Uber Effort: The Production of Worker Consent in Online Ride Sharing Platforms

The rise of the online gig economy alters ways of working. Mediated by algorithmically programmed mobile apps, platforms such as Uber and Lyft allow workers to work by driving and completing rides at any time or in any place that the drivers choose. This hybrid form of labor in an online gig economy which combines independent contract work with computer-mediated work differs from traditional manufacturing jobs in both its production activity and production relations. Through nine interviews with Lyft/Uber drivers, I found that workers’ consent, which was first articulated by Michael Burawoy in the context of the manufacturing economy, is still present in the work of the online gig economy in post-industrial capitalism. Workers willingly engage in the on-demand work not only to earn money but also to play a learning game motivated by the ambiguity of the management system, in which process they earn a sense of self-satisfaction and an illusion of autonomous control. This research points to the important role of technology in shaping contemporary labor process and suggests the potential mechanism which produces workers’ consent in technology-driven workplaces

Crenças e atitudes dos aprendentes universitários chineses de PLE

Com o aumento do interesse pela língua portuguesa na China e o consequente incremento dos cursos de PLE/L2, a investigação sobre as atitudes e crenças de que são portadores estes alunos e o modo como elas podem interferir na aprendizagem é crucial. Este trabalho pretende estudar, justamente, as Atitudes e Crenças preponderantes dos aprendentes universitários chineses de PLE. A partir de um cotejo global dos principais fatores com possível interferência na aprendizagem, realizou-se um inquérito que incide nas opiniões sobre o pensamento sobre língua materna e a língua alvo, o posicionamento da língua materna no mundo (a par do inglês e do português), os modos de aprender, as estratégias preferidas e usadas. O inquérito foi extensivo a aprendentes situados nos quatro momentos canónicos da aprendizagem de um estudante universitário chinês pelo que é suscetível de revelar a possível evolução das crenças ao longo do Curso. Os dados do inquérito, para além de deixarem perceber os valores e atitudes dos aprendentes universitários chineses de forma quantificada e estatisticamente validada, revelam, claramente, uma “cultura de aprender” particular; porém, nem sempre coincidente com os lugares comuns conhecidos sobre este público aprendente. Foi possível também determinar com alguma homogeneidade crenças e atitudes dos alunos universitários chineses. São apresentadas, como corolário, algumas sugestões com interesse para os docentes envolvidos nestes cursos de PLE/L2.With increasing interest in the Portuguese language in China and the consequent increase in PLE / L2 courses, research on the attitudes and beliefs of these students and how they may interfere with learning is crucial. This paper intends to study, precisely, the prevailing Attitudes and Beliefs of the Chinese university students of PLE. Based on a global comparison of the main factors with possible interference in learning, a survey was carried out focusing on the opinions about mother tongue and target language, the positioning of the mother tongue in the world (alongside English and Portuguese), Modes of learning, preferred and used strategies. The survey was extended to learners located in the four canonical moments of the learning of a Chinese university student by what is likely to reveal the possible evolution of beliefs throughout the Course. Survey data, in addition to letting the values and attitudes of Chinese university learners be perceived in quantified and statistically validated form, clearly reveal a particular "culture of learning"; but not always coincident with the common places known about this learning public. It was also possible to determine with some homogeneity the beliefs and attitudes of Chinese university students. As a corollary, some suggestions with interest for the teachers involved in these PLE / L2 courses are presented

How does culture affect the performance in Chinese companies

This study tries to seek and explore the relationship between culture and performance in Chinese business context. Therefore a comparative case study analysis was conducted by selecting Huawei and Alibaba, two top Chinese companies nowadays. Each company will be examined its organizational culture and the impacts of national culture. The result of research shows that strong culture theory by Peters and Waterman can have some reasons, while Barney’ s competitive advantage claim also affects and determines the performance of a company

"It would work for me too": How Online Communities Shape Software Developers' Trust in AI-Powered Code Generation Tools

While revolutionary AI-powered code generation tools have been rising rapidly, we know little about how and how to help software developers form appropriate trust in those AI tools. Through a two-phase formative study, we investigate how online communities shape developers' trust in AI tools and how we can leverage community features to facilitate appropriate user trust. Through interviewing 17 developers, we find that developers collectively make sense of AI tools using the experiences shared by community members and leverage community signals to evaluate AI suggestions. We then surface design opportunities and conduct 11 design probe sessions to explore the design space of using community features to support user trust in AI code generation systems. We synthesize our findings and extend an existing model of user trust in AI technologies with sociotechnical factors. We map out the design considerations for integrating user community into the AI code generation experience

How Do Data Science Workers Communicate Intermediate Results?

Data science workers increasingly collaborate on large-scale projects before communicating insights to a broader audience in the form of visualization. While prior work has modeled how data science teams, oftentimes with distinct roles and work processes, communicate knowledge to outside stakeholders, we have little knowledge of how data science workers communicate intermediately before delivering the final products. In this work, we contribute a nuanced description of the intermediate communication process within data science teams. By analyzing interview data with 8 self-identified data science workers, we characterized the data science intermediate communication process with four factors, including the types of audience, communication goals, shared artifacts, and mode of communication. We also identified overarching challenges in the current communication process. We also discussed design implications that might inform better tools that facilitate intermediate communication within data science teams.Comment: This paper was accepted for presentation as part of the eighth Symposium on Visualization in Data Science (VDS) at ACM KDD 2022 as well as IEEE VIS 2022. http://www.visualdatascience.org/2022/index.htm

"Is Reporting Worth the Sacrifice of Revealing What I Have Sent?": Privacy Considerations When Reporting on End-to-End Encrypted Platforms

User reporting is an essential component of content moderation on many online platforms -- in particular, on end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging platforms where platform operators cannot proactively inspect message contents. However, users' privacy concerns when considering reporting may impede the effectiveness of this strategy in regulating online harassment. In this paper, we conduct interviews with 16 users of E2EE platforms to understand users' mental models of how reporting works and their resultant privacy concerns and considerations surrounding reporting. We find that users expect platforms to store rich longitudinal reporting datasets, recognizing both their promise for better abuse mitigation and the privacy risk that platforms may exploit or fail to protect them. We also find that users have preconceptions about the respective capabilities and risks of moderators at the platform versus community level -- for instance, users trust platform moderators more to not abuse their power but think community moderators have more time to attend to reports. These considerations, along with perceived effectiveness of reporting and how to provide sufficient evidence while maintaining privacy, shape how users decide whether, to whom, and how much to report. We conclude with design implications for a more privacy-preserving reporting system on E2EE messaging platforms.Comment: accepted to SOUPS 202

Direct Amplitude Control for Voice Coil Motor on High Frequency Reciprocating Rig

High-frequency reciprocating rig (HFRR) that utilizes direct drive voice coil motor (VCM) is designed to perform pin-on-flat tribotest such as assessing the lubricity of fuel. In this article, we propose direct amplitude control to maintain the amplitude of high-frequency reciprocating motion of VCM on HFRR subjects to frictional load. First, the mathematical model of HFRR is developed, which takes the effect of frictional load into consideration. Subsequently, direct amplitude control is proposed, which takes the error of amplitude rather than position error as performance index. It consists of an amplitude regulator and an offset compensator. Analysis and simulations of the proposed control method are presented as well. Finally, the proposed control method is deployed to a digital signal processor on an HFRR prototype experimental platform. The experiment results indicate a significant improvement of the performance of VCM-based HFRR in terms of amplitude accuracy in high-frequency band compared with that given by traditional PI control. The results also suggest the instability of PR control in this case