Hacking the Future of Work

In less than ten years, more than a half billion people will be trying to earn a living in the on-demand economy. It’s up to all of us to make sure this new economic system works for everyone. To help spark transdisciplinary research and development of Positive Platforms, IFTF’s Workable Futures Initiative, with the support of the Ford Foundation, hosted Positive Platforms Jams at our offices in Palo Alto while fellow travelers in our global network held satellite events at community hubs and hacker spaces in Helsinki, Milan, Barcelona, Dublin, and other cities around the world. During the Positive Platforms Jams, Designers, engineers, policymakers, and labor organizers gathered for two days to hack away on platform prototypes, replicable design frameworks, new financial tools, data management systems, and methods to tease out the hidden problems inherent in many platform models.