Seite - 72 - in Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies - Conference Proceedings of the 17th STS Conference Graz 2018

earnings. The easy access to the platforms and a temporary usability effort makes this new market very attractive for specific group of people, such as, students and mothers. Apart from this, the anonymous competition, highly diverse qualified individuals, leads to a "price war”, which is not regulated by an authority or legislation and as a result is equivalent to an undercutting competition (Pongratz & Borman 2017). The platforms are structured in anonymity between platform operators, companies and online workers (Kalkhake 2016, 52). Due to the fact that many forms of gainful employment offer the possibility of being outsourced digitally, it can be assumed that the phenomenon will spread in the future. This also involves aspects of new career opportunities, chances and risks (Kittur & Nickerson 2015, 174). Risks of Working Online Various aspects of the situation in Germany have already been discussed in previous research (Mrass Peter & Leimeister 2017; Ohnemus et al. 2016; Al-Ani & Stumpp 2015). The focus is on technical necessities, economic and employment policy opportunities (Tiemann 2016, 1). Self- determination, better work-life balance, flexibility and the possibility of increasing one's income are just a few examples for this (Leimeister & Zogaj 2014, 212). However, risks of online work should also being discussed, which include the following concrete problems: • Potential refusal of payment without justification by the companies in case of performed work; • Loss of rights of online workers when the completed work is handed over to the platform or company; • Price dumping, as there are no recommended prices or minimum wages; • An information imbalance, as platforms typically provide clients with significantly more information than online workers; • The data protection, which typically favours the companies; • Missing organisations, e.g. committee memberships; • Monotonous work and additional burden to other responsibilities, such as the institu- tionalized workplace; • Ergonomic aspects, such as the display size of the used device and workplace design of online workers (Leimeister & Zogaj 2014, 212; Carstensen 2015, 190; Pongratz & Borman 2017; Peinl, Lothar & Bildat 2017, 13). Laws, ordinances, changes in collective agreements and works agreements in this field are visibly missing (Tiemann 2016, 4). However, target-oriented scientific research is needed to meet the needs of the people working in the platform-based field. The Need for Conducting Scientific Research in the Field of platform-based work Already in 2015, the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Germany stated that there is a need for basic empirical research regarding living conditions, working conditions, remuneration and fairness standards in the area of platform-based services (Bundesministerium für Arbeit und Soziales, Abteilung Grundsatzfragen des Sozialstaats, der Arbeitswelt und der sozi- alen Marktwirtschaft 2015, 66). Even though research is already being undertaken in these topics, it usually focuses on the perspective of employers, such as platform operators, clients of companies or other actors. Examples of research can be found from Mrass, Peters & Leimeister (2017) and Ohnemus et al. (2016). However, little is known about the concrete organization of 72