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thesarahkay's review against another edition
DNF. Attended an interesting lecture by the author at SXSW, but the book wasn’t as interesting as her talk.
obnorthrup's review against another edition
3.0
I read this for work and found the portions based on the authors' direct interviews with people who do annotation work quite valuable. I was a bit disappointed in the recommendations and conclusions, which were not especially bold and didn't fulfill the promise of the book's subtitle. Still, recommended reading for folks in tech, especially those involved in data collection.
gavmor's review against another edition
4.0
Although a crucial exploration of a) human effort behind the lie of "automation", and b) special, alienating conditions of that work, the authors optimistically falls short of condemning the economic forces which continuously arrive at these conditions, and too often praises inadequate perks, such as "flexibility" which, while vital to some, hardly compensate for the generally explorative nature of ghost work.
Still, their coining of this term is invaluable. Amusingly, they use "ghost" in two other ways within the work: 1) "ghosting" on an job, by leaving without notice, and 2) ...
Still, their coining of this term is invaluable. Amusingly, they use "ghost" in two other ways within the work: 1) "ghosting" on an job, by leaving without notice, and 2) ...
ptaradactyl's review against another edition
4.0
A balanced and insightful look at the people behind the screen and participating in the on-demand gig economy.
leaton01's review against another edition
4.0
Exploring life at what is referred to as "automation's last mile", Gray and Suri discuss the human cost to supposedly seamless technology. Their study is fascinating because while it highlights the many problems that the gig economy and invisible labor represent, they also identify that despite this very precarious work, some individuals who do it find meaningful ways of engaging in. However, the cruz of their discussion exposes the ways in which companies have made huge efforts to externalize nearly every aspect of costs to people they can pay but not consider employees and have utterly no responsibility to them (including giving useful feedback or even paying them properly). What I appreciate about Gray and Suri's work is that they don't just focus on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, the most evident example for these practices but also shows the platform Microsoft has created and also more equitable platforms like Amara. By show these different platforms, the author emphasize that there is the possibility to do create structures that are more humane and dignified. Still, their study brings readers into contact with people around the world attempting to sew together income by having to be constantly "on" and monitoring for the next job while also leveraging their self-created networks to maximize opportunities. At its core, the book elevates the creativity and determination of people, throughout the world, dire to find work to achieve a reasonable income in contrast to an increasing alienated work environment that big and small companies are embracing.
fiendfull's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting look into some of the realities of doing ghost work and consideration of how that kind of work might be necessary, but lacks analysis and proper discussion of it as a political and social issue, focusing more on making ghost work seem a bit "nicer".