Please join us on Monday March 2, 4:30-5:30 (Hamilton Library 3F) for a talk by Dr. Florence Chee — Assistant Professor of Digital Communication and Director of the Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) at Loyola University Chicago.
Title: “An Uber ethical dilemma: examining the social issues at stake”
Abstract: Dr. Chee’s presentation will engage with the social issues emerging from the increasing reliance upon app-driven services, as they pertain to precarious labor and ethical standpoints in a digital era. Popular ride services such as Uber have been lauded for bringing much needed transportation services that are superior to expensive taxis or unpleasant or inaccessible public transit. After three years of ongoing research and analysis, Dr. Chee has completed a comprehensive assessment of a number of social issues facing the integration of practices both signified and enacted in an economy driven by apps such as Uber. While these companies are indeed profitable, questions remain as to just how much of a panacea these practices actually herald. She will discuss how privatization and a lack of labor regulation may present a significant savings to the user, but full cost economics suggest that the social and environmental costs require consideration.
Bio: Dr. Florence Chee is an Assistant Professor of Digital Communication and Director of the Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) at Loyola University Chicago. Her research examines the social and ethical dimensions of emergent digital lifestyles with a particular focus on games, social media, mobile platforms, and translating those insights across industrial, governmental, and academic sectors. She has designed and taught graduate/undergraduate courses in Digital Media including Game Studies, where students engage with debates surrounding diversity, intersectionality and media production through social justice frameworks. She is a faculty affiliate at the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy and is in the process of completing a manuscript based on her work, “The Social at Play: Digital Game Culture in South Korea, which is a comprehensive look at the social, political, economic, and gender factors influencing how games have become mainstream culture in South Korea.