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Research

My research investigates how emerging technologies impact workers and communities, and builds tools and frameworks to shift that power. Here are the main threads of my work.

Data Tools For Workers

In a working reality that is increasingly algorithmically managed, workers, researchers, and advocates need tools to manage data and develop alternate algorithmic futures. We build open-source tools like the Workers' Algorithm Observatory (WAO) and FairFare that let workers crowdsource and analyze data about the algorithms that govern their work.

Crowdsourced AI Audits & Harms

We develop methods for communities to collectively audit algorithmic systems. Our research focuses on crowdsourcing data from users of platforms like Amazon, rideshare apps, and delivery services to understand how algorithms impact different groups, and building the tools that make this possible at scale.

Corporate Surveillance of the Commons

We study the spread and impact of corporate surveillance technologies in everyday life. Our research on Amazon Ring documented how participatory mass surveillance networks racialize and criminalize communities, leading to national policy conversations and media coverage.

Data Rights as Labor Rights

We argue that data rights are labor rights: workers should have collective bargaining power over the data generated by their labor. Our work on collective data governance frameworks has informed labor policy in Colorado, Washington, and New York City.

Contributions

Paper Talk Writing Media Event

2026

From Zine to Platform: Tracing Community Values through Designing Alternative Social Media

Ankolika De et. al., D Calacci

ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS), 2026 Under Review

Interaction Context Often Increases Sycophancy in LLMs

Shomik Jain, Charlotte Park, Matt Viana, Ashia Wilson, D Calacci

ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Forthcoming) (CHI), 2026 Refereed Article

Organizing in the Digital Age: Understanding Community, Challenges, and Consequences in Digitally facilitated Labor Organizing

Frederick Reiber, Alishah Chator, D Calacci, Allison McDonald

ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), 2026 Under Review

Surveillance, Spacing, Screaming and Scabbing: How Digital Technology Facilitates Union Busting

Frederick Reiber, Nathan Kim, Allison McDonald, D Calacci

ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Forthcoming) (CHI), 2026 Refereed Article

When is Data Annotation Participatory? A Comparative Study of Authority in AI Data Work

Gillian Diebold, Guoxiong Tang, D Calacci

ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT), 2026 Under Review

2025

AI. Culture. Democracy. Now

Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA

Invited Panelist, AIAI Symposium, 2025 Invited Talk

Data Infrastructures to Turn Workplace Rights into Access

D Calacci

Conference on Sustainable Work, Stockholm, Sweden (CSW), 2025 Conference Talk

Evaluating Amazon Effects and the Limited Impact of COVID-19 With Purchases Crowdsourced from US Consumers

Alex Berke, D Calacci, Alex Pentland, Kent Larson

International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2), 2025 Poster

How Algorithms Short-Circuit Occupational Health: Research and Engagement Approaches

CUNY School of Public Health, New York, NY

Guest Lecture, AI in Public Health: Opportunities, Applications, and Concerns, 2025 Invited Talk

How iTunes Helped Make Surveillance Wages: Platforms, Personalization, and Wages in the Inference Economy

Penn State University

Penn State Center for Socially Responsible AI Speaker Series, 2025 Internal Talk

International Conference on Sustainable Work

Stockholm, Sweden

Conference Organizer, 2025 Organized Events

Measuring risks inherent to our digital economies using Amazon purchase histories from US consumers

Alex Berke, Kent Larson, Alex Pentland, D Calacci

Workshop on Hot Topics in Privacy Enhancing Technologies (HotPETS), 2025 Conference Talk

Platforms, Personalization, and Wages in the Inference Economy

Brown University, Providence, RI

Guest Lecture, Introduction to Sociotechnical Systems, 2025 Invited Talk

Salon on Algorithmic Wage Discrimination

Data & Society Public Tech Leadership Collaborative Salon Series

Organizer, 2025 Organized Events

Surveillance Wages

Penn State University

Guest Lecture, DS435, 2025 Internal Talk

2024

Algorithms as Labor Conditions? Automation, Management, and Activism in the AI Workplace

Google DeepMind

Google DeepMind Research Talks, 2024 Invited Talk

Bargaining With the Black Box

Penn State University

Guest Lecture, DS435, 2024 Internal Talk

Data & Society Public Tech Leadership Collaborative Salon on Algorithmic Wage Discrimination

Co-organizer with Charley Johnson, Minsu Longiaru, Wilneida Negrón, Aiha Nguyen

Data & Society (D&S), 2024 Workshop

Developing tools for crowdsourcing worker data in collaboration with organizers

CSCW, San Jose, Costa Rica

Workshop on Worker Data Collectives at CSCW, 2024 Invited Talk

Worker Data Collectives as a means to Improve Accountability, Combat Surveillance and Reduce Inequalities

D Calacci

CSCW Workshop: Data Cooperatives (CSCW), 2024 Workshop Keynote

2023

Big Data & Society 2023 Colloquium: Data & Social Justice

Big Data & Society (BD&S), 2023 Invited Talk

Centering Communities in Research and Technology Design

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Princeton University Digital Investigators Conference, 2023 Invited Talk

FairFare: Towards crowdsourced algorithmic inquiry in the gig economy

D Calacci, Samantha Dalal, Varun Rao, Danny Spitzberg, Andrés Monroy-Hernandez

CSCW Workshop: Back to 'Back to Labor' (CSCW), 2023 Workshop Talk

Why Data Rights Should be Labor Rights: Data Protection and AI Regulation at Work

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Price Lab for Digital Humanities Seminar, 2023 Invited Talk

Why Data Rights Should be Labor Rights: Data Protection and AI Regulation for Gig Workers and Beyond

Princeton University, Princeton, NJ

Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy Seminar, 2023 Invited Talk

Worker surveillance fireside chat

Federal Trade Commission, virtual

with Veena Dubal, Wilneida Negrón and D Calacci, 2023 Invited Talk

2022

Fairer Working Futures: Co-Developing a Roadmap For Labor Centric FAccT Research

D Calacci, Willy Solis, Wilneida Negrón

ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency CRAFT Session (FAccT), 2022 Workshop

Federal Trade Commission PrivacyCon: Why Worker Data Regulation Is About More Than Privacy

Federal Trade Commission, virtual

Federal Trade Commission Panel on Commercial Surveillance, 2022 Invited Talk

How to Bargain with a Black Box: Auditing an Algorithmic Pay Change With a Community Led Audit

D Calacci, Willy Solis, Drew Ambrogi, Vanessa Bain, Danny Spitzberg

ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT), 2022 Keynote

How to Bargain with a Black Box: Hacking our Way Towards Data-Driven Organizing

Hackers On Planet Earth, Queens, NY

Hackers On Planet Earth, 2022 Invited Talk

2021

Ring Around the Neighborhood: Spatial Analysis of Doorbell Camera Use

University of Pittsburgh, virtual

Pitt Computational Social Science Seminar, 2021 Invited Talk

2020

Far Right Forum Network and LDA analysis

D Calacci, Aliah Braley, Dhaval Adjodah, Alex (Sandy) Pentland

International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2), 2020 Poster

One Ring To Surveil Them All: Hacking Amazon Ring to Map Neighborhood Surveillance

Data & Society, virtual

Data & Society Internal Speaker Series, 2020 Invited Talk

One Ring To Surveil Them All: Hacking Amazon Ring to Map Neighborhood Surveillance

D Calacci

Hackers On Planet Earth Conference (HOPE), 2020 Conference Talk

Ring Around the Neighborhood: Spatial Analysis of Doorbell Camera Use

D Calacci, Jeffrey Shen, Alex (Sandy) Pentland

International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2), 2020 Conference Talk

2019

Find My {}: Location Data, Surveillance, and the Commons

D Calacci, Becca Ricks, Nasser Eledroos

MozFest Privacy & Security (MozFest), 2019 Workshop

The tradeoff between the utility and risk of location data and implications for public good

D Calacci, Alex Berke, Kent Larson, Alex (Sandy) Pentland

Connected Life Conference, Oxford/LSE, 2019 Conference Talk

2018

Economical Segregation of Encounter Networks in Cities

Esteban Moro, D Calacci, Xiaowen Dong, Alex (Sandy) Pentland

Network Science Society Conference (NetSci), 2018 Conference Talk

Optimizing Inter Agent Communication Networks for Improved Deep Reinforcement Learning

Dhaval Adjodah, D Calacci, Yan Leng, Abhimanyu Dubey, Peter Krafft, Esteban Moro, Alex Sandy Pentland

Network Science Society Conference (NetSci), 2018 Conference Talk

2017

Exploring inter group social contact using high resolution geospatial data

D Calacci, Esteban Moro, Alex (Sandy) Pentland

Conference on Complex Systems (CCS), 2017 Conference Talk

Improved Learning in Evolution Strategies via Sparser Inter Agent Network Topologies

Dhaval Adjodah, D Calacci, Yan Leng, Peter Krafft, Esteban Moro, Alex 'Sandy' Pentland

Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), 2017 Conference Talk

2016

Breakout: An Open Measurement and Intervention Tool For Distributed Peer Learning Groups

D Calacci, Oren Lederman, David Shrier, Alex (Sandy) Pentland

International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling and Prediction (SBP-BRiMS), 2016 Conference Talk

2015

Automatic Discovery of Partisan Campaigns, Agenda Setting, and Political Spin in Press Releases

Oren Tsur, D Calacci, David Lazer

Computational Journalism Conference, Columbia University (CompJ), 2015 Poster

2014

As Long as You Name My Name Right: Social Circles and Social Sentiment in the Hollywood Hearings

D Calacci, Oren Tsur, David Lazer

ACL Joint Workshop on Social Dynamics and Personal Attributes in Social Media (ACL), 2014 Workshop Paper

Separated by a common language? Using topic models in reconstructing networks of political influence and cooperation

Oren Tsur, D Calacci, David Lazer

Political Networks Conference (PolNet), 2014 Conference Talk

What you know and who you know: discussion networks and political knowledge

Katherine Ognyanova, D Calacci, David Lazer, Michael Neblo, William Minozzi, Brian Rubineau

Political Networks Conference (PolNet), 2014 Poster