Hi everyone!
I'm Ciaran Cummins and I'm a researcher at the think-tank Demos. We're really grateful to be a new Grant for the Web grantee and excited to make a start on our project. It seeks to understand through deliberative workshops, what those on low or no pay from online work in the UK think is a fair and desirable future for monetised online work.
Core to this is speaking to the right people. So in the spirit of tapping into this fantastic community space, we'd love to hear your thoughts on who should be involved: which kinds of online workers on low or no pay are essential to have in the room to understand how best to shape the future of web monetisation? Importantly too, what's not in scope? An implicit question we'll explore is what, after all, is and isn't work online?
Thanks in advance and can't wait to speak more with you all!
Oldest comments (2)
Hi Ciaran!
One group we've specifically targeted through our own project are people in the Fitness industry. Gym owners, personal trainers, group class teachers, coaches, etc who were obviously hit hard by lockdowns and the pandemic and have had to scramble to take their previously in-person work online.
These people tend to have a lot of knowledge, have studied a lot and can create really valuable content - that they may end up giving away for free on social media in order to attract online clients. Many have resorted to trying to build up a huge audience in the hopes for brand deals for products that hopefully align their business (which means they have to broker deals, create specific content, chase invoices, etc).
Defining what is or isn't work online is a tough question... I'd say it's anything that provides value to others.
Hope that helps! Happy to chat further if you need.
Thanks @gfam !