At the School of IT seminar, Professor Jean-Paul Van Belle will be sharing his insights on the development implications of the Digital Economy.  The seminar will focus on the potential (and hype) around the so-called platform economy (uber, airbnb) and gig work (Amazon Turk, Money4Jam) to alleviate some of Africa’s unemployment. He will also report on a small study looking at the attitudes and experiences in respect of South African microworkers:digital work that has been split up in a large number of tiny online tasks.

Jean-Paul Van Belle is a professor in the department of Information Systems and director of the Centre for IT and National Development in Africa. His research focus is ICT4D, including the potential offered by emerging technologies, the data revolution and the digital economy.