions of #ows tweets, folks.
Geeking Out
Wanna figure out how your city can build its own fiber optic network, even if Google never comes calling? We’ve got the hookup. Or case study, if you prefer.
Maybe you’ve never worried about how to get online in the remotest parts of Africa—but these folks at BRCK have, and they’re building a tool to make it easier.
Skynet is real folks. It just took a little longer to get here than we thought.