Events Archive

A first-stage content analysis of the degree to which the concept of ‘digital labour' appears in current library and information studies (LIS) education language indicates that LIS education language appears to treat digital labour reductively; it fails to account for the labour conditions that frame the work. Several trends emerge suggesting that a potential, yet unborn, paradigm in LIS education negates the basic notion of digital labour movement. Recommendations include research into the potential value of teaching and learning about the theory and practice of digital labour, a more sufficient and sophisticated approach to digital labour within LIS education in foundations courses, and a proposed set of possible advanced topics for teaching and learning in LIS education. This work was supported by GRAND funding as part of a larger-scale national collaborative project titled Digital Labour (DIGILAB) Authors Institutions and the New Media. 

This public talk relates the particular findings of GRAND researcher Toni Samek and her co-author Anthony Worman, now documented in a forthcoming publication titled “Digital labour shortage: A new divide in library and information studies education?” (Click here to read the full report).