"The Covid-19 pandemic has led to the rise of digitally enabled remote work with consequences for the global division of labour. Remote work could connect labour markets, but it might also increase spatial polarisation. However, our understanding of the geographies of remote work is limited. Specifi
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cally, in how far could remote work connect employers and workers in different countries? Does it bring jobs to rural areas because of lower living costs, or does it concentrate in large cities? And how do skill requirements affect competition for employment and wages? We use data from a fully remote labour market—an online labour platform—to show that remote platform work is polarised along three dimensions. First, countries are globally divided: North American, European, and South Asian remote platform workers attract most jobs, while many Global South countries participate only marginally. Secondly, remote jobs are pulled to large cities; rural areas fall behind. Thirdly, remote work is polarised along the skill axis: workers with in-demand skills attract profitable jobs, while others face intense competition and obtain low wages. The findings suggest that agglomerative forces linked to the unequal spatial distribution of skills, human capital, and opportunities shape the global geography of remote work. These forces pull remote work to places with institutions that foster specialisation and complex economic activities, i. e. metropolitan areas focused on information and communication technologies. Locations without access to these enabling institutions—in many cases, rural areas—fall behind. To make remote work an effective tool for economic and rural development, it would need to be complemented by local skill-building, infrastructure investment, and labour market programmes." (Abstract)
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"Advantages and disadvantages of remote evaluations: Advantages: environmentally friendly and applicable in case of travel restrictions; a cost-effective and more efficient implementation is possible; reduction of the project staff's workload; flexibility in scheduling the data collection, interview
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s, group discussions; integration of interviewees from different locations; online connection with interviewees facilitates second contact; flexible employment of interpreters; making use of digital tools. Disadavantages: making it difficult to develop a common understanding within the team of evaluators; lack of observations (e. g. equipment in laboratories, interviewees in the working environment); poorer contact quality with interviewees; risk that the momentum of the evaluation is lost and impressions disappear; less informal communication with interviewees and project team; strong focus on facts and more difficult consideration of the emotional level; more difficult assessment of the accuracy of recommendations; dependence on technology." (Background, page 4)
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"The Children’s Radio Foundation (CRF) currently trains youth reporters at 68 radio stations across six African countries (The Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zambia) to produce weekly radio shows and monthly outreach activities [...] This toolkit ha
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s three main goals: 1. to bring COVID-19 into focus and high on your agenda; 2. to introduce you to remote reporting and broadcasting and how it works; 3. to equip you to get other young people and adults in your community to become passionate about and open to share their COVID-19 stories." (Goals)
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"With many workplaces in semi or total lockdown in response to COVID-19, many journalists are adjusting to the new reality of working from home. This affects the way we report on our communities, the type of observations we can include in our stories and shifts our focus online. But how do we ensure
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that our community voices are still at the center of our reporting? And as we hunker down in front of our laptops in our makeshift home offices, what tools are available to stay connected with our newsrooms, sources and our communities? Mobile Journalists (MOJOs) and freelancers have the upper hand in this context. They’re used to working from home, cafe’s or wherever they can find a powerpoint. We’ve tapped their experience to bring together this guide designed to make remote work newbies look like #WFH veterans. And, because we know not everyone has reliable access to the internet, we have included high and low tech alternatives." (Page 1)
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"The purpose of the guide is to provide practical and actionable recommendations for effective teleworking that are applicable to a broad range of actors; to support policymakers in updating existing policies; and to provide a flexible framework through which both private enterprises and public sect
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or organizations can develop or update their own teleworking policies and practices. The guide also includes a number of case examples regarding how employers and policymakers have been handling teleworking during the COVID-19 pandemic and addresses the lessons learned from the recent months that are relevant for the future of teleworking arrangements beyond the pandemic; and a list of available tools and resources." (Introduction)
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"[...] se identificaron rápidamente las principales temáticas a incluir en el libro. Estas son: acceso a Internet y derechos humanos online, populismo y desinformación, privacidad, ciberseguridad, big data y datos abiertos, teleeducación, teletrabajo, cooperación digital y transformación digit
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al de las empresas. El libro tiene como propósito mostrar cómo Internet, en tiempos de la COVID-19, desde diversas áreas, le ha servido a la humanidad, pero en particular a nuestra región, que, con una perspectiva latinoamericana, ha sabido tomar como referencia experiencias globales. Además, su objetivo es presentar los nuevos retos y riesgos que han surgido, a fin de demostrar cómo estos pueden atenderse coordinadamente entre los diversos actores comprometidos para minimizar su impacto." (Introducción, página 19)
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"The findings from the study represent a mixed bag. There is much to celebrate—improved quality of life, enhanced productivity owing to factors such as reduced commute time, and, at scale, the evident reduction of the pollution load on the planet. Further, it sheds light on the possibility that gi
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ven the right policy and incentive regimes, telecommuting will enable many more to engage in the productive economy—including those who currently do not participate in the workforce owing to caregiving or other such responsibilities. But there are areas of concern. As ‘leaving for work’ morphed into ‘living at work,’ working hours stretched, and lines between worktime and downtime blurred. A matter of great concern was that inequality manifests itself in yet newer forms—the poor fared far worse than middle- and upper-income earners, taking hits not only on incomes, but also in lacking the wherewithal to participate in the online economy." (Foreword)
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"Though this toolkit explores COVID-19 as a focus topic, the methodology of remote outreaches and campaigns should be used in all the themes you report on in your radio shows; themes such as climate change, sexual and reproductive health, education, migration, violence and community safety, and othe
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rs. This process requires identifying the issues you want to tackle beyond the airwaves, considering how big an impact you’d like to make, who you would like to reach, and the steps it will take to get there while adhering to COVID-19 safety measures." (Introduction)
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"La Children’s Radio Foundation (CRF) forme actuellement des jeunes reporters dans 68 stations de radio à travers six pays Africains (La République Démocratique du Congo, le Libéria, la Côte d’Ivoire, l’Afrique du Sud, la Tanzanie et la Zambie) à produire des émissions de radio hebdomad
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aires et des activités de sensibilisation mensuelles [...] Ce manuel a trois objectifs principaux : 1. Mettre le COVID-19 au centre de vos préoccupations; 2. Vous informer sur la production et la diffusion de reportages à distance et leur fonctionnement; 3. Vous aider à inciter d’autres jeunes et adultes de votre communauté à être passionnés et ouverts afin de partager leurs temoignages et experiences sur le COVID-19." (Objectifs)
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"The Handbook presents a comprehensive, integrative, and global view of what has been called the digital divide. Collecting an international collaboration of experts, this Handbook of Research offers policy makers, academicians, managers, and researchers a complete reference source to the interactio
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ns, evolutions, and policies developing within the field. The many academic areas covered in this publication include, but are not limited to: broadband access; digital divide framing and mapping; digital divide related to education; digital divide related to ethnicity; digital divide related to gender; digital literacy; e-government and the digital divide; evolution of the digital divide; inequalities of digital skills; regional differences in digital divide." (Publisher description)
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