Labora @ Civic Tech YVR #14 | Culture and the Digital Economy

Labora (https://labora.co/) is aimed at exploring the cultural dimension of the startup economy, particularly in Vancouver. Currently, I am studying how people working in startups maintain employment and mobility within the fluid labour market of the network economy.
Location: Stat Analytics, Vancouver

Transcript

1. CIVIC TECH YVR #14 - 30 OCTOBER 2018 ALBERTO LUSOLI Photo: Co-working in Toronto. July 2018
2. WHY AM I HERE? Photo: Vancouver Startup Week. October 2018
3. From industrial capitalism to the network economy
5. 01 THE VENTURE WORKER
7. 02 NEW FORMS OF SOCIALITY
9. 03 TECHNOLOGY @WORK
10. 03 TECHNOLOGY @WORK 02 NEW FORMS OF SOCIALITY 01 THE VENTURE WORKER
11. WHERE IS MY RESEARCH FIELD? Photo: Coworking space, Vancouver, October 2018
12. MAPPING THE COMMUNITY more viz @ https://labora.co/
13. VANCOUVER STARTUP & TECH EVENTS
14. AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
16. WHO WANTS TO PLAY WITH SOME DATA? Can you think of any new use for this data? How can this data collection tool be more useful to the larger public of startup and tech workers?
17. THE VENTURE WORKER 01 THE VENTURE WORKER Photo: Startup Week Hackathon, Vancouver, 2014
18. ORGANIZATION OF LABOUR IN INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM Division of labour. Taylor, Ford.
19. CONCEPTION - EXECUTION This is a drawing from 1755 Diderot’s encyclopedia. It depicts the operations in a pin factory. Adam Smith used the pin factory as an example of humans’ ability to automate and organize production in an efficient way.
20. HUMAN LABOR Purposive behaviors: the action resulting from planning and execution. As humans, we are able to split the conceptualization of an action from its execution. Human labor can also be creative: it is therefore indeterminate by nature. In practice, the nature of human labour is determined by the social and technical context in which it is executed. Pur ve be or Con t o Exe on In u t ca li As e b li Pre-In u t
21. ALIENATION The loss of identity due to the isolation of people from their work and from the products of their work.
22. HIERARCHY Execution and planning were, in industrial capitalism, functions of two different classes: high level managers plan, workers execute. Pur ve be or Con t o Exe on In u t ca li As e b li Man en Pre-In u t
23. ICT & CONNECTIVITY
24. NEW BUSINESS ETHOS Focused on the individual. Reconnecting work and life. Taking advantage of network effects. Starting small and create scalable business models.
25. FROM HIERARCHIES TO NETWORKS “If a node in the network ceases to perform a useful function it is phased out from the network, and the network rearranges itself – as cells do in biological processes” Manuel Castells
26. CONCEPTION + EXECUTION “When I was with the startup [...] it was very fun. We faced many challenges, but it was exciting. I do not feel the same in my new job. It's more about meeting existing needs. We already have a workforce that has a long list of needs, and our projects are based around meeting those needs, one project at time.” Interviewee #12 Photo: Poster in a coworking space. Vancouver, October 2018
27. NO ROLES, NO PROCEDURES "Yes, I miss being at the beginning, empowered. Acting as one. A rush to do as much as you can." Interviewee #18 “The freelance part, I got into an amazing coworking space, I have done projects that are more visually interesting, I have been happier on a day to day basis. I have been able to develop my own idea. It took a lot if time. I am working less, doing similar money, maybe a little less. And it's less structured, but I was able to find my structure.” Interviewee #2 Photo: Coworking space. Vancouver, October 2018
28. OLD/NEW FORMS OF ALIENATION “You lose health benefits. I tried to use as much benefit as I could before I left.” Interviewee #2 “There used to be a time when employer used to educate you and help you with your skills. We are seeing this hollowing out, turning citizens into individual units. And I have great concerns that we are allowing this to happen.” Interviewee #3
29. 02 Photo: Startup Week, Vancouver, October 2018 NEW FORMS OF SOCIALITY
30. Expand their networks. Hunt for new jobs. Almost all Meetups have planned networking sessions. Some are just for networking. CONNECTIONS In many cases, people attend meetups as a way to start projects (AKA side hustles). EXPERIENCE Some meetup groups provide education, through peer to peer lectures and seminars. EDUCATION
31. Expand their networks. Hunt for new jobs. Almost all Meetups have planned networking sessions. Some are just for networking. CONNECTIONS “A casual event for project managers and creatives in town. The event was hosted at [COMPANY NAME], a digital marketing agency. No one really knew each other. It was the first time attending an event organized by [ORGANIZATION NAME] for many participants. [...] Several young creatives looking for a job. A more experienced UK immigrant also looking for a job as project manager. A youtuber, who I want to interview in 2018, and numerous web designers, marketers, SEO, social media managers. […] Free beer, free cookies, pizza. approx.35 people in the room.” Personal Diary, December 2017
32. In many cases, people attend meetups as a way to start projects (AKA side hustles). EXPERIENCE “It's all about experience, and that's the reason why I want to extend my portfolio. […] I have to build a portfolio. If you look at other professionals' portfolio, you see they showcase all their projects and companies they worked with. And even if the projects were like "1 week project". But the credibility is there. Unfortunately that's how it works. If it did not work that way, I would not even bother. “ Interviewee #12
33. Some meetup groups provide education, through peer to peer lectures and seminars. EDUCATION “I think you have to be self motivated to find these events. They are not coherent set of events, you need to be a self-directed learner, to say "I have to go there" and find the gaps and gather resources.” Interviewee #2
34. MEETUPS AS OCCUPATIONAL COMMUNITIES “Occupational Communities” usually emerge through informal meetings between • coworkers; • people in the same industry; • people with overlapping competences. In the past, they were effective in socializing and overcoming the problems people faced in their job. Might the same role be played by Meetups today?
35. AVERAGE WEEK IN VANCOUVER
36. I NEED YOUR HELP! 2 ways to contribute to the project: I’d like to collect your thoughts and experiences into my research. Interviews last 30 minutes to 1 hour. INTERVIEW Develop new applications based on Meetup data. USE PUBLIC DATA get in touch: LABORA.CO/HELLO
37. get in touch: LABORA.CO/HELLO Alberto Lusoli alusoli@sfu.ca @albertolusoli THANK YOU Thanks to all photographers who released their work in the public domain using Creative Common: Pexel photo: [1], [2], [3] Diderot Encyclopedie, Epinglier