The App Economy Is the Past—And Not Necessarily the Future

“‘What Is a Good Job Now?’ In Gig Work” Shows How Algorithms Have Transformed Freelancing, and What Comes Next

In a week when a federal labor rule went into effect making it easier for app-based gig workers to be classified as employees (with significant pushback), and a month after the largest-ever DoorDash, Lyft, and Uber driver strike, Zócalo and The James Irvine Foundation presented “What Is a Good Job Now?” In Gig Work. Part of a series exploring low-wage work across sectors in California, the conversation struck at (and in) the heart of the app-based gig economy: the Bay Area.

The panel took place at the New Parkway Theater in …

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One Nation … Under Parliament?

The Zócalo and Los Angeles Times Event ‘Would Parliamentary America Have More Fun?’ Considers a U.S. Governed by Multi-Party Coalitions

“Convince me,” Los Angeles Times columnist Erika D. Smith told Maxwell L. Stearns, the author of the forthcoming book Parliamentary America: The Least Radical Means of Radically Repairing Our Broken …

Life After Incarceration Starts in Community

“‘What Is a Good Job Now?’ For the Formerly Incarcerated” Reveals the Hard, Long Work of Building Careers for People Reentering Society

What is a good job now?

That has been the guiding question for Zócalo’s ongoing series investigating low-wage work across sectors in California—supported by The James Irvine Foundation. Thus far, we’ve …

Hearing America in Matches, Police Whistles, and Percussion | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Hearing America in Matchsticks, Police Whistles, and Clanking Coins

‘How Do We Hear America?’ Concludes Zócalo’s 2023 Public Programs Season on a High Note

“American Ledger no. 1” sounds different each time.

That’s by design, MacArthur fellow Raven Chacon told Zócalo before a performance of his ambitious sound and visual retelling of the nation was …

Art Can Create Connection in Contentious Times

The “Arts in Times of Crises” Conference Considered How Artists and Cultural Leaders Can Break Through Our Polarizing Moment

Leading voices in the arts from around the world convened in Los Angeles recently to take part in “Arts in Times of Crises,” a two-day conference on the role of …

‘AI Is Nothing Without Us’ | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

‘AI Is Nothing Without Us’

Panelists for ‘Is AI the End of Creativity—Or a New Beginning?’ Find the Emerging Technology at Odds With the Creative Economy

Last week, the board of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI fired its CEO, Sam Altman, only to reinstate him days later—an ouster/“inster” that left many questioning the leadership, safety risks, and oversight of …