First Monday is one of the first openly accessible, peer–reviewed journals solely devoted to research about the Internet. First Monday has published 1,821 papers in 272 issues, written by 2,537 different authors, over the past 22 years. No subscription fees, no submission fees, no advertisements, no fundraisers, no walls.
 | This month: January 2019 Playing with data and its consequences The fundamental paradigm shift brought about by datafication alters how people participate as citizens on a daily basis. “Big data” has come to constitute a new terrain of engagement, which brings organized collective action, communicative practices and data infrastructure into a fruitful dialogue. Leveraging the disciplines of critical data and social movement studies, this paper explores “proactive data activism”, using, producing and/or appropriating data for social change, and examines its biographical, political, tactical and epistemological consequences. Approaching engagement with data as practice, this study focuses on the social contexts in which data are produced, consumed and circulated, and analyzes how tactics, skills and emotions of individuals evolve in interplay with data. |
 | Also this month Awareness of and experience with online outsourcing journalism labor markets: A benchmark study of freelance journalists Online outsourcing markets (OOMs), those sites that connect buyers and sellers of digital labor, have grown dramatically, attracting a global cadre of freelance workers. Journalism OOMs are beginning to have an impact on the buying and selling of freelance journalism. This paper is an exploration of early effects, reporting findings of a survey of freelance journalists who use OOMs and those who don’t, or don’t yet. Considering OOMs only recently started diffusing, analysis shows a relatively high level of awareness and use of OOMs, plus perceptions about their value for obtaining work, working conditions and monetary and intrinsic rewards. |