Rafael Grohmann

Other Tech Worlds are Possible
In this episode of The JCR: A Massey Podcast, Junior Fellow Rowan Munson speaks with Dr. Rafael Do Nascimento Grohmann, Media Studies,UofT about his research in South America into worker-led technology development. Listen here the-jcr-a.blubrry.net/2026/02/20/o...

I’m thrilled to share that I just signed a contract with the University of California Press for my first single-authored book in English. Prototypes of Struggles: Workers Failing and Learning to Govern Digital Platforms

4S Conference will be here in Toronto this year, October 7-10, and I’m organizing an open panel on Worker-led Techno-futures. I would like to invite you to submit a 250-word abstract by April 30
www.4sonline.org/accepted_ope...

Tomorrow! Book talk with Nick Srnicek on Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI.

DigiLabour Channel. Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Ey...

After the talk, there will be two discussants: Helena Martins and David Nieborg

💥 Human bots in parasite platforms. New article on click farms as platform labor, published in Media International Australia.

@adriamaral.bsky.social @carolgovari.bsky.social

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Stay tuned! The book Digital Solidarity Economy in Latin America (Bristol University Press and Policy Press) is coming in October 2026! Edited by me, Belén Albornoz, and Alessio Bertolini. Foreword by Nick Couldry
bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/digital-soli...

“We are living in a kind of academic ‘Stranger Things’ nostalgia…recovering words like imperialism, colonialism, and sovereignty because we didn’t address those issues properly in the past. So the monsters and zombies are back.”
- @grohmannrafael.bsky.social

Reframing "Sovereignty" Rafael Grohmann True independence and control can’t be rented from tech companies.

@alixdunn.com asked @grohmannrafael.bsky.social for his take on “sovereignty” as part of our Reframing Impact: AI Summit 2026 series, in partnership with @ainowinstitute.bsky.social and Aapti Institute. Watch the full interview here: www.themaybe.org/reframing-im...

We’re dropping the final four interventions with @meredithmeredith.bsky.social @grohmannrafael.bsky.social, Chenai Chair, and @chinasa.bsky.social.

In Reframing Impact: AI Summit 2026, we’re reframing the narratives that shape AI discourse, policy, and power today. 🧵

Reframing "Sovereignty" Rafael Grohmann True independence and control can’t be rented from tech companies.

1. @grohmannrafael.bsky.social reframes digital sovereignty from a top-down state vs. Big Tech battle to a bottom-up vision rooted in community control, education, and shared resources. www.themaybe.org/reframing-im...

Open Source The 2026 AI Impact Summit in India is the latest iteration of an event that has become a bellwether for global discourse around the AI industry, especially the question of whether, and how, it can be ...

“Sovereignty” with @grohmannrafael.bsky.social: Why are tech execs wielding “digital sovereignty” as an argument for corporate control? Shouldn’t digital sovereignty mean that “we the people” get control over our digital destinies?

ainowinstitute.org/publications...

Yes!

Sovereignty The 2026 AI Impact Summit in India is the latest iteration of an event that has become a bellwether for global discourse around the AI industry, especially the question of whether, and how, it can be ...

Reframing Sovereignty. My interview with AI Now for Reframing Impact: AI Summit. Along with Naomi Klein, Karen Hao, Timnit Gebru, among others

ainowinstitute.org/publications...

Photo by Dennis Ottink on Unsplash. Free Unsplash licence: https://unsplash.com/fr/photos/champ-brun-pres-dun-plan-deau-pendant-la-journee-06jRcaY4wgg?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditShareLink

[New special issue] Digital Solidarity Economies, edited by María Belén Albornoz, @ricardespelt.bsky.social, @grohmannrafael.bsky.social, & Denise Kasparian --> 14 fresh articles on the resistance to extractive models of the digital economy policyreview.info/articles/ana... #solidarity #economy

Introduction to the special issue on Digital Solidarity Economies This introduction situates Digital Solidarity Economies (DSE) as an analytical and practical framework for reimagining the digital economy through cooperation, mutual aid, and shared ownership.

See the intro to the issue here : policyreview.info/articles/ana....

Kudumbashree's Lunch Bell project and digital solidarity economy in Kerala, India This study examines the Lunch Bell project, a state-supported, women-centred meal delivery platform in Kerala, India, embodying a digital solidarity economy that promotes sustainability and addresses ...

Our work "Kudumbashree's Lunch Bell project and digital solidarity economy in Kerala, India" (with @prch.bsky.social & Fibin Filal) is published in the special issue on digital solidarity economies etd by María Belén Albornoz, @ricardespelt.bsky.social, @grohmannrafael.bsky.social & Denise Kasparian

Introduction to the special issue on Digital Solidarity Economies This introduction situates Digital Solidarity Economies (DSE) as an analytical and practical framework for reimagining the digital economy through cooperation, mutual aid, and shared ownership.

💥 Digital Solidarity Economies. New special issue published in Internet Policy Review. Open access.

Editors: Belen Albornoz, Ricard Espelt, Rafael Grohmann and Denise Kasparian
policyreview.info/articles/ana...

Silicon Elsewhere, Book Talk with Andrea Pollio YouTube video by DigiLabour

First was an interesting talk by @andretwp.bsky.social on Nairobi's tech ecosystems and its complex connections with China at @grohmannrafael.bsky.social's DigiLabour lab www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wkm... (2/6)

Solidarity in action: building worker-owned intersectional platforms in Latin America Abstract. The project Worker-Owned Intersectional Platforms (WOIP) (Grohmann et al., 2025) brought together six organizations from Brazil and Argentina in

Check out @grohmannrafael.bsky.social's contribution to our forum on "Democratic Left Futures" for real world examples of "solidarity in action" against the dystopia of big tech fascism!

academic.oup.com/ccc/article/...

capa da HQ Outros Mundos Tecnológicos são Possíveis. Ilustração colorida: uma mocinha negra de cabelos longos e pretos, vestindo camiseta branca e calça jeans segura um celular em nossa direção, mostrando o logotipo do MTST

Página de quadrinhos colorido que mostra uma ocupação. Em uma das casas, duas mulheres conversam enquanto uma delas cozinha. A mais jovem é a mesma mocinha da capa, descrita na imagem anterior, a que está cozinhando é uma mulher negra de meia idade, cabelos negros cacheados com alguns fios grisalhos pouco acima dos ombros

DIA DO QUADRINHO NACIONAL, tome gibi de graça:
Outros mundos tecnológicos são possíveis
@grohmannrafael.bsky.social (idealização)
Nat Sierpinski (roteiro)
@germana-fazgibi.bsky.social (arte)

@tecnologiamtst.bsky.social
www.nucleodetecnologia.com.br/hq
#comics #quadrinhos #BRArt
(tem + vem no trem)

Arte es Ética presente en el Workers Governing Technologies workshop – Arte es Ética

Muchísimas gracias @grohmannrafael.bsky.social por la invitación y el espacio para exponer nuestras miradas sobre toda la problemática en torno a la IA y especialmente a la IA generativa en cuanto a su impacto y afectaciones a nuestros trabajos y a nuestras vidas.

arteesetica.org/arte-es-etic...

Looking forward to 4S in Toronto!

I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation

Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".

Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!

Deadline: 2nd February 2026

www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...

Congratulations to the editors.
Chapter 35 in Section Six is on the ‘Unionisation of Digital Labour’

🌟New book! SAGE Handbook of Digital Labour, edited by Ergin Bulut, Julie Chen, Rafael Grohmann, and Kylie Jarrett.

us.sagepub.com/en-us/sam/th...

Cover of Handbook of Digital Labour.

This arrived today. There is only one copy which is grrr but it is a thing of beauty. And hard graft. Thanks to all our contributors and my co-editors @grohmannrafael.bsky.social @bltergin.bsky.social and Julie Chen

Solidarity in action: building worker-owned intersectional platforms in Latin America.

Interview published in the journal Communication, Culture & Critique

doi.org/10.1093/ccc/...

Cooperativas apresentam modelo de IA democrática como alternativa às big techs A corrida desenfreada para o desenvolvimento da inteligência artificial continua a provocar alarme generalizado sobre o seu potencial impacto – no consumo de

Materia da MundoCoop sobre a conferencia Cooperative AI que aconteceu em Istanbul em novembro

mundocoop.com.br/destaque/coo...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New article out in @bigdatasoc.bsky.social (with Dušan Cotoras).

We examine how AI ethics is negotiated in practice through an ethnographic study of a predictive system developed inside Chile’s Public Defender’s Office.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Soberania Popular e Autonomia: Diferentes Sentidos e Consequências para Políticas Digitais

Novo artigo com Pedro Burity e Lorena Vilarins na revista Comunicação, Mídia e Consumo

revistacmc.espm.br/revistacmc/a...