While recent years have seen a surge in research and coverage around the platform economy, it is crucial to remember that important stories from this domain still persist in obscurity. Indeed, one of the major blindspots of this popular attention has been the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which remains significantly understudied. The political volatility and multiple conflict zones therein partly account for this oversight. However, it is precisely this complex and difficult context that brings into focus the dynamics of platformization that remain invisible in other parts of the world. This podcast aims to close this gap and bring to light important stories from the ground.
The EcoMinassat podcast series is a collaboration between the Digitally Yours podcast, IT for Change, and Bot Populi. Through this three-episode series, we delve into the dynamic landscape of digital platforms and their impact on various aspects of work and livelihoods in MENA.
Hosted by: Yosr Jouini
Acknowledgement: This podcast has been produced as part of IT for Change’s Big Tech & Society Media Fellowship 2022.
Platform Predicament – Making Sense of a Datafied Future of Work is a podcast series produced by IT for Change and supported by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, India Office and the Fair Green Global alliance.
This podcast series aired from December 12th to December 19th, 2022. You can listen to all episodes of this series below, or on your choice of platform here.
You can also check out this blog post that synthesizes key themes emerging from this podcast.
About the Series:
The largest businesses of the world today are set up on the platform model. It is often said that the modern-day capitalist does not own the means of production, but the means of “connection”. It’s worth noting that since 2010, there has been a five-fold rise globally in the number of such digital labor platforms that facilitate online work. The Global South has a large part of this share.
These platform companies are the new, invisible bosses in this datafied world of work, relying heavily on the network effects of data, and algorithmic management tools, to capture vast markets in their respective sectors. While the innovation such platforms have brought in is admirable, it brings with it many important implications for labor law, workers’ data rights, data governance, and corporate governance.
Join us on this podcast, as we speak to our expert guests viz., labor economy researchers, workers’ representatives, platform workers, and platform founders, to understand the origins of platform-based work, how “gig work” intersects with it, what this means for the employment question right now as well as in the coming years. In this series, we also look at the power that data holds in this work model and who holds power over it, what issues of labor rights and data rights of workers emerge, and also what alternative models of platform-based work are coming up in different parts of the world to counter some of the criticisms of the current platform model.
Hosted by: Sonakshi Agarwal
Concept and Research: Anita Gurumurthy, Nandini Chami, Sonakshi Agarwal, Satyavrat KK, Deepti Bharthur, Sreyan Chatterjee
Editing and post-production: Sonakshi Agarwal, Nikhil Dinakurthi, Rahul Das
Artwork: Mansi Thakkar, Nikhil Dinakurthi
Supported by: Yameena Zaidi, Iznallah
Acknowledgements: This podcast is supported by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, India Office and the Fair Green Global alliance.
Our podcast series, Feminist Digital Futures, aired from March 8 to April 5, 2021. Listen to all 9 episodes below. You can also engage with our reflections from the series here.
The first set of conversations in this series explores feminist imaginations of social media with scholars, activists and leaders from the Global South. How does the intersectionality of gender identities affect the way we experience social media? What does feminist social media look like? What changes in platform governance and alternative techno-design can help us realize feminist visions of social media?
Join us as we discuss all these questions and more with our guests. Featuring Cai Yiping, Chenai Chair, Erika Smith, Ledys Sanjuan Mejia, Mariana Valente, Marwa Azelmat, Maya Indira Ganesh, Naomi Fontanos and Sohini Bhattacharya.
Listen on Internet Archive, SoundCloud, Spotify or Google Podcasts.
Hosted by: Tanvi Kanchan
Research and conceptualization: Nandini Chami & Tanvi Kanchan
Post-production: Tanvi Kanchan
Podcast artwork by: Harmeet Rahal
Acknowledgements
This podcast series has been produced as part of the Feminist Digital Justice project, a joint policy research and advocacy initiative of IT for Change and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN). The series is co-supported by the World Wide Web Foundation.
Listen to all four episodes of The Davos Diaries, the first miniseries on the Bot Populi podcast. Our guests take on the corporate capture of global governance, examine the role of Big Tech in this space, and present ways for civil society to challenge and counter this takeover.
Featuring Barbara Adams, Chee Yoke Ling, Harris Gleckman, Jim Thomas, Parminder Jeet Singh, Renata Avila and Roberto Bissio.
Hosted by: Tanvi Kanchan
Research team: Deepti Bharthur, Amay Korjan & Tanvi Kanchan
Post-production: Tanvi Kanchan, Amay Korjan & Sneha Bhagwat