Friday, May 29, 2015

The World Bank Report on Online Labor

I am often asked about statistics and data about the global population of "crowdsourcing" workers, going beyond Mechanical Turk. I am happy to say that from now on I will be able to point everyone to a study from The World Bank, which I was fortunate to participate. The reports examines the global landscape of online labor, identifying the opportunities, and providing statistics about the global landscape.

The study will be officially released on Wednesday June 3rd, and for those of you willing to attend the launch event through Webex, here is the information:

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When
Wednesday, June 3, 2015, 9:00AM - 11:30AM EDT

Where:
Webex URL
Meeting number: 730 125 194
Meeting password: online1
Audio connection: 1-650-479-3207 Call-in toll number (US/Canada)
Access code: 730 125 194

Title:
The New Online Outsourcing Approach for Jobs, Youth and Women's Empowerment and Services Exports

Abstract
This event will discuss the new online outsourcing (OO) phenomena in the world today, its implications for developing countries, and how your clients can leverage it as an innovative approach for jobs, youth employment and women's empowerment.

OO refers to the contracting of third-party workers and providers (often overseas) to supply services or perform tasks via Internet-based marketplaces or platforms. Also known as paid crowdsourcing, online work, microwork and other names - these technology-mediated channels allow clients to outsource their paid work to a large, distributed, global labor pool of remote workers, to enable performance, coordination, quality control, delivery, and payment of such services online.

The global OO marketplace today includes numerous emerging and growing platforms; such as Upwork (formerly Elance-oDesk), Crowdflower, CloudFactory, Amazon Mechanical Turk, etc. There are also wide variety of services that can be performed online - such as data entry, digitization, graphics rendering and design, programming and apps development, accounting and legal services, etc. Workers in developing countries can have access and perform jobs from all over the world - as long as they have computer and Internet access. In addition to jobs and income - OO offers workers flexible time and working environment, develop skills for professional, and drive positive social change for youth and women.

The event will share with participants the OO study that covers comprehensively the definition and segments, trends and market size, economic and non-financial impact on workers, and the implications and policy recommendations. In addition the event will show how u can apply the online toolkit to assess the readiness of your client countries for OO.

The World Bank's ICT Unit is excited to share this new global study and toolkit, which was developed in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and Dalberg Global Development Advisors.

Who:
  • Chair: Mavis Ampah, Lead ICT Policy Specialist and Practice Lead on Jobs, GTIDR 
  • Siou Chew Kuek, Senior ICT Specialist and TTL, GTIDR 
  • Cecilia Paradi-Guilford, ICT Innovation Specialist and Co-TTL, GTIDR 
  • Saori Imaizumi, ICT Innovation and Education Consultant, GTIDR