Digital Work Group

The Digital Work Group focuses on the intersection of changes in work, information technologies, and new ways of organizing.

Our group’s research focuses on the roles and functions of information and communication technologies and the institutional contexts in which these systems are embedded. Our interest is to the ways in which the way work is organized is evolving as jobs become more project-based, as the roles of digital technologies expand from supporting workers to structuring work, and the ways in which working lives are increasingly informated.

Our multidisciplinary approach draws a range of methods and theories from organizational studies, sociology, science and technology studies (STS), labor economics, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), and others.

The Digital Work group involves undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty from both Syracuse University’s iSchool and Skidmore College.

Check out our Medium blog, at: https://medium.com/digitalwork.

Research Staff

Photo of Michael Dunn

Mike is an Assistant Professor at Skidmore College’s Department of Management and Business. His education began with an MBA, shifting to the study of work and employment, including studies of contingent work and platform work, during his doctorate (in sociology) at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.  His work is focused on issues at the confluence of technology and labor market outcomes with a specific emphasis on precarious and nonstandard work arrangements.   His work is theoretically informed by the sociology of work, and organizations and labor studies. In the previous decade Dunn has worked on five NIH-funded efforts focused on precarious and underserved worker populations (i.e. tribal workers, day laborers, ex-offenders). From 2015-2017, Dunn was a visiting researcher at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. His methodological orientation is primarily qualitative and has field-based research experience with rideshare/transportation, delivery/task, crowdwork, and online freelance platforms.

Pyeonghwa Kim

Pyeonghwa Kim is a Ph.D. candidate at the Syracuse University iSchool. Her research focuses on advancing conceptual and design insights that rethink existing labor norms in platform work, which often marginalize workers based on gender, race, and work/life values. She also teaches courses in human-centered design. Kim holds a B.A. with First Class Honors in Media and Communications from Goldsmiths, University of London, and an M.S. in Information Studies from Seoul National University.

Taylor L

Taylor is a sophomore at Syracuse University where she is majoring in Psychology and hopes to add marketing as a double major. She is also part of the Syracuse women’s rowing team. Taylor joined the research team in September 2022 and is looking forward to learning more about the workforce and labor trends.

Clea O'Neil

Clea O’Neil

Clea O’Neil is a Junior at Skidmore College majoring in Business-Political Science. Clea joined the Digital Work Research Team in September 2021. Her interests include worker flexibility and the recent changes in digital work.

Heba Salman headshot

Heba Salman

Heba Salman is a Skidmore College student, class of 2025, and is planning in majoring in Psychology and minoring in Business and Management. Heba joined the Digital Work Research team in December 2021. She is interested in how digitalization of the workplace impacts the interactions that freelance workers have with employers.

Steven Sawyer

Steve Sawyer

Steve is a professor at Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies. His research focuses on the changing forms of work and organizing enabled through uses of information and communication technologies. This is done through detailed field-based studies of freelance and nomadic workers, scientific collaborators, software developers, real estate agents, police officers, organizational technologists, and other information-intensive work settings.  He has also been active in advancing sociotechnical approaches to studying computing collectively known as social informatics. Sawyer’s work is published in a range of venues and supported by funds from the National Science Foundation, IBM and other public and private sponsors. Prior to returning to Syracuse in 2008, Steve was a founding faculty member of the Pennsylvania State University’s College of Information Sciences and Technology. He earned his Doctorate from Boston University in 1995.

Robyn Karchere-Sun is a Junior at Skidmore College majoring in Management and Business and pursuing a double minor in Chinese and Economics. She joined the Digital Work Research Team in May 2024. Robyn is interested in investigating the ways in which online labor platforms strip workers of their agency.

Lauren Coop is a senior at Syracuse University double majoring in Data Analytics and Policy Studies. Lauren joined the Digital Work Group in September 2022 and is also a member of the SU Women’s Rowing team. Lauren is interested in the complexities of work-life balance for freelancers and how freelancing impacts family dynamics as compared to more traditional careers.

Patrick is an Information Management & Technology and Finance student at Syracuse University’s iSchool. 

Alumni

Bernadette Berner ’24, LinkedIn

Melina Iavarone ’24, LinkedIn

Izabela Krakic ’24, LinkedIn

Ellie Owen ’24, LinkedIn

Dr. Isabel Munoz ’23, LinkedIn

Rebecca Farrell ’23, LinkedIn

Sofia Shore ’24,  LinkedIn

Bethanya Philipos ’22, LinkedIn

Brooke Stephenson ’22, LinkedIn

Gabby Vaccaro ’22, LinkedIn

Emily Michaels ’22, LinkedIn

Alaina Caruso ’21, LinkedIn

Bonnie Yu ’21, LinkedIn

Lily Moffly ’21, LinkedIn

Lily Feldman, LinkedIn

Raghav Raheja, LinkedIn

Dr. Sarika Sharma, Website

Haley Weller ’20, LinkedIn

Jean-Philippe Rancy, LinkedIn

Anjelica Torcivia ’18, LinkedIn

Emma Allen ’16, LinkedIn

Dr. Matt Willis ’16, LinkedIn

Get in touch.

Interested in working with the Digital Work Group? Email us any time.