Digital livelihoods? The online gig economy and the future of decent refugee work in cities

该项目旨在探索数字媒介劳动力对城市流离失所者提供体面工作和生计的贡献，重点是柏林和贝鲁特。这两个城市都是数字创新的主要中心，最近吸收了大量难民，推动了数字工作计划的增长。这是在全球在线“零工经济”不断增长的背景下出现的，同时越来越多的城市和“互联”流离失所人口：目前全球60%以上的难民生活在城市。这些城市化的难民经济和工作数字化的综合因素要求对在线零工经济与流离失所人口之间的关系进行紧急研究。然而，尽管关于发展背景下数字经济的研究越来越多，但人们对在线零工经济如何重塑流离失所者的工作世界却知之甚少。为了填补这一知识空白，该项目与国际劳工组织（ILO）、牛津互联网研究所（OII）合作，并由爱丁堡大学主办，该项目追求三个研究目标：a)通过在柏林和贝鲁特的实地调查，产生有关难民数字媒介工作生活的经验证据；b)通过对提供数字工作机会和就业培训的选定数字平台的研究获得见解；c)建立民族志与数字社会科学多学科方法相结合的新方法框架，通过培训培养新的研究技能。为了实现这些研究目标，该项目遵循两个首要问题：1)数字媒介劳动如何重塑难民获得体面工作和可持续生计的途径？2)这些转变对管理城市难民经济的权利和政策，以及社会科学中对流离失所的概念化方式有什么影响？这些总体问题由三个实证子问题补充，这些子问题直接对应于研究目标和三个方法维度：a)难民做什么类型的数字媒介工作，他们如何获得这些工作，以及这些工作对他们的社会和经济生活有什么影响？b)数字工作平台如何与流离失所人口的具体情况相关联，与难民工人的实际经历相比，它们会产生什么影响？c)定性人种学研究和数字研究方法的哪些新组合使我们能够掌握数字经济和难民的工作实践如何交叉和重叠？与新研究者补助金的目标一致，该项目在两个层面上追求额外的目标：技能发展和影响。技能发展目标包括：在主办机构完成领导力课程；在牛津互联网研究所（OII）进行为期三个月的访问期间，开发了新的方法和方法；通过与国际劳工组织以及第三部门和私营部门的数字工作机会提供者合作，学习有效的用户参与。知识交流和影响目标包括在主办机构与主要用户召开一次讲习班和一次国际会议；产出高质量的研究成果，包括劳工组织的工作文件，对使用者和学术受益者都有影响；创建一个项目网站，并为政策制定者和平台开发者提供题为“难民公平的零工经济”的简报。在整个项目中，新获得的技能、网络和知识将通过后续的资助申请，促进东道国机构可持续研究能力的建立，并有一个明确的长期目标：在爱丁堡社会与政治科学学院形成一个“数字发展”研究集群。

This project aims to explore the contribution of digitally mediated labour to the provision of decent work and livelihoods among displaced persons in cities, with a focus on Berlin and Beirut. Both these cities are leading hubs for digital innovation and have recently absorbed large numbers of refugees, prompting a growth in digital work initiatives. These emerged against the backdrop of a growing online 'gig economy' around the world amid an increasingly urban and 'connected' displaced population: more than 60 percent of the world's refugees now live in cities.These combined factors of urbanised refugee economies and the digitalisation of work demand urgent research into the relationship between the online gig economy and displaced populations. Yet despite a growing body of research on digital economies in development contexts, it is poorly understood how the online gig economy reshapes the world of work among displaced persons. Aiming to fill this knowledge gap in partnership with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), and hosted by the University of Edinburgh, this project pursues three research objectives:a) Generate empirical evidence about the digitally mediated work lives of refugees through fieldwork in Berlin and Beirut;b) Gain insights through research of selected digital platforms that offer digital work opportunities and employment trainings;c) Establish a new methodological framework that links ethnography with multidisciplinary methods in the social sciences of the digital, and develop new research skills through trainings.In fulfilment of these research objectives, the project follows two overarching questions:1) How does digitally mediated labour reshape refugees' access to decent work and sustainable livelihoods?2) What implications do these transformations have for the rights and policies that govern urban refugee economies, and for the way displacement is conceptualised in the social sciences?These overarching questions are complemented by three empirical sub-questions that correspond directly to the research objectives and three methodological dimensions:a) What types of digitally mediated work do refugees do, how do they get access to it, and what impact does it have on their social and economic lives?b) How do digital work platforms relate to the specific situation of displaced populations, and what impact do they pursue in comparison to the actual experiences of refugee workers?c) What new combinations of qualitative ethnographic research and digital research methods allow us to grasp how digital economies and refugees' working practices intersect and overlap?In line with the New Investigator Grant's aims, the project pursues additional objectives on two levels: skills development and impact.Skills development objectives include completion of a leadership programme at the host institution; the development of new approaches and methods during a three-months visit to the Oxford Internet Institute (OII); and the learning of effective user engagement by collaborating with the ILO and providers of digital work opportunities in the third sector and the private sector. The knowledge exchange and impact objectives include convening a workshop and an international conference with key users at the host institution; production of high-quality research outputs, including an ILO Working Paper, with impact on both users and academic beneficiaries; the creation of a project website and a Briefing for policy makers and platform developers titled 'A Just Gig Economy for Refugees'.The newly gained skills, networks and knowledge throughout this project will facilitate the creation of sustainable research capacity at the host institution through follow-up funding applications with a clear long-term aim in mind: the formation of a research cluster on 'Digital Development' at Edinburgh's School of Social and Political Science.