Month: October 2014

Apologies if you’ve sent me an article to put up in the last week or so—I’m buried in work. There won’t be an HtU next week, thanks to my day job’s demands during Election Day. Don’t forget to vote, and we’ll be back on 11/11 with your full ration of snark & robots.

Organizing Theory

If you use street canvassers, you might have them take a selfie of the person that is saying “yes” on the street, and then send it to them—it paid big dividends for Amnesty International.

Anti-logging activists use GPS to prove that trucks are moving illegal loads of lumber in Brazil.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Can we figure out a way to measure the economic impact of caring in our economy, beyond the dollars that we spend on child & elder care? These researchers say we’ve got to.

It’s like bitcoin, but for co-ops. Spanish worker cooperatives are at the cutting edge of worker-ownership, now they want to be on the cutting edge of digital monetary system design, too.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

Is education technology preparing students for a lifetime of being surveilled, and their data analyzed? And when is the law going to catch up, in order to protect our kids from Big Data?

From Partners

NPR’s Marketplace has opened up a storefront office in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles to interview people about the effects of gentrification. Not in LA and still got a story to tell? Tweet at them, using the hashtag #gentrificationis.

Geeking Out

Need brain surgery? This robot might go in through your cheek…

It’s not just the zippy soundtrack that keeps you glued to video of pre-packaged sandwiches being made. It’s all the time you spend wondering, “Isn’t ANYBODY going to wear gloves??

What’s Going on in the Workforce?

“…why buy a second-best program or app?” How the superstar effect in technology is driving inequality in the tech world and beyond.

h/t to reader Thomas Beckett for pointing out this great piece about Teamster organizing drivers in the gig economy—from shuttles at Facebook, to Uber & Lyft.

Are you a web designer? Meet your AI replacement.

Most women know that emotional labor comes at a cost to us that generally isn’t rewarded through our paycheck. Now, we’ve got goggles that can make us look friendlier. Why not just stop telling me what to do with my face?

Start up culture isn’t just hard on developers who don’t fit in…

What’s Going on in the Workforce?

“This hamburger tastes of victory.” Check out this new documentary about working for minimum wage, in the City of London, and a Justice for Janitors style campaign to get cleaners a living wage.

“…consumers are largely unaware that their online browsing activity could result in their resumes being sifted out of the eligible talent pool.” Great new paper on data-driven hiring, from the Data & Society Research Institute.

If you work with a robot, should it be allowed to hurt you? This is, apparently, a serious question for policy makers.

Bank workers are organizing, and it could actually make your life as a bank customer better. Sarah Jaffe tells you how in this great piece.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

One way that people who’ve achieved journeyperson status in their careers can do to give back is to start mentoring apprentices. If you’re a software developer who wants to mentor future coders, AND cares about helping create more diversity in tech—why not spend 3 months in Nigeria with Andela?

Thinking about creating a policy in your community to promote community wealth through an anchor institution strategy? Read this.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

India has begun tracking bureaucrats through retina scans, to make sure they’re really at work.

For 30 years, employers have been pushing their employees to get into wellness plans. Now, some employers are asking people to use wearable devices to track their exercise and health risks—but who owns that data? and what might they do with it?

Organizing Theory

Want to change a voter’s mind about a controversial social issue? Try sending someone to the door to talk about their own experience with it.

Geeking Out

If you want to read a serious article about robotic design theory that also manages to reference every robot in pop culture in about the last 40 years, you’ve come to the right place.

What’s Going on in the Workforce?

“Any tool is a weapon if you hold it right.” Are you using the tools of your trade to make a point in your protests?

Working children in Bolivia can be as young as 10, and are organizing a union. A key demand? Time off for homework.

“…many women don’t want to sign up to be an outlier. To be the first or only woman in the room is to be notice for your gender as much as for your work..” How Etsy is working to make sure that they break outside the mold of hiring only young white guys in hoodies.

One in three jobs will be taken by software or robots by 2025? Better get back to school…

Reputation, reputation, reputation

The Dubai police will pair Google Glass with facial recognition software. I can’t imagine how that might possibly go wrong…

Organizing Theory

Greenpeace is evolving their street canvassing model—from one that exclusively approaches people for fundraising, to one that doesn’t ask for money at all. Find out why, here.

Do you think the public sector has “huge, juicy problems to be solved?” Might be time to get your regulatory hacking on.

Organizers from last month’s People’s Climate March built a network-centric website, to allow people to self-organize as they built for massive turnout at the March.

From Partners

“This letter did not reach you by post, because mailing a letter like this all over the country costs over 2 million Euros. Ask the parties who sent you an election letter by post where they got the money to do so and in exchange for what.” Whoa. How Spain’s Podemos party is building relationships with voters, one at a time.

Geeking Out

Wearables, schmearables. With technology that feels like skin, why not give in and just become a cyborg?

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

The sharing economy is “like handing everybody earplugs to deal with intolerable street noise, instead of doing something about the noise itself.” Oh Evgeny Morozov, don’t ever change…

How can independent coffee shops get the benefits of being in a global chain like Starbucks, without sacrificing independence and uniqueness? Cups wants to give them a leg up.

What’s Going on in the Workforce?The question of how to make sure that workers profit from their labor is one that’s consumed better organizers than me, for centuries. Here are two articles I came across on the same day about different approaches. One’s more of an old-economy model—retail workers in Maine create the 2nd largest worker-owned coop in New England. And on the new economy front—Yishan Wong is trying to figure out how to give stock to Reddit’s users—who have contributed to building value for “the front page of the Internet.” In other workforce trends (well, maybe trends is too hopeful a word)—which would you rather have—a mandatory (paid) two-week vacation, before you start a new job  or unlimited paid time off? Organizing Theory The Centro de los Derechos del Migrante has launched an app to allow migrant workers & day laborers to rate recruitment agencies and employers. H/t to reader Nadia Hewka for sending that one in. “We’re not doing civic technology right if we are not stepping out of our own contexts and into the contexts of the communities that we work for.” Laurenellen McCann lays it down for civic hackers. Pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong have been using online platforms to get their message out—but also, to keep the public informed about the needs of protestors. From Partners Story of Stuff wants to figure out what kind of activist you are—using this simple quiz.  (Note—I’m a Resister—did anyone need a quiz to know this, though?) Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability At the end of a long growing cycle, maybe you’re tired of all those tomatoes. Why not organize a crop swap in your town or neighborhood? Final Thoughts