Tech and Labor

Tech and Labor

Tools and research for gig workers, labor organizers, and those affected by algorithmic management.

What We're Working On

project

Tools for Crowdsourcing Platform Data

ongoing

We are building new crowdsourcing tools that will allow users of platforms, ranging from Instagram to TikTok to Doordash, donate data to researchers and advocates with minimal effort.

Started: 2025-08-01
Dana Calacci
Clayton Colson
VR
AG
SD
project

The Workers Algorithm Observatory (WAO) is a inter-institutional collaboration focused on developing tools and doing research to support labor organizing and advocacy in the algorithmic age.

Started: 2023-06-01
Dana Calacci
SD
VR

Publications

CSCW forthcoming

Organizing in the Digital Age: Understanding Community, Challenges, and Consequences in Digitally Facilitated Labor Organizing

Frederick Reiber, Alishah Chator, D Calacci, Allison McDonald

ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work

CHI forthcoming

Surveillance, Spacing, Screaming and Scabbing: How Digital Technology Facilitates Union Busting

Frederick Reiber, Nathan Kim, Allison McDonald, D Calacci

ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

COMPASS

Analyzing Movement and Work Patterns of Fragmented and Dispersed Home Care Workers using Multimodal Data

Hawi Humnessa Tolera, D Calacci, Joy Ming

Proceedings of the ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies

NAACL

QuaLLM: An LLM based Framework to Extract Quantitative Insights from Online Forums

Varun Rao, Eesha Agarwal, Samantha Dalal, D Calacci, Andrés Monroy-Hernandez

Proceedings of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics

CSCW

Rideshare Transparency: Translating Gig Worker Insights on AI Platform Design to Policy

Varun Rao, Samantha Dalal, Eesha Agarwal, D Calacci, Andrés Monroy-Hernandez

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

IEEE Spectrum

The Gig Workers Who Fought an Algorithm: When Their Pay Suddenly Dropped, Shipt's Delivery Drivers Dug into the Data

D Calacci

IEEE Spectrum

Interactions

Building Dreams Beyond Labor: Worker Autonomy in the Age of AI

D Calacci

ACM Interactions

ELLJ

From Access to Understanding: Collective Data Governance for Workers

D Calacci, Jake Stein

European Labour Law Journal

Updates

talk

Organized salon on Algorithmic Wage Discrimination at Data & Society

Dana organized a salon on algorithmic wage discrimination as part of the Data & Society Public Tech Leadership Collaborative Salon Series.

People:
Dana Calacci
talk

Talk at Conference on Sustainable Work, Stockholm: Data Infrastructures to Turn Workplace Rights into Access

Dana spoke at the Conference on Sustainable Work in Stockholm about building data infrastructures that translate workplace rights into tangible access for workers.

People:
Dana Calacci
talk

Guest lecture at CUNY School of Public Health: How Algorithms Short-Circuit Occupational Health

Dana gave a guest lecture on how algorithmic management systems undermine occupational health research and worker engagement approaches.

People:
Dana Calacci
talk

Invited talk at Google DeepMind: Algorithms as Labor Conditions

Dana presented on automation, management, and activism in the AI workplace at Google DeepMind's research talk series.

People:
Dana Calacci
media

IEEE Spectrum: The Gig Workers Who Fought an Algorithm

Dana wrote for IEEE Spectrum about how Shipt delivery drivers organized a community-led data audit when their pay suddenly dropped due to an algorithmic change.

People:
Dana Calacci
report

Awarded Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Pioneering Ideas grant

Received a $250,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for 'Empowering Delivery Gig Workers with Data and Insights to Improve Health.'

People:
Dana Calacci

People

person

Dana Calacci

she / her

Director

Asst. Professor, Penn State IST

🔗 Website
person
SD

Samantha Dalal

she / her

Affiliate

Postdoctoral Fellow, Princeton University CITP

person
VR

Varun Rao

he / him

Affiliate

PhD Candidate, Princeton University CITP

person

Freddy Reiber

he / him

PhD Student

Boston University

🔗 Website
person

Clayton Colson

he / him

Research Engineer

Penn State ICDS

person
AG

Ananya Gollakota

she / her

Undergraduate Researcher

Penn State IST