Pradyumna Taduri; Janaki Srinivasan, International Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore
virPrague 20: Big Data, Information Sciences, Technosphere
This session will use an interactive simulation to present research findings based on a 2019-2020 study of the experiences of platform workers (Fairwork India 2019; Taduri 2019) and allows users to comprehend first hand, life as a worker in platform capitalism. Through the simulation, users will enter the gritty world of a delivery rider in the most congested city in the world, Bangalore, India. They must help the rider navigate life in the gig lane by experiencing a text-based simulation about working delivery jobs in the platform economy. Ordering food or other commodities on-demand provides customers with an interface to track, command workers through a videogame-like interface. Some customer-facing applications also give rating information and ‘facts’ about the assigned partner. Nevertheless, these applications obfuscate the humans in the loop. The format of academic or media articles that detail platform work, meanwhile, limits how readers engage with the processes that make up this work. Placing an order on the application sets in motion a chain of events that brings many lives together. This simulation will allow users to better understand that series of events as they happen. The simulation also allows consumers and other stakeholders to better experience the uncertainty and variety in gig work.