Sammendrag
Crowdwork platforms, such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, have had their economic development potential stressed, with workers in the Global South and individuals traditionally excluded from the labor market, such as refugees, targeted for participation. Yet, one aspect that has not received sufficient attention in the debate about the inclusivity of crowdwork is differential usage of devices and access to digital infrastructure. In particular, the role of mobile devices and mobile connectivity in crowdwork is understudied, a particular oversight given the increasing prevalence of mobile-first and mobile-only populations. Drawing on discussions surrounding the mobile underclass and based on a survey of 606 crowd workers in the United States and India, we explore through quantitative and qualitative data whether reliance on mobile devices is detrimental for both the work experience and the economic outcomes of crowdwork. Our results point to substantial inequalities in device use and benefits from crowdwork, both within each country and between the two contexts. We find a negative effect of smartphone use on the financial outcomes of crowdwork in the US, while in both countries mobile-only users seem practically excluded from this type of work. Mobile-first users also face considerable barriers, as mobile crowdwork on Amazon Mechanical Turk comes with huge functional barriers and is discouraged by many requesters. Moreover, the need to invest in infrastructure could increase the inequalities within the workforce.
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