The nature of work is in flux. Emerging technologies and societal shifts are reshaping work and expert labor. Yet, our understanding of these changes is relying on outdated images of work and workers. This project investigates contemporary work through a comparative ethnographic field study across three domains of work: data, future, and regulation. It analyzes how relational configurations of work, including expertise and technology, constitute what workers do and what do they know. It systematically builds new images and categories of work and workers that resonate the current world of work, incorporates understanding of how work is integrated with emerging technologies, and offers new understandings and tools for workers, technologists, managers, and policymakers to navigate and steer transformative shifts in work.

2024

2028