iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

New paper: examines different ways managers and tech industry envision workplace tech, and the role of the worker. Provides a framework for analysing variation in this respect, + a typology of 3 distinct managerial "frames of reference" about tech and workers onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

"Technological Frames of Reference and Conceptions of Workers' Agency: A New Framework From UK Warehousing"

In the journal New Technology, Work and Employment

Abstract:

This article explores the diverse assumptions and priorities that managers and technology developers assign to workplace technologies in UK warehousing. Rooted in labour process theory (LPT), and its concern for worker agency and management control, it addresses a need for finer-grained theorisations of management and developer agency in shaping technological development and implementation. Synthesising LPT with literature on ‘technological frames of reference,’ it proposes a new theoretical framework for distinguishing contrasting perspectives on technology, identifying variation in terms of: (1) organisational priorities, (2) conceptions of workers' agency and (3) technological priorities. The article applies this theoretical framework to a qualitative study of warehousing, using it to generate a threefold taxonomy of frames found in the industry: ‘human fallibility’; ‘logistical puzzle-solving’; and ‘workers as beneficiaries.’ It argues that these analytical tools can expand sociological understanding of variation in industry actors' thinking about workplace technologies, and how they conceive of workers' agency in relation to technological deployment.

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Open Access paper in Work and Ox. Examines the "hollowed out" (Jessop) local state in the context of the rapid development of the digitalised logistics industry in a deindustrialised region of Northern England. Typologises regulatory strategies and their limits. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

How Does the Local State Mediate the Relationship Between Technological Change and Work? Evidence from Warehousing in England

Abstract
The debate on technology and the future of work has so far engaged little with the local state. This is surprising, since the local state's role as a potentially progressive actor in employment relations systems is attracting renewed interest in sociological scholarship. Through a study of warehousing in northern England, we examine how local state actors can mediate the relationship between technological change and work. We show that they often questioned the policy orthodoxy that private employer-led technological innovation always benefits local working populations, and we develop a typology of three strategies through which they sought to engage with technological trajectories in warehousing workplaces: engagement and advocacy, activation, and conditionality. Our study also shows how their regulatory capacity was limited by the opacity of technological innovation in warehousing, confining them to “soft” strategies which enshrined employer discretion and market imperatives. It concludes by reflecting on alternative visions whereby the local state may become more empowered to shape the future of work.

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 16/06/2026

‘The judge declared himself “bound by the legislation” to sentence the Filton Four to “special custodial sentences” as terrorists. He didn’t mention that it was his choice to approve the application fifteen months ago.’ @nicholasrl.bsky.social on Palestine Action. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...

lrb.co.uk

Nicholas Reed Langen | Legislative Sleight of Hand

Every white Serco prison van that drove into Woolwich Crown Court on Friday morning was met with a cacophony of cheers,...

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London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · 15/06/2026

‘After the unanimous decision of the Court of Appeal this morning, these protesters can be charged for supporting a proscribed terror group.’ @nicholasrl.bsky.social on Palestine Action, the Filton Four and the protesters supporting them, new on the blog. www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ju...

lrb.co.uk

Nicholas Reed Langen | Legislative Sleight of Hand

Every white Serco prison van that drove into Woolwich Crown Court on Friday morning was met with a cacophony of cheers,...

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

A podcast with me and John talking about AI and the politics of value in music👇👇

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arseblog @arseblog.com · 19/05/2026

I'm so happy for all of us

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Eli Valley @elivalley.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Is there a term for this www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/w...

Israel is intent on redrawing not only the geographic map of south Lebanon but also the demographic one.

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CERIC @ceric-lubs.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Are you interested in pursuing a funded PhD at the ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work, at the University of Leeds, supervised by Mark Stuart & Charles Umney? You will contribute to a study titled, ‘Building employment inclusion within the West Yorkshire regional digital skills ecosystem.'

phd.leeds.ac.uk

ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work Scholarship

Project opportunity - ESRC Centre for Digital Futures at Work Scholarship at the University of Leeds

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Phil Harrison @mrpmharrison.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Probably not a by-election that needs over-analysing in the end. Since the 2024 GE, Labour has, in effect, been telling its core voters to vote for someone else. So they did.

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Disgraceful way to treat staff, please consider supporting Sheffield ucu

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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

Labour councillor thinks that the murder of a woman - with plans that political parties in the UK are specifically looking to emulate - shouldn't be political. Labour have no intention in every challenging the far right - which is why they'll be next to follow unless we stand up to them.

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Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

I am horrified by the murder of a woman in Minneapolis by an ICE agent. This is what fascism looks like in real time, where a far-right government emboldens a violent death squad to terrorise communities with impunity.

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Trump just said "all" of Venezuela's oil must be made accessible to US oil companies. Trump wants to emulate Putin's model: Authoritarian, expansionist rulers carving up their regions and distributing the spoils of conquest to friendly oligarchs. 1/ (new piece) newrepublic.com/article/2049...

newrepublic.com

Trump Blurts Out Dark Truth about Venezuela Plan—and about MAGA Voters

To some critics, it’s about plunder. To others, it’s about hemispheric hegemony. Actually, it’s about both.

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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 04/01/2026

Colombian President Petro commenting on the US; “A clan of pedophiles wants to destroy our democracy. To keep Epstein's list from coming out, they send warships to kill fishermen & threaten our neighbor with invasion for their oil."

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

In the past week, the Trump-Vance admin: –Bombed Nigeria –Bombed Venezuela, abducted its leader –Bombed more ships in the middle of the ocean –Threatened military action in Iran, Colombia, and Cuba –Accepted the “Israel Prize” & hosted Netanyahu in Mar-a-Lago (despite his soldiers killing Americans)

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University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 18/12/2025

We are deeply concerned for the health of Qesser Zuhrah, who has been on hunger strike for 46 days. We join those calling on the government to act now, and address the serious concerns raised by lawyers acting for the prisoners.

We are deeply concerned for the health of Qesser Zuhrah, who has been on hunger strike for 46 days, and we join those calling on the government to act now, and address the serious concerns raised by lawyers acting for the prisoners.

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The Onion @theonion.com · 06/12/2025

Pros And Cons Of War With Venezuela theonion.com/pros-and-cons-of-war-w…

PRO: Raises total number of countries Americans can name to respectable nine

CON: May have to come up with a reason for doing so

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Julia Laite @julialaite.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

When will this crisis get any attention whatsoever!? A THOUSAND ACADEMIC STAFF AT ONE INSTITUTION SERVED REDUNDANCY RISK NOTICES! And that's not counting what's surely being visited on professional services staff too. This is an economic catastrophe, to say nothing of the intellectual catastrophe!

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Des Fitzgerald @desfitzgerald.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Once again, we are way too relaxed about the fact that "shooting Irish people is good actually" is a mainstream political position on the neighbouring island.

Am X post from Suella Braverman that reads: "The SAS has the support of the whole country against this shameless government of cowards and Sinn Fein sympathisers." She is quote tweeting a post from the telegraph that says, "New laws could see former soldiers hounded through courts over alleged crimes, say veterans."

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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

The way all of these people convinced themselves that Mamdani is antisemitic is a subject far more worthy of media examination than any of the ‘groupthink on campuses!’ thinkpieces we’ve been subjected to

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Doing some proofreading on our forthcoming paper: "What is human augmentation and why does it matter for the sociology of work? A conceptualization of worker-centred augmentation". Forthcoming in Work in the Global Economy. Email me if interested and wanting to discuss.

What is human augmentation and why does it matter for the sociology of work? A conceptualization of worker-centred augmentation

‘Human augmentation’ commonly refers to ‘smart’ technologies that integrate with the human body, like exoskeletons, wearables, or modifications like retinal implants, increasing its cognitive or physical capacity. Many definitions of it are problematically broad or questionable. Nevertheless, the idea has gained traction in journalistic and policy debates. Evangelists for augmentation may posit a near-superhuman synthesis between humans and machines, supposedly resulting in upskilling and empowerment at work. These claims have
attracted sceptical analysis from scholars of work and employment, yet there remains a need for further development of a critical research agenda around human augmentation. This article catalyzes this agenda by proposing a new conceptualization of ‘worker-centred’ human
augmentation that can be usefully applied in the field. Such a conceptualization requires mediating between giving due weight to the intractable material characteristics of individual ‘augmenting’ technologies, and exploring the channels through which human agency shapes their design and use. We also argue that engaging with human augmentation necessitates critical reflection on ‘human-versus-machine’ framings that remain influential in sociological literature on technology and work.

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Matthew Cole @mattcole.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

My first book, *Unpaid: the Past, Present and Future of Wage Theft*, will be published by @versobooks.bsky.social in May, 2026! This book is born from experience. It is written for anyone who is dissatisfied with the capitalist wage system. UK pre-order: www.waterstones.com/book/unpaid/...

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

"How does the local state mediate the relationship between technological change and work?": Forthcoming in Work & Occupations. Offers a typology for how devolved govt can intervene to shape technology's impact on local workers, esp in low wage jobs. @digitcentre.bsky.social @ceric-lubs.bsky.social

How does the local state mediate the relationship between technological change and work? Evidence from warehousing in England

Abbie Winton, Charles Umney, Gabriella Alberti

Abstract
The debate on technology and the future of work has so far engaged little with the local state. This is surprising, since the local state’s role as a potentially progressive actor in employment relations systems is attracting renewed interest in sociological scholarship. Through a study of warehousing in northern England, we examine how local state actors can mediate the relationship between technological change and work. We show that they often questioned the policy orthodoxy that private employer-led technological innovation always benefits local working populations, and we develop a typology of three strategies through which they sought to engage with technological trajectories in warehousing workplaces: engagement and advocacy, activation, and conditionality. Our study also shows how their regulatory capacity was limited by the opacity of technological innovation in warehousing, confining them to “soft” strategies which enshrined employer discretion and market imperatives. It concludes by reflecting on alternative visions whereby the local state may become more empowered to shape the future of work.

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Adam Bienkov @adambienkov.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

It would be good if the only political pushback against Nigel Farage's plans to mass deport hundreds of thousands of our neighbours, friends, family and colleagues didn't just come from a handful of backbench MPs and one regional mayor

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Abbie Winton @abbiewinton.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

It's been a long time coming, but I'm delighted to announce that my PhD paper "Sociotechnical Change in British Supermarkets: Examining the Role of Labour" has finally been published in New Technology, Work and Employment 🎉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Barbora Cernusakova @bcernusa.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

"In contrast to futurist predictions of the proliferation of labour-replacing technologies, the analysis shows how food retailers continued to prioritise short-term solutions contingent on human labour rather than investments in longer-term automation programme."

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Many congratulations to @abbiewinton.bsky.social for this outstanding new paper in @ntwejournal.bsky.social! Essential reading for understanding technological adoption in retail workplaces, with a lot of additional insight into the implications of covid 🚨🚨👇👇 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Sociotechnical Change in British Supermarkets: Examining the Role of Labour

Lead author Abbie Winton

When predicting the future of retail work, commentators tend to focus on automation and labour replacement and neglect the continued role played by labour, particularly in food retail. To understand this role, this article draws on both interview and newspaper data to show how change unfolded in the sector from before to just after the Coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, it shows how increased technology adoption and use in food retail occurred alongside an increased reliance on labour. The availability of a flexible labour pool that was easy to scale and later disband enabled employers to respond to increased consumer demand rapidly. In contrast to futurist predictions of the proliferation of labour-replacing technologies, the analysis shows how food retailers continued to prioritise short-term solutions contingent on human labour rather than investments in longer-term automation programmes, reflecting historical patterns of sociotechnical change within the sector.

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Dr Eleanor Janega @goingmedieval.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

The destruction of the Gaza city mosque is a devastating loss to humanity as a whole. A part of our global medieval heritage destroyed in furtherance to a genocide. I despair.

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Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte @turnbulldugarte.com · 05/09/2025

Radical right accommodation really does not work. New paper out with this exceptionally talented team @katharinalawall.bsky.social @robjohns75.bsky.social @drjennings.bsky.social @sarahobolt.bsky.social @zachdickson.bsky.social @danjdevine.bsky.social & @jack-bailey.co.uk doi.org/10.31235/osf...

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

The BBC is not going to allow us to not elect reform, they have decided.

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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

'"You can’t have hobbyist research that’s unfunded going on in institutions. We can’t afford it.”' Such a badly formulated phrasing of the issues, so open to so many misinterpretations. If this is the level of thinking about research among sector leaders and policy-makers, be very afraid.

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

"Understanding international waves of platform labour unrest"- our new piece in @britsoci.bsky.social's Everyday Society. es.britsoc.co.uk/understandin... Discusses our recent @wesjnl.bsky.social paper "Platform labour unrest in a global perspective: How, where and why do platform workers protest?"

es.britsoc.co.uk

Understanding international waves of platform labour unrest - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association

How, where and why do platform workers protest? Platform work, exemplified by firms like Uber and Deliveroo, attracts seemingly endless discussion; journalistic, political, and sociological. Policy de...

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Charlie Phillips @charliechar.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Don’t ignore that the bbc asked a racist question here

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

Recently accepted at @wesjnl.bsky.social: "What does it mean to be passionate about your job? Three meanings of 'collectively oriented passion' in UK pubs". Pre-print OA here: eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/22...

Picture is of the paper abstract which reads: This article examines how understandings of passion shape people’s agency at work, through interviews with UK publicans. It addresses calls to rethink how “passion” is conceptualised in the sociology of work. While discourses around passion are often thought to legitimise individualised working practices, the article explores more collective interpretations. It analyses how publicans exercised agency in negotiating externally-imposed problems including the pandemic and exploitative relationships with leading industry actors. It identifies a collective understanding of passion centralising notions of community, which shaped participants’ agency in responding to these problems in three ways: providing motivation to persist in the industry; a frame for critiquing perceived injustice and (occasionally) mobilising against it; and a resource for reinvention in pursuing business sustainability. The main contribution is thus new concepts for analysing how “collectively-oriented passion” shapes individuals’ agency at work.

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lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

What's astonishing about this is that "violence against a military force currently shelling civilians at food distribution points in the occupied territory they have been starving out" becomes equivalent to "calling for a genocide". It's just an insane moral reversal of the actual situation.

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Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

We are witnessing the first livestreamed genocide in history. Those who facilitate these crimes against humanity should face accountability — not those who have the humanity to oppose them. End all arms sales to Israel, now.

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Roxane Gay @roxanegay.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Yes. I am right. I am seeing how Chat GPT is ruining students critical thinking and writing skills in real time. It is not the future. It is a tool designed to render the populace helpless, to make people doubt their innate intelligence, and to foster overreliance on technology.

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UCU University of Greenwich @ucugreenwich.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/2516781... Up to 319 members of staff are at risk, but the university claims most of them are hourly paid so they don't count. We represent ALL members, whatever your contract type. Your job's precarity does NOT make you less valid in our eyes. We see you.

newsshopper.co.uk

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

es.britsoc.co.uk

Understanding international waves of platform labour unrest - Everyday Society - The British Sociological Association

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Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Israel’s finance minister touts genocide: "The approach is entirely different from anything in the past… now we conquer, cleanse, and stay… what remains of the Strip is also being wiped out…. The population will reach the south of the Strip – and from there move to third countries.”

"the approach is entirely different from anything in the past. No more raids or in-and-out operations – now we conquer, cleanse, and stay. Until Hamas is destroyed. Along the way, what remains of the Strip is also being wiped out, simply because everything there has become one big terror city."

"This is a dramatic shift from what was done before, and with God's help, it will lead to victory, the destruction of Hamas and the return of the hostages," he added. "As part of the war, the IDF is moving the population out of combat zones and leaving no stone unturned. The population will reach the south of the Strip – and from there, with God's help, move to third countries under President Trump's plan. This is a change in the course of history.

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Awful news-solidarity to friends at Greenwich and I hope its management sees sense.

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Chris Havergal @chrishavergal.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

University of Greenwich facing backlash over claims it is planning to cut more than 300 jobs, equivalent to a quarter of total workforce www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ucu-cal... via @julietterowsell.bsky.social

timeshighereducation.com

UCU calls Greenwich a ‘rogue employer’ as 300 job cuts revealed

All of university’s hourly paid lecturers in social sciences set to go under plans that will affect a quarter of workforce

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

Here is the grad speech that NYU is now withholding the student's diploma for: "As I search my heart today in addressing you all…the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine."

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Catherine Mayer @mayeroflondon.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

“It is astonishing that a Labour government would abandon the labour force of an entire sector. My inbox is filled with individual artists & global companies who are bewildered that the government would allow theft at scale & cosy up to those who are thieving.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

theguardian.com

Ministers block Lords bid to make AI firms declare use of copyrighted content

Government uses arcane procedure to strip amendment passed by House of Lords from its data bill

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Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

A true scandal. One of the biggest free speech violations of our lifetimes and yet the people who screamed about free speech on campus for the past decade were either responsible for the violation (Trump, GOP) or ran cover for it and enabled it (Bari Weiss, Fox, etc).

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Charles Umney @charlesumney.bsky.social · 07/05/2025

Really happy we are joint winners of the Sage prize for papers in WES, congrats to Louise and her coauthors as well. Our paper identifies two distinct waves of global labour unrest by platform economy workers- you can read it free through the link below.

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