Project lead: Sara Milkes Espinosa (Georgia Tech, School of Interactive Computing), Irawo Ajasin (New York University, Integrated Design & Media)

Advised by: Carl DiSalvo (Georgia Tech, School of Interactive Computing)

Stuff is made (and discarded) in exce$$. Time is made scarce. We investigate the infrastructures of work, technology and values in secondhand economies. Between oceans of discarded stuff and the drive to ‘hustle,’ many have turned to reselling as a form of work in the US. Extending an established infrastructure of donation-powered charities and thrift stores, a growing number of online marketplaces have increasingly digitalized these transactions, bringing new players and dynamics to secondhand. We seek to understand and reimagine secondhand economies together with resellers and other participants in these ecosystems. 

Project Website: https://secondhandfutures.cargo.site

Our key research questions are:

• How do resellers understand, navigate and transform the algorithmic systems that structure their work?
• What strategies, tools, and design interventions can better support resellers in algorithm-driven marketplaces?
• How can insights from (intersectional) feminist economics and the ‘future of work’ inform fairer, more sustainable platform work?

We use a combination of approaches including participatory methods, arts-based and design research informed by theories of feminist economics.