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The global economic crisis has led to a resurgence of interest in the work of Karl Marx. This paper acknowledges this interest, but asks on which of the many shades of Marx, communication scholars should be focusing their research attention. The most general answer is all of Marx, from the early work on consciousness, ideology and culture, which has informed critical cultural studies through to the later work on the structure and dynamics of capitalism that provides bedrock for the political economy of communication. But there is particular need for communication scholars to pay more attention to work that does not fit so neatly in either of these foci, namely, Marx of the Grundrisse and Marx, the professional journalist. Communication scholars need to do so because we have paid insufficient attention to labour in the communication, cultural and knowledge industries. The Marx of these two streams of work provides important guidance for what I have called the labouring of communication as well as for addressing general problems in communication theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper responds to the theme of the 2009 CAIS conference, "Borders, Bridges, and Byways," in four ways. First, it takes up issues on the border of labour and language by examining the importance of viewing information as mutually constituted out of these two components. Second, it addresses the boundary between workers and users by explaining the need to incorporate workers more directly into information studies research. Third, it aims to integrate information labour with communication and cultural work. Finally, it points to the importance of bridging the divide that separates informational labour in rich countries from labour in poorer regions of the world. In doing so, the paper intends to shed light on why information studies scholars and practitioners need to spend more time on the study of labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The paper aims to expand the public service principle to cover labour and worker organizations in the communication industry. It also aims to demonstrate the value of labour convergence as an instrument to advance the interests of knowledge workers and the public interest in communication. Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws from conceptual debates around the nature of knowledge labour and of convergence. It draws from interviews and documentary evidence to determine the value of trade union convergence and new forms of worker organization in the communication industries. Findings - The paper finds that communication workers are engaging in their own form of convergence and are using it to advance the public service principle in knowledge labour. In doing so, they are expanding the public interest in communication. Originality/value - The paper is one of the only studies that connects the public service principle and convergence to knowledge and communication workers. It demonstrates that, despite significant challenges, these workers are a significant force in the communication arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the concept of labour convergence in the context of two significant labour struggles in the Canadian communication industry: the 2005 lockouts at Canada’s national public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and at Canada’s second-largest telecommunications company, the Telus Corporation. It begins with a brief analysis of convergence as a technological and institutional process, specifically as it applies to communication technology, the communication arena, and communication companies, and as a myth that contains utopian visions of universal connectedness. The article then describes how labour is deploying its own form of convergence, a form that conflicts with and sometimes “bites back” at the communication industry and its dream of friction-free capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outsourcing of jobs, particularly the growing practice of sending the jobs of U.S. knowledge and communication sector workers to other countries, has become a significant issue in academic, policy and media circles. The paper begins by defining knowledge workers and summarising debates about their significance dating from the 1950s. Next it considers prevailing views about the problem which centre on the fear of massive job loss to low-wage nations like India and China and prevailing solutions offered by labour- stop outsourcing wherever possible, and by business-outsourcing can only be curtailed when business and labour grow smarter. Each of these views conveys an essential truth but each deals only with symptoms of a significant transformation in the international division of labour. Understanding this transformation, and the role of information and communication technologies, leads us to consider key dimensions in the complexity of outsourcing: developed nations like Canada and Ireland have benefited as recipients of outsourced jobs; less developed nations like India are not just recipients of outsourced jobs, they are beginning to lead the process; in spite of "end of geography" promises, place matters and culture counts; and, finally, resistance takes a multiplicity of forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]