Venture Labor| Fifteen Implications of Networked Scholar Research for Networked Work

Abstract

Networked work is the venture labor of workers involved in multiple teams. Scholars are a special kind of networked workers, partially involved in temporary teams to produce findings, presentations, papers, and patents. Many networked scholars are linked across universities by common interests, data stores, opportunities for research funding, and publications. Our NAVEL team’s study of 144 Canadian scholars in the GRAND network found that already-networked scholars were more likely to be recruited into new research teams. Although network members were officially equal, senior and entrepreneurial scholars were more equal than others. Despite norms of interdisciplinarity, scholars in the same subfields sought out one another. Although the scholars used multiple digital means to communicate, in-person meetings—and hence physical proximity—ruled.

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