An autoethnography of Upwork: knowledge and production under platform academia

Purpose There is very minimal published research on Upwork as a platform, this article seeks to fill that gap. It also builds on the growing body of (auto)ethnographic scholarship about the gig economy and platform capitalism. The research was motivated by a desire to understand labour relations within informal academia: research and teaching that happens adjacent to formal institutions, mediated by the platform economy. This came about because of a period of unemployment and financial precarity for the researcher. Design/methodology/approach The researcher conducted a three month autoethnography from the UK. This involved participation in ‘platform academia’ using the ‘freelancer marketplace’ Upwork: this included participant observation (of the self), discussions with colleagues, and reflexive consideration of positionality and ethics. Findings The empirical findings suggest that large numbers of students and academics use platform services for the production of essays and articles. There exists a global Anglophone platform economy around formal academia on a large scale. The technical design and functionality of platforms mediate the worker experience in distinct ways, with implications for how we understand academia as an industry and as an endeavour. Originality/value There are two contributions. First, the article presents ‘platform academia’ as intrinsic to institutional academia, rather than parasitic to it. Second, it reveals that the primary product of the academy is reputational, as in the recognition of expertise, rather than knowledge.