Jessica Pidoux co-laureate of a European Union Prize for Citizen Science

The project ‘When gig workers regain control’ was awarded an Honorary mention at the first edition of the European Union Prize for Citizen Science, on May 22, 2023. For this project, Jessica Pidoux, post-doctoral researcher at the CEE and director of the non-profit PersonalData.iO, worked with Uber drivers.

The project produced scientific knowledge about the working conditions of gig workers through the lenses of the personal data recovered by Uber drivers. Based on a participatory methodology, drivers organised at the cooperative Maze worked with Jessica Pidoux, digital sociologist at Sciences Po, CEE, and director of PersonalData.IO, and David Décamps, artist and digital mediator at PersonalData.IO. The drivers recovered their personal data from Uber by making use of their data access rights and are now seeking to first analyse it with open access tools for reverse engineering Uber’s algorithmic management and then to build a new mobility service by means of a bottom-up governance.

“In this project, Uber drivers tracked their own driving data, analysed it and this way eventually made sense of the Uber algorithm. They concluded that the algorithm calculates their wages inaccurately. Through the acquired evidence citizens now fight legally for higher wages”, emphasised the jury of the prize.

The European Union Prize for Citizen Science is awarded by Ars Electronica on behalf of the European Commission in the context of the IMPETUS project. It honors, presents and supports outstanding projects whose social and political impact advances the further development of a pluralistic, inclusive and sustainable society in Europe.

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On the projet “‘When gig workers regain control” and its initiators

On the “European Union Prize for Citizen Science”