[Commlist] CFP - INDL-NA Symposium on Labor and AI @ Yale

This is a reminder that the deadline for abstract submissions for 
the INDL-North America Symposium on Labor and Artificial Intelligence is 
fast approaching.

-- Submission Deadline: January 18, 2026 (Anywhere on Earth)
-- Symposium Date: April 29, 2026
-- Location: Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States.
We are also thrilled to announce our opening keynote speaker: Dr. Julia 
Ticona, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of 
Pennsylvania. A formal abstract for the keynote address will be shared 
in the coming weeks.

Please visit the symposium website 
<https://indl-na.sciencesconf.org/> for the full call for papers and 
submission instructions.

+++

Workers Building, Using, and Resisting AI

The International Network on Digital Labor (INDL) is pleased to announce 
its first symposium in North America, which will be held at Yale 
University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, on April 29, 2026.

The theme for this inaugural North American symposium, “Workers 
Building, Using, and Resisting AI,” highlights the essential role of 
labor not only in creating AI models but also in shaping how those 
technologies reshape work, sustaining labor practices, and developing 
local strategies to navigate, adapt to, or push back against AI‑driven 
change. The symposium adopts a broad interpretation of labor’s role in 
artificial intelligence and related technologies, encompassing the 
infrastructures and hardware of AI—from manufacturing and assembly to 
data‑center operations—as well as the many roles involved in its 
development, from engineering to data work. AI applications are also 
considered broadly, ranging from computer vision and large‑language 
models to recommender systems and other reinforcement‑learning‑based tools.

INDL-NA seeks submissions that discuss the role of workers and labor at 
any point in the extensive AI data pipeline, whether examined from a 
global or local perspective, and whether focused on data, 
hardware,infrastructure, models, and their usage. Submissions are 
welcomed on traditional INDL topics, including:


    Digital labor and AI

    Worker surveillance and algorithmic management

    Governance, regulation, and legislation in AI-related digital labor

    Worker resistance, collective action, refusal, and alternatives

    Automation

As well as on emerging themes within INDL such as:

    The role of women and gender in AI‑related occupations

    Global aspects of labor in the development and uses of AI

    Environmental challenges of labor and AI

    The influence of management and corporations on labor’s persistence 
in AI

We invite contributions from both established and early‑career academic 
researchers (including graduate students), as well as from all 
professionals engaged with these themes including labor organizers, 
practitioners, and others. All disciplines that study labor and/or 
technology are welcome, for example economics, management, political 
science, law, sociology, psychology, history, geography, 
science‑and‑technology studies (STS), media studies, design, and 
information and computer sciences.

We are pleased to offer a limited number of scholarships for graduate 
students, non-academics, and independent scholars. These scholarships 
and the symposium are funded by Yale’s MacMillan Center.

This in-person symposium will take place the day after Yale’s 
university‑wide AI symposium, and participants are welcome to attend 
that event as well (registration details will be sent separately).

Submission Guidelines

To submit, please click on "Abstract Submission" in the menu on the left 
(a free account on this website is required).

Abstracts should:

    Have a maximum length of 500 words

    Be written in English

Please remember to specify:

    Your name, affiliation, and email

    Title

    Abstract (including research objective, methodology, main findings 
and/or theoretical development, and where relevant, contribution to 
understanding worker organizing and resistance in digital labor)

    You have the option to add a comment or a supporting file if needed.

Abstract submission deadline: January 18, 2026 (Anywhere on Earth).

Notification of acceptance: February 28, 2026

About INDL

Founded in 2019, the International Network on Digital Labor’s mission is 
to organize international conferences on digital labor studies and to 
foster global‑level collaboration between academia and civil society. 
INDL has organized eight international conferences and has hosted 
regional symposia in Europe and the Middle East. INDL's next 
international conference will be at the International Labour 
Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, in September 2026 and the call for 
papers will be issued separately. Please note that acceptance to the 
INDL-NA symposium does not preclude acceptance to the main international 
INDL conference, as the two events are run separately.




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