Labor Tech Research Network

Labor Tech Research Network is an interdisciplinary and transnational group of experts concerned with technology and work. We are scholars, tech workers (broadly conceived), union organizers, policy makers, journalists, non-profit researchers, activists, and more. We started as part of the Center for Social Computing at UC Irvine in 2013, and have recently transitioned to a formal organization with hundreds of members from around the world. The group is committed to sustained reflection on the promise and perils of technological developments, especially as they impact the workplace. With an ethos of collaboration, Labor Tech Research Network aims to mediate debates about technology. The 21st century is witnessing deep public anxieties about the future of work in the wake of such information technologies as machine learning and artificial intelligence. New developments are challenging traditional notions of work, control, automation, and human agency. In view of rapid global communication, it is likely that heated conversations around these issues will spread across political jurisdictions, and gain more complexity given diverse gender, racial, ethnic, and social dynamics, in a multitude of social and cultural spaces. At Labor Tech, we aim to use research as a way to engage in these conversations and address matters of public concern. We bring together scholars from around the world to think and talk about social, political, ethical, legal and policy implications of technological innovation and ways to regulate it.