Researcher Highlight: Heba Salman
Introducing Our New Series: Researcher Highlight
The Digital Work Group (DWG) has been studying freelancers on Upwork and the gig economy for over four years now. The head researchers of this initiative are Steve Sawyer of the iSchool at Syracuse University and Michael Dunn of Skidmore College. Professor Sawyer and Professor Dunn have led a team of PhD candidates from Syracuse graduate school and undergraduate researchers from both institutions (up to a cumulative total of 25 students!). Each researcher has a unique background and area of expertise that brings a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective to the project. With all the valuable contributions that the team members have contributed to the work, each one deserves a spotlight!
We will be starting a series dedicated to introducing members of the Digital Work Group. These highlights will showcase the researcher’s accomplishments during their time in college, interests that drove their motivation to join the Digital Work Group, and what they have learned through participating in the research. If you are interested in learning about the people who are producing these extensive findings, look out for the Researcher Highlight Series.
About Heba Salman
My name is Heba Salman, and I am in the class of 2025 at Skidmore College. I have been part of the Digital Work Group for almost 2 years now, having joined in January 2022. My major is in Psychology with double minors in Sociology and Business. I have collaborated on research with professors in the three fields that I am pursuing. With social psychologist Professor Wilton, I studied adult’s lay beliefs on children’s development of racial concepts and how it impacts their support for race-education policies. I also investigated the relationship between Egyptian American immigrants and their choice in college majors with sociologist Professor Emeka. The research that I conduct with the DWG is particularly significant to my experience because it was my introduction to undergraduate research, and I have been consistently working on the project since I have joined.
Takeaways From Participating in the DWG
When I was invited to join the group, I was interested in joining because I enjoy trying new things and diversifying my experiences. The more I was involved with the project, the more I valued what I have learned about research processes and the freelancers in the gig economy. Firstly, freelancers come in all shapes and forms. As I interviewed freelancers from different corners of the world, I heard about the niche specialties and unique arrangements of their work. It led me to reflect about the definition of a freelancer and the ambiguity of who can fit into the characteristics of a freelancer (visit this article to read more).
A second take away from researching on the DWG is the role of the platform and how it affects the freelancers. We have been tracking freelancers on Upwork, specifically. It is common for newcomers on the platform to feel discouraged as they struggle landing a gig. One reason may be the outstanding competition that freelancers face, or another reason may be the structure of the platform. The platform ultimately has the control of who views your profile through algorithms and implementing metric systems. As we heard the freelancers who we interviewed communicate their frustrations, I wrote a blog post that summarized tips from the successful participants in our study.
Last but not least, my participation in the DWG allowed me to see all the steps of conducting research. This hands on-experience taught me the benefits of longitudinal studies, how to apply for grants, exposed me to various research journals and interesting empirical articles, and importantly, creating interview questions, coding transcripts to be used as data, and importantly, how to work cohesively with a team. With these skills, I plan to pursue research at the graduate school level.
Written by Heba Salman. Special thanks to Isabel Munoz for her edits.
