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Not Just A Dot on The Map: Food Delivery Workers as Infrastructure
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences.
University of Michigan, USA.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Computer and Systems Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9100-3826
Number of Authors: 42024 (English)In: CHI '24: Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems / [ed] Florian Floyd Mueller; Penny Kyburz; Julie R. Williamson; Corina Sas; Max L. Wilson; Phoebe Toups Dugas; Irina Shklovski, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) , 2024, article id 385Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Food delivery platforms are location-based services that rely on minimal, quantifiable data points, such as GPS location, to represent and manage labor. Drawing upon an ethnographic study of food delivery work in India during the COVID-19 pandemic, we illustrate the challenges gig workers face when working with a platform that uses their (phone’s) GPS location to monitor and control their movement. Further, we describe how these, along with the platform’s opaque, location-based logics, shape the delivery workflow. We also document how the platform selectively represented workers’ bodies during the pandemic to portray them as safe and sterile, describing workers’ tactics in responding to issues arising from asymmetric platform policies. In discussion, we consider what we can learn from understanding gig workers as ‘infrastructure’, commonly overlooked but visible upon breakdown. We conclude by reflecting on how we might center gig workers’ well-being and bodily needs in design.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) , 2024. article id 385
Keywords [en]
gig work, infrastructure, location, location-based HCI, algorithmic management, food delivery, COVID-19, worker-centered design
National Category
Human Computer Interaction
Research subject
Computer and Systems Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-232982DOI: 10.1145/3613904.3641918Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85194891178ISBN: 9798400703300 (electronic)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-232982DiVA, id: diva2:1893542
Conference
CHI '24: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 11-16 May, 2024, Honolulu, USA.
Available from: 2024-08-29 Created: 2024-08-29 Last updated: 2025-01-11Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. The Work Practice of Platform-Mediated Food Delivery: An Ethnographic Study of Bridging Algorithmic Workflows and Situated Action
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The Work Practice of Platform-Mediated Food Delivery: An Ethnographic Study of Bridging Algorithmic Workflows and Situated Action
2025 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

The thesis examines the work practice of platform-mediated food delivery. Combining ethnographic studies in India and Sweden, it highlights the friction between the platform’s representation of work and the ground realities shaping workers’ situated actions, including their economic concerns. The thesis contributes to the fields of Human-Computer Interaction and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, with an emphasis on worker-centered design and the critical role of human labor in gig work.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, 2025. p. 117
Series
Report Series / Department of Computer & Systems Sciences, ISSN 1101-8526 ; 25-002
Keywords
gig work, algorithmic management, workflow, piecework, bodywork, food delivery, COVID-19, worker-centered design
National Category
Human Computer Interaction
Research subject
Information Society
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-237767 (URN)978-91-8107-076-7 (ISBN)978-91-8107-077-4 (ISBN)
Public defence
2025-02-28, Lilla Hörsalen, NOD-huset, Borgarfjordsgatan 12, Kista, 14:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2025-02-05 Created: 2025-01-11 Last updated: 2025-01-30Bibliographically approved

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Shaikh, Riyaj IsamiyaBrown, BarryLampinen, Airi

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