BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Behind the app: perspectives on fairness and sustainability from t
 he gig economy - Adrian Friday (Lancaster University)
DTSTART:20210208T160000Z
DTEND:20210208T170000Z
UID:TALK154555@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lorena Qendro
DESCRIPTION:*Abstract:* The digital economy (e.g. online shopping) is grow
 ing rapidly - already £50bn in 2016 - this has been especially true durin
 g COVID\, with a growth of online retail of over 30% this year alone.  Wit
 h new `try before you by' clothing services such as ASOS and Amazon Prime 
 Wardrobe\, where any number of clothing items can be ordered for home deli
 very\, and returned 'for free'\, the true environmental costs and impacts 
 on workers are entirely hidden from the consumer. These services have hera
 lded the growth of the platform economy\, where an army of gig workers com
 pete for highly variable rewards\, and bear many of the infrastructure cos
 ts that once would've once belonged to an employer. In the flipgig project
 \, we are looking at the role of digital services in this growing workplac
 e and how these can be better designed to empower couriers to fight unfair
 ness\, challenge unfair models and algorithms in platform courier work\, a
 nd develop new models that put fairness and sustainability at the core.  I
 n this talk we report on our fieldwork and give a voice to gig economy wor
 kers\, identifying multiple forms of systemic and unintentional bias arisi
 ng from being 'behind the app'.\n\n*Bio:* Adrian Friday is Professor of Co
 mputing and Sustainability at Lancaster University. A Ubicomp pioneer\, he
  has over 25 years’ experience developing\, deploying and studying digit
 al infrastructures embedded in everyday environments.  His interdisciplina
 ry projects focus on understanding how digital systems impact energy and c
 arbon externality\, including: energy use in the home (EP/I00033X/1)\; the
 rmal comfort with less energy\; sustainable food choice (EP/K012738/1)\; s
 ustainable transport infrastructure (EP/K012614/1)\, sustainable last-mile
  logistics (EP/N02222X/1\; EP/S027726/1)\; and mining fine-grained industr
 ial energy data (EP/T025964/1) using statistical and ML techniques.  He is
  an advisor to the leading Ubicomp journal\, IMWUT\; and a member of the R
 oyal Society ``Digital Technology and the Planet'' working group responsib
 le for advising on policy for ICT toward sustainable digital society.
LOCATION:Virtual (see abstract for Zoom link)
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR