Week 10: Information labor and digital divides

LECTURE ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 04

Apple, Foxconn, and controversy over different meanings of work and the varying conditions for different information workers across the globe.

David Naguib Pellow and Lisa Sun-Hee Park, “The political economy of work and health in silicon valley,” in The Silicon Valley of Dreams: Environmental Injustice, Immigrant Workers, and the High-Tech Global Economy (2002).
Michael Spence, “Information technology and the integration of the global economy,” in The Next Convergence: The Future of Economic Growth in a Multispeed World (2011).

If it's your turn to write a 500-word article critique, you must post this to your section blog before your section meets.
If it's your week to give a speech, prepare and practice! Otherwise, prepare for a possible extemporaneous speech response.
Finish your final draft of paper #2!

First five minutes: QUIZ on reading terms
Two student presentations (#15 and #16) on the readings (and two student extemporaneous responses).
Discuss this week's lecture and required readings.
Turn in printed final version of paper #2.
Discuss your final multimedia project ("skeleton" file for Ignite presentation due on wiki next week)

This weekend you will explore the presence of casualized labor on the Interent -- and in real communities.

Manpower Inc. is the world's largest temporary employment firm: "Manpower's worldwide network of 4,500 offices in 80 countries and territories enables the company to meet the needs of its 400,000 clients per year, including small and medium size enterprises in all industry sectors, as well as the world's largest multinational corporations." Explore their web site a bit to get a sense of what this firm does. (They even have a branch on Second Life ...)
Now go to the US site for Manpower and do a job search in three different areas: (1) Madison, WI; (2) your hometown (or the city closest to your hometown); (2) a town or city you might like to someday live in.
(Hint: Leave the "Keyword(s)" field on the search page empty, but choose a specific state from the drop-down menu, click on a specific town in the "locations" list, and then click the ">" button to move that town into the search box. Finally, click "Search.")
What kind of technology skills do these jobs demand? How many temporary vs. permanent jobs are listed? Do these look like good jobs to you?
Write up a report of your findings, comparing the three places you investigated, for your discussion section blog.
Comment on at least one other student's posting.
You must finish this online activity before next week's lecture.