Vili Lehdonvirta

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Vili Lehdonvirta is Professor of Economic Sociology and Digital Social Research at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and Professor of Technology Policy at the Department of Computer Science, Aalto University. [1] [2] He is also a senior research fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, an associate member of the Department of Sociology, Oxford and a former Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute, London. Lehdonvirta is an economic sociologist, whose research draws on theories and approaches from economic sociology, new institutional economics, and political science. His research examines the socio-economic and political implications of new digital technologies.

Contents

Research

Lehdonvirta is one of the world’s most cited authors on gig work and the platform economy. [3] He was the principal investigator of iLabour, [4] a major research project on online freelancing and the gig economy, funded by the European Research Council. He is the creator (together with Otto Kässi and Fabian Stephany) of the Online Labour Index, [5] an economic indicator and international reference [6] [7] [8] for the measurement of the global online gig-economy. He also led research projects on online labour markets' effects in rural areas, [9] crowd workers' [10] skill development, and changing online worker livelihoods during the Covid-19 pandemic. [11] Lehdonvirta's research on platforms, marketplaces, and digital commerce is summarised in Cloud Empires: How Digital Platforms Are Overtaking the State and How We Can Regain Control, published by MIT Press and translated to Italian by Einaudi. [12] The book was announced as a finalist for a 2023 PROSE Award by the Association of American Publishers (AAP). [13]

Lehdonvirta's earlier research dealt with the history and politics of Bitcoin [14] and blockchain. [15] His research on virtual goods, virtual consumption and digital games is summarised in Virtual Economies: Design and Analysis, co-authored with Edward Castronova, published by MIT Press and translated to Japanese and Chinese. [16]

Lehdonvirta's recent research focuses on the geopolitics of digital infrastructures, such as cloud data centres and GPUs. [17]

Policy work

Lehdonvirta has advised companies, policy makers, and international organisations in Europe, the United States and Japan. He was a member of the European Commission's Expert Group on the Online Platform Economy, which supports the Commission in monitoring the evolution of the online platform economy for evidence-based and problem-focused policymaking [18] and the High-Level Group on Digital Transmission and EU Labour markets, which provides analysis and advice to the Commission, and explores policy options.

Education

Lehdonvirta holds a PhD in Economic Sociology from the University of Turku (2009) and a MSc from the Helsinki University of Technology (2005). Previously he worked at the London School of Economics, the University of Tokyo, and the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology. Before his academic career, he worked as a game programmer for Jippii.

Published works

Books

Academic articles

Related Research Articles

An information society is a society or subculture where the usage, creation, distribution, manipulation and integration of information is a significant activity. Its main drivers are information and communication technologies, which have resulted in rapid growth of a variety of forms of information. Proponents of this theory posit that these technologies are impacting most important forms of social organization, including education, economy, health, government, warfare, and levels of democracy. The people who are able to partake in this form of society are sometimes called either computer users or even digital citizens, defined by K. Mossberger as “Those who use the Internet regularly and effectively”. This is one of many dozen internet terms that have been identified to suggest that humans are entering a new and different phase of society.

A virtual economy is an emergent economy existing in a virtual world, usually exchanging virtual goods in the context of an online game, particularly in massively multiplayer online games (MMOs). People enter these virtual economies for recreation and entertainment rather than necessity, which means that virtual economies lack the aspects of a real economy that are not considered to be "fun". However, some people do interact with virtual economies for "real" economic benefit.

Game studies, also known as ludology, is the study of games, the act of playing them, and the players and cultures surrounding them. It is a field of cultural studies that deals with all types of games throughout history. This field of research utilizes the tactics of, at least, folkloristics and cultural heritage, sociology and psychology, while examining aspects of the design of the game, the players in the game, and the role the game plays in its society or culture. Game studies is oftentimes confused with the study of video games, but this is only one area of focus; in reality game studies encompasses all types of gaming, including sports, board games, etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temporary work</span> Type of employment

Temporary work or temporary employment refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time-based on the needs of the employing organization. Temporary employees are sometimes called "contractual", "seasonal", "interim", "casual staff", "outsourcing", and "freelance"; or the words may be shortened to "temps". In some instances, temporary, highly skilled professionals refer to themselves as consultants. Increasingly, executive-level positions are also filled with interim executives or fractional executives.

Freelance, freelancer, or freelance worker, are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance workers are sometimes represented by a company or a temporary agency that resells freelance labor to clients; others work independently or use professional associations or websites to get work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtual world</span> Large-scale, interactive computer-simulated environment

A virtual world is a computer-simulated environment which may be populated by many simultaneous users who can create a personal avatar and independently explore the virtual world, participate in its activities, and communicate with others. These avatars can be textual, graphical representations, or live video avatars with auditory and touch sensations. Virtual worlds are closely related to mirror worlds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital currency</span> Currency stored on electronic systems

Digital currency is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital currencies include cryptocurrency, virtual currency and central bank digital currency. Digital currency may be recorded on a distributed database on the internet, a centralized electronic computer database owned by a company or bank, within digital files or even on a stored-value card.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxford Internet Institute</span> Research institute at the University of Oxford

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) serves as a hub for interdisciplinary research, combining social and computer science to explore information, communication, and technology. It is an integral part of the University of Oxford's Social Sciences Division in England.

Edward "Ted" Castronova is a professor of media at Indiana University Bloomington. He is known in particular for his work on the economies of synthetic worlds.

An online marketplace is a type of e-commerce website where product or service information is provided by multiple third parties. Online marketplaces are the primary type of multichannel ecommerce and can be a way to streamline the production process.

A virtual artifact (VA) is an immaterial object that exists in the human mind or in a digital environment, for example the Internet, intranet, virtual reality, cyberspace, etc.

The digital economy is a portmanteau of digital computing and economy, and is an umbrella term that describes how traditional brick-and-mortar economic activities are being transformed by the Internet and World Wide Web technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bitcoin</span> Decentralized digital currency

Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Based on a free-market ideology, bitcoin was invented in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, an unknown person. Use of bitcoin as a currency began in 2009, with the release of its open-source implementation. In 2021, El Salvador adopted it as legal tender. It is mostly seen as an investment and has been described by some scholars as an economic bubble. As bitcoin is pseudonymous, its use by criminals has attracted the attention of regulators, leading to its ban by several countries as of 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryptocurrency</span> Digital currency not reliant on a central authority

A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it.

Digital labor or digital labour represents an emergent form of labor characterized by the production of value through interaction with information and communication technologies such as digital platforms or artificial intelligence. Examples of digital labor include on-demand platforms, micro-working, and user-generated data for digital platforms such as social media. Digital labor describes work that encompasses a variety of online tasks. If a country has the structure to maintain a digital economy, digital labor can generate income for individuals without the limitations of physical barriers.

A platform cooperative, or platform co-op, is a cooperatively owned, democratically governed business that establishes a two-sided market via a computing platform, website, mobile app or a protocol to facilitate the sale of goods and services. Platform cooperatives are an alternative to venture capital-funded platforms insofar as they are owned and governed by those who depend on them most—workers, users, and other relevant stakeholders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Platform economy</span> Economic and social activity facilitated by technological platforms

The platform economy encompasses economic and social activities facilitated by digital platforms. These platforms — such as Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, Microsoft and Google — serve as intermediaries between various groups of users, enabling interactions, transactions, collaboration, and innovation. The platform economy has experienced rapid growth, disrupting traditional business models and contributing significantly to the global economy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gig worker</span> Independent on-demand temporary workers

Gig workers are independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers, and temporary workers. Gig workers enter into formal agreements with on-demand companies to provide services to the company's clients.

The iLabour Project is a research project at the Oxford Internet Institute funded by the European Research Council and led by the Finnish economic sociologist and Internet researcher Vili Lehdonvirta.

The Online Labour Index (OLI) is an economic indicator measuring the activity of the global online gig-economy. It was created and is administered by the researchers Otto Kässi, Vili Lehdonvirta, and Fabian Stephany, at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.

References

  1. ↑ "Professor Vili Lehdonvirta — Oxford Internet Institute". www.oii.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
  2. ↑ "Vili Lehdonvirta: The digital world isn't a separate dimension in some virtual cloud". www.aalto.fi. Retrieved 2024-12-20.
  3. ↑ Batmunkh, Altanshagai; Fekete-Farkas, Maria; Lakner, Zoltan (2022). "Bibliometric Analysis of Gig Economy". Administrative Sciences. 12 (2): 51. doi: 10.3390/admsci12020051 . hdl: 10419/275322 .
  4. ↑ "iLabour project".
  5. ↑ Stephany, Fabian; Kässi, Otto; Rani, Uma; Lehdonvirta, Vili (July 2021). "Online Labour Index 2020: New ways to measure the world's remote freelancing market". Big Data & Society. 8 (2): 205395172110432. arXiv: 2105.09148 . doi:10.1177/20539517211043240. ISSN   2053-9517.
  6. ↑ "India largest provider of 'online labour'". The Times of India. 2017-07-20. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  7. ↑ Osborne, Hilary (2016-09-21). "Online jobs in gig economy growing fast, finds new index". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  8. ↑ Querzè, Rita (2021-04-20). "In piattaforma sul web, chi cerca lavoro è nelle mani di un algoritmo". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-06-21.
  9. ↑ "Labour markets' effects in rural areas".
  10. ↑ "iLabour; crowdworkers' skill development".
  11. ↑ Stephany, Fabian; Dunn, Michael; Sawyer, Steven; Lehdonvirta, Vili (July 2020). "Distancing Bonus Or Downscaling Loss? The Changing Livelihood of Us Online Workers in Times of COVID-19". Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. 111 (3): 561–573. doi:10.1111/tesg.12455. ISSN   0040-747X. PMC   7361450 . PMID   32834151.
  12. ↑ Lehdonvirta, Vili (2022). Cloud Empires: How Digital Platforms Are Overtaking the State and How We Can Regain Control. MIT Press.
  13. ↑ "Senior Research Fellow's book makes final of AAP PROSE Awards". 13 February 2023.
  14. ↑ Vidan, Gili; Lehdonvirta, Vili (2019). "Mine the gap: Bitcoin and the maintenance of trustlessness". New Media & Society. 21: 42–59. doi: 10.1177/1461444818786220 . S2CID   58008386.
  15. ↑ "Blockchain blog".
  16. ↑ Lehdonvirta, V and Castronova, E (2014). Virtual Economies: Design and Analysis. MIT Press.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ↑ "The political geography of AI infrastructure".
  18. ↑ lucasge (2018-09-26). "Expert group to the EU Observatory on the Online Platform Economy". Digital Single Market - European Commission. Retrieved 2020-02-06.


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