Jesse Drew

Bio

Jesse Drew is a writer and media artist whose work on participatory media in a democratic society, labor communications and media technology have appeared in numerous publications and anthologies. Drew’s documentary and experimental film/video work has been exhibited internationally and domestically in many different venues. For many years he was a labor activist in traditional smokestack factories, as well as modern electronic assembly plants. He is currently Director and Associate Professor of Technocultural Studies at the University of California at Davis.

Abstract

Creative Resistance in the Brave New Workplace

Communications has always been a key component of wage labor’s attempts to leverage better pay, improve conditions of work, or creatively protest the boredom and monotony of work. How have these practices evolved as the digital workplace has supplanted more traditional employment? Is there a continuity between the fax machine and the photocopier and social networking and mobile technologies? What is the relationship between individual acts of creative expression and a collective labor response to new forms of exploitation in the new workplace? These are the questions I will explore in my presentation.