As more people have started working from home, surveillance in the remote workplace has intensified. Companies are finding new ways to monitor their employees through webcams, screen capturing, audio recording and more. Employee monitoring software is flourishing. The privacy and mental wellbeing of remote workers are at risk. In this workshop designed by artist Carrie Sijia Wang, participants will work together in small groups to find creative ways for remote workers to reclaim some privacy and autonomy under the circumstances. Participants are encouraged to join the workshop from a laptop or desktop computer if possible. Prior to the workshop, it would be great to glance through the "Pre-Workshop Resources" and "Workshop Details" on: https://carriesijiawang.com/anti-surveillance-toolkit
The session will help to further my research and art practice around “the Future of Work.” My plan is for the proposed session to be a pilot project for a series of workshops focusing on different aspects of the future of work. While the proposed workshop is about surveillance, the other prospective workshops will be looking at issues like censorship, algorithmic bias and gamified systems in the workplace.
The prototypes shared at the end of the workshop will be collected and live online as part of an “Anti-Surveillance Toolkit for the Remote Worker.” After running the other workshops in the series, the webpage will expand into a “Toolkit for the Future of Work.” I am also hoping to develop the page into a platform where people can discuss the healthy use of technology in the workplace.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:I will use parallel breakout rooms for at least half of the session to accommodate varying numbers of participants.
If there are more participants, I will make sure to manage their time well during introductions and the sharing of prototypes at the end so they can have enough time in the breakout rooms to discuss and work on their prototypes.
If there is a smaller group of participants, I will be a bit more generous about time during introductions and prototype sharing. The time saved in these two parts will be added to the breakout room sessions, so the participants can have more time to work with one another.
Carrie Sijia Wang is a Chinese-born, New York-based artist and designer who uses coding, video editing, graphic design and live performance to create meaningful interactive experiences.
