Page - 68 - in Critical Issues in Science, Technology and Society Studies - Conference Proceedings of the 17th STS Conference Graz 2018

The future of work: Effects of digital platform systems on the workforce from an interdisciplinary perspective SCHÄFER, Katharina (1), RASCHE, Peter (1), WILLE, Matthias (1), THEIS, Sabine (1), BRÖHL, Christina (1), SEINSCH, Tobias (1), BRANDL, Christopher (1), MERTENS, Alexander (1), ZWECK, Axel (2) (1) Institute of Industrial Engineering and Ergonomics, Aachen, Germany (2) Future and Innovation, Institute of Sociology, Aachen, Germany 1. Introduction Digitization is ubiquitous and has influenced the social fabric to a high extent. It is enabled and supported by new socio-technical systems. The output of these systems leads to new innova- tive ideas and more efficient socio-technical implementations. Technological progress also gives rise to new ways of communication. At the same time, digitalization leads to new challenges. Social environments change faster than before due to new technologies (Zweck 2013, 128). Previous generations have not experienced anything alike. As a result, digitization is one of the most discussed phenomena of the 21st century. One area in which the effects of digitization are particularly noticeable is the working environment (Timonen and Vuori 2018; Carstensen 2015, 188). The emergence of new technologies is not only changing traditional employment, it is creating professions (Baxter and Sommerville 2011, 4; Mrass and Peters & Leimeister, 2018, 2). An example is online work. It is a collective term for various intermediary services made possible by technologies such as smartphones, computers and tablet PC ś. With these terminals, orders are offered on platforms such as Clickworker (https://www.clickworker.de/). Platforms are Internet-based portals, based on complex algorithms that offer a stage for interaction (Leimeister 2015). The differentiation of the field of online work – at least in Germany – is still in its very beginning, as current research shows (Diewald et al. 2017; Leimeister et al. 2015). One problematic aspect in this context is the fact that this form of work currently offers a legal vacuum, which is used by companies and clients to obtain favourable output to the disadvantage of platform employees (Däubler 2015). Relevant actors focus on technical ne- cessities, economic necessities and employment policy opportunities (Tiemann 2016, 1). Self- determination, work-life balance, flexibility and the income of online workers are just a few examples for problems in the area of platform-based online work (Leimeister & Zogaj 2014, 212). However, due to these difficulties the creation of ergonomic, ethical, social and legal conditions is important for the people working on platforms, in order to establish online work as as a meaningful alternative to institutionalized concepts of work. It is important thereby to take the platforms and their current regulations into account. Especially in today's dynamic world, dealing with questions of the future is urgent, since the present is quite different from the past and at the same time it is increasingly influenced by visions of the distant future. An attempt is made in the following to create an interdisciplinary interpretation of the phenom- enon of online work. The chosen methodology combines elements from Industrial Engineering and sociology. According to Schlick et al (2010), the discipline of Industrial Engineering offers concrete methods and theories to view the phenomenon of work from different perspectives. As an interdisciplinary scientific discipline shaped by the industrial context and engineering science, it deals with work-related activities of individuals and groups and the consequences of work (Sydow & Helfen 2015, 225). It could be particularly useful in the analysis of potential risks 68