1. Gig and Project Based Work Distributed Scientific Work
Studying Emerging Work: Co-Working; Digital Nomadism; Using Scholarly Infrastructure
Steve Sawyer, Sarika Sharma, JP Rancy, Emma Allen, Anjelica Torcivia, Alaina Caruso
School of Information Studies, Syracuse University Syracuse, NY;
We focus on changes in work and working arrangements, looking at what the “second generation of computerization” means for work. ‘Second generation’ computerization builds from our reliance on computing and digital information (from first generation of computerization). Workers and employers are exploring new forms of collaboration and interaction that are only possible with digital mediation.
Two specific contributions we pursue:
Conceptualizing the technological arrangements embedded into work (using concepts of infrastructure and sociotechnical perspectives) and
Theorizing the ways in which contemporary work is changing.
Steve Sawyer, Professor
Sarika Sharma, Doctoral Candidate
JP Rancy, Doctoral Student
Emma Allen, Post-baccalaureate Research Fellow
Anjelica Torcivia, Post-baccalaureate Research Fellow
Alaina Caruso, Undergraduate Research Fellow
FIND picture
Nomadic Work
Gig and Project Based Work
Infrastructure
Building on 15+ years studying workers who move around as a part of their work, whether it be a predictable route, or if it is driven by gigs/projects, we’ve identified two commonalities across these workers – independent of these worker’s particular professional expertise
Digital assemblages (see 1)
Infrastructural competence (see 2)
This work done with colleagues Ingrid Erickson, Mohammad Jarrahi, Rolf Wigand and Kevin Crowston
We are interested in what skills gig-workers need to succeed.
We know work is increasingly being broken into smaller pieces, and made distinct from employment.
And, of late, we are focusing on who has access to gigs and project-based work, as the many workplace protections for gender, race, ethnicity, and hiring practices are not in place for gig work.
We are doing this field work right now. Results are pretty clear: people from under-represented populations have very little access to high-paying project-based work.
Infrastructures are enduring arrangements, reliant on standards, rely on complex governance structured, and are designed for the long term.
These are sociotechnical entities (see 3 and 4).
Platforms dominate work, but differ from infrastructure in that they tend to be owned by a company and pursue specific corporate goals.
Data Work
Focusing on organizing for science data sharing and reuse organizations
Initial findings:
Multiple paths to becoming a data organization (grass- roots, professional society, publishers, libraries, government)
Wide variance in data use policies, and data services provided, even in same intellectual community
Three dominant infrastructure models.
Distributed Scientific Work
Looking at distributed scientific collaboration practices
Distributed collaboration is common and often successful.
It is also deadline-driven, with minimal attention to processes and documenting. This means it is messy, characterized by poor version control, too many files, routines changes.
This work done with colleagues Carsten Oesterlund and Matt Willis.
The material based on the work supported by NSG grants:
SBE  "Access to the Gig Economy: Infrastructural Competence and the Participation of Underrepresented Populations"
IIS  "Governance of Scholarly Digital Infrastructures”  
ACI   "VOSS: Documents and the Doing of Science”
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Works Cited
The pull together personalized “digital assemblages” in productive ways (see Sawyer, S, Wigand, R. and Crowston, K. (2014) “Digital Assemblages: Evidence and Theorizing from a Study of Residential Real Estate,” New Technology, Work, and Employment, 29(1), DOI:
They develop ‘infrastructural competence” that allows them to move across material and digital borders while being productive (see Erickson, I, Sawyer, S., Jarrahi, M. H. (2018). Infrastructural Competence. In D. Ribes and J. Vertesi (Eds). Digital STS Handbook. University of Chicago Press, Princeton, NJ, in press
See: Sawyer, S. and Hartswood, M (2014) “Advancing Social Informatics,” in Rosenbaum, H. and Fichman, P. (Eds.) Social Informatics: Past, Present and Future, Cambridge Scholarly Publications, Cambridge, UK
Sawyer, S. and Jarrahi, M. (2014) “The Sociotechnical Perspective,” in Tucker, A. and Topi, H. (Ed), , Computing Handbook: Information Systems and Information Technology, 3rd edition, Chapman and Hall, New York.