research-article

Socially Embedded Work: A Study of Wheelchair Users Performing Online Crowd Work in China

Authors:

Patrick C. Shih,

Ning GuAuthors Info & Claims

CSCW '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

Pages 642 - 654

https://doi.org/10.1145/2998181.2998282

Published: 25 February 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) affords new opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in the workforce. However, little research has investigated how people with disabilities access and perform work through ICT. This paper presents a study of how people with disabilities, particularly those who are wheelchair users, perform online crowd work in China. We highlight an online crowd work practice that is highly embedded in social relationships that are developed through ICT over time. We call this socially embedded work to distinguish it from previous studies describing online crowd work as being devoid of social relationships. Our study uncovers the unique developmental dynamics of the online crowd work community self-organized by wheelchair users in China. Findings suggest that an ecosystem that focuses on fostering social relationships among the stakeholders can potentially address the wide range of issues of online crowd work reported in current crowd work literature.

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Index Terms

Socially Embedded Work: A Study of Wheelchair Users Performing Online Crowd Work in China
1. Human-centered computing

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cover image ACM Conferences

CSCW '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

February 2017

2556 pages

ISBN:9781450343350

DOI:10.1145/2998181

General Chairs:
Charlotte P. Lee
University of Washington
,
Steve Poltrock
Retired
,
Program Chairs:
Louise Barkhuus
Stockholm University and Cornell Tech
,
Marcos Borges
Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
,
Wendy Kellogg
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

Copyright © 2017 ACM.

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Published: 25 February 2017

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CSCW '17: Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing

February 25 - March 1, 2017

Oregon, Portland, USA

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CSCW '17 Paper Acceptance Rate 183 of 530 submissions, 35%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 2,235 of 8,521 submissions, 26%

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CSCW '25

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October 18 - 22, 2025

Bergen , Norway

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Cited By

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https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3650950
Mayer AIhl AGrabl SStrunk KFiedler M(2024)A silver lining for the excluded: Exploring experiences that micro‐task crowdsourcing affords workers with impaired work accessInformation Systems Journal10.1111/isj.1251134:6(1838-1870)Online publication date: 3-Mar-2024
https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12511
Yildiz Z(2023)Understanding the Role of Socio-Technical Infrastructures on the Organization of Access for the Mixed-Ability CollaboratorsACM SIGACCESS Accessibility and Computing10.1145/3584732.3584739(1-1)Online publication date: 15-Feb-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3584732.3584739
Strunk KStrich F(2023)Building professional holding environments for crowd work job crafting through online communitiesInformation Systems Journal10.1111/isj.1245133:5(1239-1274)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12451
Yıldız ZSubaşı Ö(2023)An Institutional Perspective: How Gatekeepers on a Higher Education Interact for the Organization of AccessComputer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)10.1007/s10606-023-09471-w32:3(713-744)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2023
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Sannon SCosley D(2022)Toward a More Inclusive Gig Economy: Risks and Opportunities for Workers with DisabilitiesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35557556:CSCW2(1-31)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
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Yildiz Z(2022)Understanding the Role of Socio-Technical Infrastructures on the Organization of Access for the Mixed-Ability CollaboratorsProceedings of the 24th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility10.1145/3517428.3550410(1-6)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2022
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Liang YZou ZZhang PLi DLu TGu N(2022)Team Formation and Task Recommendation for Disabled People in Crowdsourcing Systems2022 IEEE 25th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD)10.1109/CSCWD54268.2022.9776093(1372-1377)Online publication date: 4-May-2022
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You JPark DSong JSuh B(2022)A Labeling Task Design for Supporting Recent Algorithmic Needs2022 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data)10.1109/BigData55660.2022.10020415(2689-2698)Online publication date: 17-Dec-2022
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