scholarly journals Coworking Spaces in the Global South: Local Articulations and Imaginaries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Tintiangko ◽  
Cheryll Ruth Soriano

Building on scholarly explorations on the nuances of labor conditions in emerging knowledge economies in the Global South and the glocalization of the digital labor market, this paper examines how coworking spaces in Philippines are designed and organized. In particular, we explore the role that these alternative workspaces take in addressing the unique needs of local digital platform workers or online freelancers. The Philippines ranks third, after the US and India, among the countries with the greatest number of online freelancers. Drawing from a multi-sited ethnography of coworking spaces in Metro Manila including interviews with coworking space managers as well as Filipino online freelancers, the paper explores how the latter perceive the role and experience the value of coworking spaces. Echoing Oreglia and Ling’s notion of “digital imagination,” we find that digital workers sustain a unique sense of “aspirational belonging” to coworking spaces which we describe as a state of willingness to maintain a positive perception of these spaces without any certainty of realizing its promised benefits. We also argue that the very same qualities that render coworking spaces aspirational for online Filipino freelancer function to regulate a degree of in/exclusivity of urban spaces.

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Henry B. Raquel ◽  
Marlon B. Raquel ◽  
Melven B. Raquel ◽  
Beryl T. Carloto

Policy makers in the Philippines are focusing on the gaps between the knowledge and skills provided by higher educational institutions and the job opportunities available in the labor market. Graduates are often faced with challenges in looking for jobs right after graduation, thus, schools play a crucial role in ensuring that students are equipped with knowledge and competency skills. This study examines the level of employability and competence skills of the 309 graduating students taking up different degree programs of The Fisher Valley College located in Taguig City, Metro Manila. About 17.8% of the respondents are currently working and 21.7% wanted to work in the service sector. More than half of the total respondents wanted to work in the government. Most of the respondents will look for a job immediately after graduation. Communication skills are the most important of skills in order for them to get hired in their first job applications. The most important factor identified when selecting an organization or company for work is when it provides ample opportunities for them for career advancement. Among work-related values, respondents considered love for God and perseverance and hard work as the most important. Five components of employability skills were identified: (1) problem-solving and analytic; (2) learning; (3) personal organization and time management; (4) creativity, innovation, and change; and (5) personal strengths. Overall, students assessed that these skills are very important in employment. However, they reported lower competency levels on these skills particularly on solving problems, identifying essential components of the problem, sorting out the relevant data to solve the problem, and contributing to group problem solving. It is very important for all sectors, i.e., schools, government, and industry, to prepare the students acquire the necessary skills and provide them with opportunities as they enter the labor market.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-30
Author(s):  
Jan Michael Alexandre Cortez Bernadas ◽  
Cheryll Ruth Soriano

Purpose The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it explores the extent to which diversity of connectivity or the connection through multiple internet access points may facilitate online privacy behavior. Second, it explains the diversity of connectivity-online privacy behavior link in terms of information literacy. Design/methodology/approach Situated in the context of urban poor youth in the Philippines (n = 300), this paper used a quantitative approach, specifically an interview-administered survey technique. Respondents were from three cities in Metro Manila. To test for indirect relationship, survey data were analyzed using bootstrapping technique via SPSS macro PROCESS (Hayes, 2013). Findings Urban poor youth with diversified connection to the internet engaged in online privacy behavior. The more the youth are connected to the internet through diverse modalities, the more this fosters cautious online privacy behavior. In addition, information literacy explained how diversity of connectivity facilitated online privacy behavior. It suggests that differences in online privacy behavior may result from the extent of basic know-how of navigating online information. In the context of the urban poor in the Global South, the youth are constantly negotiating ways to not only connect to the internet but also acquire digital skills necessary for protective online behaviors. Originality/value To date, this is one of the few papers to contribute to conversations about online privacy among youth in the Global South. It broadens the literature on social determinants of online privacy behavior that is crucial for designing policy interventions for those in the margins.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charmaine G. Misalucha

International Relations scholarship highlights the differences of the countries in the global south. The postcolonial histories of countries herein give rise to unique experiences that push them to consolidate their states at the soonest time possible even as they are inextricably integrated in an international system that is biased towards the great powers. This double pressure either makes or break a state, and it is this tension that is the focus of the special issue. This concluding article offers a bird’s-eye view of the nuances of the differences of the global south and the problems associated with it. I argue that while the differences may indeed be unique, not seeing beyond those is problematic. In line with this, I first acknowledge the differences the global south represents. I look at how the International Relations concepts of state, rational choice, and the international system are seen as inapplicable to the workings of the global south, and how this “misfit” is detected not only in the dynamics of Philippine foreign policy, but also in its relationships with various regional powers like the United States and China. I then turn to the problems associated with seeingonlythe differences of the global south. I highlight the concepts of mimicry and hybridity before examining the cases of the Philippines’ labor conditions, human security for migrant workers, and disability-related issues. In all these, caution, mindfulness, and the need for dialogue are therefore called for.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gremil Alessandro Naz

<p>This paper examines the changes in Filipino immigrants’ perceptions about themselves and of Americans before and after coming to the United States. Filipinos have a general perception of themselves as an ethnic group. They also have perceptions about Americans whose media products regularly reach the Philippines. Eleven Filipinos who have permanently migrated to the US were interviewed about their perceptions of Filipinos and Americans. Before coming to the US, they saw themselves as hardworking, family-oriented, poor, shy, corrupt, proud, adaptable, fatalistic, humble, adventurous, persevering, gossipmonger, and happy. They described Americans as rich, arrogant, educated, workaholic, proud, powerful, spoiled, helpful, boastful, materialistic, individualistic, talented, domineering, friendly, accommodating, helpful, clean, and kind. Most of the respondents changed their perceptions of Filipinos and of Americans after coming to the US. They now view Filipinos as having acquired American values or “Americanized.” On the other hand, they stopped perceiving Americans as a homogenous group possessing the same values after they got into direct contact with them. The findings validate social perception and appraisal theory, and symbolic interaction theory.</p>


Author(s):  
Arne L. Kalleberg

This chapter discusses how the growth of precarious work and the polarization of the US labor market have produced major problems for the employment experiences of young workers. A prominent indicator of young workers’ difficulties in the labor market has been the sharp increase in their unemployment rates since the Great Recession. Another, equally if not more severe, problem faced by young workers today is the relatively low quality of the jobs that they were able to get. Other problems include the exclusion of young workers from the labor market and from education and training opportunities; the inability to find jobs that utilize their education, training, and skills; and the inability to obtain jobs that provide them with an opportunity to get a foothold in a career that would lead to progressively better jobs and thus be able to construct career narratives.


2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110164
Author(s):  
Adriana de Souza e Silva ◽  
Ragan Glover-Rijkse ◽  
Anne Njathi ◽  
Daniela de Cunto Bueno

Pokémon Go is the most popular location-based game worldwide. As a location-based game, Pokémon Go’s gameplay is connected to networked urban mobility. However, urban mobility differs significantly around the world. Large metropoles in South America and Africa, for example, experience ingrained social, cultural, and economic inequalities. With this in mind, we interviewed Pokémon Go players in two Global South cities, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Nairobi (Kenya), to understand how players navigate urban spaces not only based on gameplay but with broader concerns for safety. Our findings reveal that players negotiate their urban mobilities based on perceptions of risk and safety, choosing how to move around and avoiding areas known for violence and theft. These findings are relevant for understanding the social and political aspects of networked urban spaces as well as for investigating games as venues through which we can understand ordinary life, racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequalities.


2008 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaditya Mattoo ◽  
Ileana Cristina Neagu ◽  
Çağlar Özden
Keyword(s):  

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristal An Agrupis ◽  
Chris Smith ◽  
Shuichi Suzuki ◽  
Annavi Marie Villanueva ◽  
Koya Ariyoshi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The Philippines has been one of the most affected COVID-19 countries in the Western Pacific region, but there are limited data on COVID-19-related mortality and associated factors from this setting. We aimed to describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics and associations with mortality among COVID-19-confirmed individuals admitted to an infectious diseases referral hospital in Metro Manila. Main text This was a single-centre retrospective analysis including the first 500 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 individuals admitted to San Lazaro Hospital, Metro Manila, Philippines, from January to October 2020. We extracted clinical data and examined epidemiological and clinical characteristics and factors associated with in-hospital mortality. Of the 500 individuals, 133 (26.6%) were healthcare workers (HCW) and 367 (73.4%) were non-HCW, with HCW more likely presenting with milder symptoms. Non-HCW admissions were more likely to have at least one underlying disease (51.6% vs. 40.0%; p = 0.002), with hypertension (35.4%), diabetes (17.4%), and tuberculosis (8.2%) being the most common. Sixty-one (12.2%) died, comprising 1 HCW and 60 non-HCW (0.7% vs. 16.3%; p < 0.001). Among the non-HCW, no death occurred for the 0–10 years age group, but deaths were recorded across all other age groups. Compared to those who recovered, individuals who died were more likely to be older (p < 0.001), male (p = 0.015), report difficulty of breathing (p < 0.001), be HIV positive (p = 0.008), be intubated (p < 0.001), categorised as severe or critical (p < 0.001), have a shorter mean hospital stay (p < 0.001), or have an additional diagnosis of pneumonia (p < 0.001) or ARDS (p < 0.001). Conclusion Our analysis reflected significant differences in characteristics, symptomatology, and outcomes between healthcare and non-healthcare workers. Despite the unique mix of cohorts, our results support the country’s national guideline on COVID-19 vaccination which prioritises healthcare workers, the elderly, and people with comorbidities and immunodeficiency states.


Author(s):  
Sammy Yip ◽  
Steve Kite ◽  
Paresh Vishnoi ◽  
Vikas Venkatesha

<p>Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge (BCIB) in the Philippines is a proposed 32km sea-crossing which will connect Bataan to Cavite, to unlock opportunity for economic growth and expansion outside Metro Manila. A Feasibility Study was carried out to plan the road link, which would involve two major navigation bridges, long marine viaducts, and interchange connections. This paper outlines the Feasibility Study and the preliminary design of the crossing, and highlights how the bridge options were assessed in order to come up with an optimum solution.</p>


2022 ◽  
pp. 089692052110702
Author(s):  
Filomin C. Gutierrez

The article problematizes state penality as a mechanism of repression of precarious workers through a war on drugs in the Philippines. The narratives of 27 arrested ‘drug personalities’ in Metro Manila tell of how methamphetamine energizes bodies and motivates minds for productive work. Bidding to be classified as willing and able workers and family men, the study’s participants orient to a moral stratification that pits the ‘moral versus immoral’ and the ‘hardworking versus lazy’. Qualifying their drug use as strategic and calculated, they uphold the neoliberal values of individual choice and accountability. Their support for the anti-drug campaign stems from their recognition of a drug problem and the socioemotional toll of the dysfunctions of living in the slums. While trade liberalization facilitates methamphetamine inflow, a war on drugs fuels an authoritarian populism. As the state reaffirms symbolic mission to protect its citizens, it blames precarity to a problem population.


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