Profile

I am the Professor of Internet Geography at the Oxford Internet Institute, a Faculty Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute, a Senior Research Fellow at Green Templeton College, a Research Affiliate in the University of Oxford’s School of Geography and the Environment, a Research Associate at the Centre for Information Technology and National Development in Africa at the University of Cape Town, and a Visiting Researcher at Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung and Technische Universität Berlin. I lead a range of research projects spanning topics between digital labour, the gig economy, internet geographies, and ICTs and development; and am accepting PhD students with an interest in any of that work.

About My Research

I have led three large-scale multi-country studies (including a five-year ERC Starting Grant), which examine the production networks of digital work. This research analyses how workers in the world’s economic margins are enrolled into global value chains and a planetary labour market (for instance, looking at how Kenyan data entry workers or Filipino personal assistants are an integral part of some of the world’s most important digital production networks). It then seeks to examine how the networked and geographic positionalities of those workers impact on the working conditions that they experience.

Together with colleagues on three continents, I have started a participatory action research project called the Fairwork Foundation. This initiative, which I founded in 2018 and now run together with a group of labour lawyers and labour sociologists, has now grown to an international project team of 22 people. It has brought together key stakeholders around the world – including workers, trade unions, platforms, and policy makers – to set minimum fair work standards for the gig economy. Using a transparent methodology and a collectively-determined scoring system, we score gig economy work platforms and conduct extensive qualitative research on working conditions prior to releasing the scores. As of 2020, the project has successfully been piloted in Germany, India and South Africa, enjoining major platforms to make changes to their conditions (e.g. implementing minimum wages) in order to receive a higher score. The project will also be launching in the UK, Chile, Indonesia, and Ecuador later in 2020 (see https://fair.work/ for more information).

Previous research has focused on digital entrepreneurship and the ways that conditions in African cities shape practices of local entrepreneurs (as part of a large project about African ‘knowledge economies‘), and on how the internet can impact production networks (of tea, tourism, and outsourcing) in East Africa, and asked who wins and loses from those changes. I lead the ‘Digital Inequality Group‘ of researchers at Oxford.

Digital Geographies is my most long-standing research area. I ask how people and places are ever more defined by, and made visible through, not only their traditional physical locations and properties, but also their virtual attributes and digital shadows. If the places that we live in are increasingly digital, then there are important questions about who controls, and has access to, our digitally-augmented and digitally-mediated worlds. I have written extensively about this topic in both the academic and popular press and maintain a collection of maps of internet geographies.

I serve as an editor of the journal Environment and Planning A, and am an editorial board member of Information, Communication & Society, Geo: Geography and Environment, Television and New Media, Big Data & Society, Global Perspectives, Digital Geography and Society, and Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation.

Teaching

I teach a course at the OII called ‘Economic Development in Digital Capitalism‘ that focuses on the winners and losers in the contexts of rapidly changing global connectivity. The course examines how the digital economy can impact on the economic positionalities of people and practices at economic peripheries. I have previously taught courses on: Advanced Qualitative Research, Social Research Methods and the Internet, Globalisation, Introduction to Human Geography, the Collection and Analysis of Geographic Data, Economic Geography, and GIS.

Awards

I am grateful to have had much of my research funded by donors such as the European Research Council, the ESRC, the British Academy, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, IDRC, NSF, and the Leverhulme Trust. I am also fortunate to have been able to work with a diverse, creative, and smart group of scholars and activists.

Other

I try to maintain a blog to regularly share thoughts and new outputs. If you want to get in touch, you can find my contact details on this page.

I come from a working class background, and feel strongly about the roles that an elite university like Oxford can (and should) play in broadly disseminating knowledge beyond its walls, and in attempting to amplify the voices of traditionally marginalised groups. Students and colleagues in similar situations, my door is open.

Recent books

Select Current Writing

For more of my writing, please visit my full list of publications.

Positions held at the OII

  • Professor of Internet Geography, July 2016 –
  • Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor, May 2014 – June 2016
  • Senior Research Fellow, August 2013 – May 2014
  • Director of Research, October 2012 – December 2013
  • Research Fellow, October 2009 – July 2013

Students supervised at the OII

Current students

Past students

Research

Current projects

  • GCRF Decent Work: FAIRWORK in the Platform Economy in the Global South

    Participants: Prof D'Arcy Du Toit, Prof Sandra Fredman, Prof Mark Graham, Prof Richard Heeks, Prof Jean-Paul Van Belle, Dr Jamie Woodcock

    This project aims to understand the contextual, contractual and practical nature of platform work, to identify its shortfall from decent work standards and to contribute to the development of its governance and regulation.

  • A Fairwork Foundation: Towards fair work in the platform economy

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Jamie Woodcock, Adam Badger

    The Fairwork Foundation will certify online labour platforms, using leverage from workers, consumers, and platforms to improve the welfare and job quality of digital workers.

  • GeoNet: Changing Connectivities and the Potentials of Sub-Saharan Africa’s Knowledge Economy

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Stefano De Sabbata, Nicolas Friederici, Dr Christopher Foster, Sanna Ojanperä, Dr Mohammad Amir Anwar, Dr Fabian Braesemann, Michel Wahome

    This research project is examining the geographies, drivers, and effects of Sub-Saharan Africa's emerging information economies at a time of changing connectivity and Internet access across the region.

Past projects

  • Internet Geographies Leverhulme Prize

    Participants: Prof Mark Graham, Dr Martin Dittus

    As digital augmentations of our world become ever more embedded into everyday life, this project asks where they are, what they are, and who owns, controls, and can shape them.

  • Economic Geographies of the Darknet

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Joss Wright, Martin Dittus

    This project investigates the economic geographies of illegal economic activities in anonymous internet marketplaces.

  • Wikipedia’s Networks and Geographies: Representation and Power in Peer-Produced Content

    Participants: Dr Han-Teng Liao, Dr Bernie Hogan, Professor Mark Graham, Dr Scott A. Hale, Dr Heather Ford

    This project brings together OII research fellows and doctoral students to shed light on the incorporation of new users and information into the Wikipedia community.

  • Wikichains: Encouraging Transparency in Commodity Chains

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Steve New, Joe Shaw

    Wikichains is a website that aims to encourage ethical consumption and transparency in commodity chains, by encouraging Internet users from around the world to upload text, images, sounds, and videos of any node on any commodity chain.

  • Internet Geographies: Data Shadows and Digital Divisions of Labour

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Joshua Melville, Dr Stefano De Sabbata

    This project maps and measures the geographies of information on the Internet.

  • Big Data and Human Development

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Fabian Braesemann

    The big data and human development research network aims to investigate the potential uses of 'big data' for advancing human development and addressing equity gaps.

  • Microwork and Virtual Production Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Isis Hjorth, Professor Vili Lehdonvirta, Dr Alex J Wood, Professor Helena Barnard

    This project aims to understand the implications of gig economy and online freelancing for economic development.

  • Geography of Digital Inequality

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Grant Blank, Claudio Calvino

    This project combined OxIS and census data to produce the first detailed geographic estimates of Internet use across the UK.

  • Development and Broadband Internet Access in East Africa

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Laura Elizabeth Mann, Dr Christopher Foster, Professor Tim Waema, Charles Katua, Dr Felix Akorli, Claude Bizimana

    By using surveys, interviews and in-depth observations, this project examined the expectations and stated potentials of broadband Internet in East Africa and compared those expectations to on-the-ground effects that broadband connectivity is having.

  • Does Wikipedia represent ‘the sum of all human knowledge’? Examining the geographical scope of a peer-produced encyclopedia

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Heather Ford, Brent Hecht, Dave Musicant, Shilad Sen

    This project aims to develop a set of lenses for analyzing Wikipedia’s geographical scope whilst employing a reflexive analytical process to expose the makings of the ‘big data’ that we will produce.

  • Who represents the Arab world online? Mapping and measuring local knowledge production and representation in the Middle East and North Africa

    Participants: Dr Bernie Hogan, Professor Mark Graham, Richard Farmbrough, Clarence Singleton, Dr Heather Ford, Dr Ilhem Allagui, Dr Ali Frihida, Ahmed Medhat Mohamed

    Using Wikipedia to explore the participation gap between those who have their say, and those whose voices are pushed to the side, in representations of the Arab world online.

  • Using Twitter to Map and Measure Online Cultural Diffusion

    Participants: Professor Mark Graham, Dr Scott A. Hale, Devin Gaffney, Dr Ning Wang

    This project is using Twitter data to comprehensively uncover where Internet content is being created; whether the amount of content created in different places is changing over time; and how content moves across time and space in the Social Web.

  • Interactive Visualizations for Teaching, Research, and Dissemination

    Participants: Professor Helen Margetts, Professor Mark Graham, Dr Scott A. Hale, Dr Monica Bulger, Joshua Melville

    "InteractiveVis" aims to support easy creation of interactive visualisations for geospatial and network data by researchers: it will survey existing solutions, build currently missing features, and smooth over incompatibilities between existing libraries.

Books

Woodcock, J. and Graham, M. 2019. The Gig Economy: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Polity.

Graham, M, Kitchin, R., Mattern, S., and Shaw, J. (eds). 2019. How to Run a City Like Amazon, and Other Fables. London: Meatspace Press.

Graham, M and Dutton, W. H. (eds). 2019. Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing our Lives (second edition). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Graham, M. (ed). 2019. Digital Economies at Global Margins. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Graham, M and Dutton, W. H. (eds). 2014. Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing our Lives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hammett, D., Twyman, K. C., and Graham, M. 2014. Research and Fieldwork in Development. London: Routledge.

Pamphlets

Graham, M and Shaw, J. (eds). 2017. Towards a Fairer Gig Economy. London: Meatspace Press. (also translated into Italian)

Shaw, J and Graham, M. (eds). 2017. Our Digital Rights to the City. London: Meatspace Press.

Shaw, J and Graham, M. (eds). 2017. Il nostro diritto digitale alla città. Rome: Openpolis.

Graham, M., S. Hale and M. Stephens. 2011. Geographies of the World’s Knowledge. Convoco! Edition.

Graham, M., S. Hale and M. Stephens. 2011. Eine Geographie Des Wissens Der Welt. Convoco! Edition.

Selected publications

Graham, M. 2020. Regulate, replicate, and resist – The conjunctural geographies of platform urbanism. Urban Geography. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1717028

Anwar, M. A. and Graham, M. 2020. Digital Labour at Economic Margins: African Workers and the Global Information Economy, Review of African Political Economy.

Graham, M., Woodcock, J., Heeks, R., Mungai, P., Van Belle, J-P., du Toit, D., Fredman, S., Osiki, A., van der Spuy, A., Silberman, S. 2020. The Fairwork Foundation: Strategies for improving platform work in a global context. Geoforum. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.01.023

Anwar, M. A. and Graham, M. 2020. Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Freedom, Flexibility, Precarity and Vulnerability in the Gig Economy in Africa, Competition and Change. Special Issue on Digitalisation and Labour in the Global Economy.

Anwar, M. A. and Graham, M. (2019) Hidden Transcripts of the Gig Economy: Labour Agency and the New Art of Resistance among African Gig Workers. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19894584

Dittus, M. and Graham, M. 2019. Mapping Wikipedia’s Geolinguistic Contours. Digital Culture & Society. 5(1). 147-164.

Braesemann, F., Stoehr, N., and Graham, M.. 2019. Global networks in collaborative programming Regional Studies, Regional Science. 6(1). 371-373 doi.org/10.1080/21681376.2019.1588155

Graham, M., and Anwar, M. A. 2019. The Global Gig Economy: Towards a Planetary Labour Market? First Monday. 24(4). doi.org/10.5210/fm.v24i4.9913. (republished in In Larsson A and Teigland R (Eds) ‘The Digital Transformation of Labor: Automation, the Gig Economy and Welfare. London: Routledge).

Ojanperä, S., Graham, M., and Zook, M. 2019. The Digital Knowledge Economy Index: Mapping Content Production. The Journal of Development Studies. DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2018.1554208.

Anwar, M. A., and Graham, M. 2019. Does economic upgrading lead to social upgrading in contact centers? Evidence from South Africa. African Geographical Review. DOI: 10.1080/19376812.2019.1589730

Wood, A., Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, A., and Hjorth, I. 2019. Networked but Commodified: The (Dis)Embeddedness of Digital Labour in the Gig Economy. Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038519828906

Wood A.J, Graham M and Anwar M. A. 2019. Minimum Wages for Online Labor Platforms? Regulating the Global Gig Economy. In Larsson A and Teigland R (Eds) ‘The Digital Transformation of Labor: Automation, the Gig Economy and Welfare. London: Routledge. 74-79.

Graham, M. 2019. Changing Connectivity and Digital Economies at Global Margins. In Graham, M. (ed) 2019 Digital Economies at Global Margins. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. 1-18.

Foster, C., Graham, M., and Waema, T. M. 2019. Making Sense of Digital Disintermediation and Development: The Case of the Mombasa Tea Auction. In Graham, M. (ed) 2019 Digital Economies at Global Margins. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. 55-78.

Graham, M., Hjorth, I., and Lehdonvirta, V. 2019. Digital Labor and Development: Impacts of Global Digital Labor Platforms and the Gig Economy on Worker Livelihoods. In Graham, M. (ed) 2019 Digital Economies at Global Margins. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. 269-294.

Graham, M. 2019. There are no rights ‘in’ cyberspace. In Wagner, B., Kettemann, M. C., and Vieth, K. (eds). Research Handbook on Human Rights and Digital Technology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 24-32.

Wood, A., Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, A., and Hjorth, I. 2019. Good Gig, Bad Big: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the Global Gig Economy. Work, Employment and Society. 33(1). 56-75 https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018785616

Graham, M. and Anwar, M.A. 2018. Digital Labour In: Digital Geographies Ash, J., Kitchin, R. and Leszczynski, A. (eds.). Sage: London. 177-187.

Graham, M. and Anwar, M. A. 2018. Two Models for a Fairer Sharing Economy. In Davidson, N. M., Finck, M., Infranca, J. J. (eds). The Cambridge Handbook of The Law of the Sharing Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 316-327.

Wood, A., Lehdonvirta, V., and Graham, M. 2018. Workers of the Internet unite? Online freelancer organisation among remote gig economy workers in six Asian and African countries. New Technology, Work and Employment. 33(2). 95-112. 10.1111/ntwe.12112. (pre-publication version here)

Graham, M., De Sabbata, S., Straumann, R., and Ojanperä, S. 2018. Uneven Digital Geographies…and Why They Matter. In Kollektiv Orangotango+ (eds). This is Not an Atlas. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. 310-318.

Shaw, J., and Graham, M. 2018. Ein Informationelles Recht auf Stadt. In Bauriedl, S., and Strüver, A. (eds). Smart City – Kritische Perspektiven auf die Digitalisierung in Städten. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag. 177-204.

Dittus, M., Wright, J., and Graham, M. 2018. Platform Criminalism: The ‘Last-Mile’ Geography of the Darknet Market Supply Chain. In Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web Conference (WWW ’18). International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee, Republic and Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, 277-286. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3178876.3186094 (pre-publication version here)

Lehdonvirta, V., Kässi, O., Hjorth, I., Barnard, H., and Graham, M. 2018. The Global Platform Economy: A New Offshoring Institution Enabling Emerging-Economy Microproviders. Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206318786781

Graham, M. and Woodcock, J. 2018. Towards a Fairer Platform Economy: Introducing the Fairwork Foundation. Alternate Routes. 29. 242-253.

Zook, M. and Graham, M. 2018. Hacking Code/Space: Confounding the Code of Global Capitalism. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 43 (3). 390-404. 10.1111/tran.12228.

Graham, M. 2018. The Virtual Palimpsest of the Global City Network. In The Globalizing Cities Reader. eds. X. Ren and R. Keil. Abingdon:Routledge. 198-204.

Stephens, M., Tong, L., Hale, S., and Graham, M. 2018. Misogyny, Twitter, and the Rural Voter. In Watrel, R. H., Weichelt, R., Davidson, F. M., Heppen, J., Fouberg, E. H., Archer, J. C., Morrill, R. L., Shelley, F. M., Martis, K. C. (eds). Atlas of the 2016 Elections. New York: Rowman & Littlefield. 55-57.

Graham, M. 2018. Rethinking the Geoweb and Big Data: Future Research Directions. In Thinking Big Data in Geography: New Regimes, New Research. Thatcher, J., Eckert, J., and Shears, A. (eds). University of Nebraska Press. Lincoln. 231-236.

Graham, M., Ojanpera, S., Anwar, M. A., and Friederici, N. 2017. Digital Connectivity and African Knowledge Economies. Questions de Communication. 32. 345-360.

Foster, C., Graham, M., Mann, L., Waema, T., and Friederici, N. 2017. Digital Control in Value Chains: Challenges of Connectivity for East African Firms. Economic Geography. 94(1) 68-86.   

Ballatore, A., Graham, M., and Sen, S. 2017. Digital Hegemonies: The Localness of Search Engine Results. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 107(5) 1194-1215 DOI:10.1080/24694452.2017.1308240.

Graham, M., Hjorth, I., Lehdonvirta, V. 2017. Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods. Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research. 23 (2) 135-162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1024258916687250.

Ojanperrä, A., Graham, M., Straumann, R., De Sabbata, S., and Zook, M. 2017. Engagement in the Knowledge Economy: Regional Patterns of Content Creation with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. Information Technologies and International Development. 13. 33-51.

Blank, G., Graham, M., Calvino, C. 2017. Local Geographies of Digital Inequality. Social Science Computer Review.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439317693332

Shaw, J. and Graham, M. 2017. An Informational Right to the City? Code, Content, Control, and the Urbanization of Information. Antipode. 49(4) 907-927.  10.1111/anti.12312

Friederici, N. Ojanperä, S., and Graham, M. 2017. The Impact of Connectivity in Africa: Grand Visions and the Mirage of Inclusive Digital Development. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 79(2) 1-20.

Graham, M. 2017. Digitally Augmented Geographies. In Understanding Spatial Media. eds. Kitchin, R., Lauriault, T. P., and Wilson, M. W. London: Sage. 44-55.

Foster, C. and Graham, M. 2017. Reconsidering the Role of the Digital in Global Production Networks. Global Networks. 17(1) 68-88 DOI: 10.1111/glob.12142.

Ford, H. and Graham, M. 2016. Provenance, Power, and Place: Linked Data and Opaque Digital geographies. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space. doi:10.1177/0263775816668857 34(6). 957-970. (pre-publication version here).

Smart, C., Donner, J., and Graham, M. 2016. Connecting the World from the Sky: Spatial Discourses Around Internet Access in the Developing World. Eighth International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2909609.2909659

Straumann, R. K., Graham, M. 2016. Who isn’t online? Mapping the ‘Archipelago of Disconnection.’Regional Studies, Regional Science. 3(1) 96-98.

Mann, L and Graham, M. 2016 The Domestic Turn: Business Process Outsourcing and the Growing Automation of Kenyan Organisations. Journal of Development Studies 52:4, 530-548, DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2015.1126251. (pre-publication version here)

Graham, M., and Foster, C. 2016. Geographies of Information Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa, The African Technopolitan. 5 78-85.

Graham, M., Mann, L., Friederici, N. and Waema, T. 2016. Growing the Kenyan Business Process Outsourcing Sector, The African Technopolitan. 5 93-95

Ford, H., and Graham, M. 2016. Semantic Cities: Coded Geopolitics and the Rise of the Semantic Web. In Code and the City. eds. Kitchin, R., and Perng, S-Y. London: Routledge. 200-214.

Poorthuis, A., Zook, M., Shelton, T., Graham, M, and Stephens, M. 2016. Using Geotagged Digital Social Data in Geographic Research. In Key Methods in Geography. eds. Clifford, N., French, S., Cope, M., and Gillespie, T. London: Sage. 248-269.

Graham, M., Straumann, R., Hogan, B. 2015. Digital Divisions of Labor and Informational Magnetism: Mapping Participation in Wikipedia. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 105(6) 1158-1178. doi:10.1080/00045608.2015.1072791.(pre-publication version here)

Graham, M. 2015. Information Geographies and Geographies of Information New Geographies 7 159-166.

Graham, M., De Sabbata, S., Zook, M. 2015. Towards a study of information geographies:(im)mutable augmentations and a mapping of the geographies of information Geo: Geography and Environment.2(1) 88-105. doi:10.1002/geo2.8

Graham, M. 2015. Contradictory Connectivity: Spatial Imaginaries and Techno-Mediated Positionalities in Kenya’s Outsourcing Sector. Environment and Planning A 47 867-883 (pre-publication version here).

Graham, M., Andersen, C., and Mann, L. 2015 Geographical Imagination and Technological Connectivity in East Africa. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 40(3) 334-349. (pre-publication version here).

Graham, M and De Sabbata, S. 2015 Mapping Information Wealth and Poverty: The Geography of Gazetteers. Environment and Planning A 47(6). 1254-1264. (pre-publication version here).

Sen, S. W., Ford, H., Musicant, D. R., Graham, M., Keyes, O. S. B., Hecht, B. 2015 Barriers to the Localness of Volunteered Geographic Information. CHI 2015 (pre-publication version here).

Allagui, I., Graham, M., and Hogan, B. 2015. Wikipedia Arabe et la Construction Collective du Savoir. In Wikipedia, objet scientifique non identifie. eds. Barbe, L., Merzeau, L., and Schafer, V. Paris: Presses Universitaries du Paris Ouest. 177-194.

Zook, M., Graham, M., and Boulton, A. 2015. Crowd-sourced Augmented Realities: Social Media and the Power of Digital Representation. In Mediated Geographies International Handbook. eds. Mains, S., Cupples, J.,and Lukinbeal, C. New York: Springer. 223-242.

Graham, M., Hogan, B., Straumann, R. K., and Medhat, A. 2014. Uneven Geographies of User-Generated Information: Patterns of Increasing Informational Poverty. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 104(4). 746-764. (pre-publication version here)

Graham, M. 2014 Inequitable Distributions in Internet Geographies: The Global South is Gaining Access But Lags in Local Content. innovations 9(3-4). 17-34.

Choi, J. H-j., and Graham, M. 2014 Urban Food Futures: ICTs and Opportunities. Futures 62(B; October). 151-154. (pre-publication version here)

Shelton, T., Poorthuis, A., Graham, M,. and Zook, M. 2014. Mapping the Data Shadows of Hurricane Sandy: Uncovering the Sociospatial Dimensions of ‘Big Data’. Geoforum 52. 167-179. (open pre-publication version here).

Dutton, W. H., and Graham, M. 2014. Introduction. In Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing our Lives. eds. Graham, M., and Dutton, W. H. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1-22.

Graham, M. 2014. Internet Geographies: Data Shadows and Digital Divisions of Labour. In Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing our Lives. eds. Graham, M., and Dutton, W. H. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 99-116.

Graham, M. 2014. A Critical Perspective on the Potential of the Internet at the Margins of the Global Economy. In Society and the Internet: How Networks of Information and Communication are Changing our Lives. eds. Graham, M., and Dutton, W. H. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 301-318.

Graham, M. 2014. The Knowledge Based Economy and Digital Divisions of Labour. In Companion to Development Studies, 3rd edition, eds V. Desai, and R. Potter. Hodder. 189-195.

Graham, M. and Zook, M. 2014. Augmentierte Geographien: Zur digitalen Erfahrung des städtischen Alltags. Geographische Rundschau. 65(6) 18-25.

Yasseri, T., Spoerri, A., Graham, M. and Kertesz, J. 2014. The Most Controversial Topics in Wikipedia: A Multilingual and Geographical Anlaysis. In Global Wikipedia: International and Cross-Cultural Issues in Online Collaboration. eds. Fichman, P., and Hara, N. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield 25-48.

Graham, M, S. Hale, and D. Gaffney. 2014. Where in the World are You? Geolocation and Language Identification in Twitter. The Professional Geographer 66(4) 568-578. (pre-publication version here)

Graham, M. and Shelton, T. 2013. Geography and the Future of Big Data; Big Data and the Future of Geography. Dialogues in Human Geography 3(3) 255-261. (pre-publication version here)

Graham, M. and H. Haarstad. 2013. Open Development through Open Consumption: The Internet of Things, User-Generated Content and Economic Transparency. In Open Development: Networked Innovations in International Development. eds. Smith, M. L., and Reilly, K. M. A., Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 79-111.

Graham, M. 2013. The Virtual Dimension. In Global City Challenges: debating a concept, improving the practice. eds. M. Acuto and W. Steele. London: Palgrave. 117-139.

Graham, M, R. Schroeder, and G. Taylor. 2013. Re: Search New Media and Society. 15(8) 1366-1373 (pre-publication version here).

Graham, M. 2013. Social Media and the Academy: New Publics or Public Geographies? Dialogues in Human Geography 3(1) 77-80 (pre-publication version here).

Graham, M and M. Zook. 2013. Augmented Realities and Uneven Geographies: Exploring the Geo-linguistic Contours of the Web. Environment and Planning A 45(1) 77-99.

Wilson, M and M. Graham. 2013. Guest Editorial: Situating Neogeography. Environment and Planning A 45(1) 3-9.

Graham, M. 2013. Geography/Internet: Ethereal Alternate Dimensions of Cyberspace or Grounded Augmented Realities? The Geographical Journal 179(2) 177-182. (pre-publication version here).

Graham, M., Shelton, T., and M. Zook. 2013. Mapping Zombies: A Guide for Pre-Apocalptic Analysis and Post-Apocalytpic Survival. In Zombies in the Academy: Living Death in Higher Education. eds. A. Whelan, R. Walker and C. Moore. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 147-156.

Graham, M. and L. Mann. 2013. Imagining a Silicon Savannah? Technological and Conceptual Connectivity in Kenya’s BPO and Software Development Sectors. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 56(2). 1-19.

Crampton, J. W., M. Graham, A. Poorthuis, T. Shelton, M. Stephens, M. W. Wilson, and M. Zook. 2013. Beyond the Geotag: Situating ‘big data’ and leveraging the potential of the geoweb. Cartography and Geographic Information Science. 40(2): 130-139.

Graham, M. 2013. Thai Silk dot Com: Authenticity, Altruism, Modernity and Markets in the Thai Silk Industry. Globalisations 10(2) 211-230.

Graham, M., M. Zook., and A. Boulton. 2013. Augmented Reality in Urban Places: contested content and the duplicity of code. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 38(3), 464-479. (pre-publication version here)

Shelton, T., M. Zook and M.Graham. 2012. The Technology of Religion: Mapping Religious Cyberscapes. The Professional Geographer 64(4). 602-617.

Graham, M., S. Hale, and M. Stephens. 2012. Digital Divide: The Geography of Internet Access. Environment and Planning A, 44(5). 1009-1010.

Brunn, S., R. Ghose and M. Graham. 2012. Cities of the Future and the Future of Cities. In Cities of the World, 5th edition, eds S. Brunn, M. Hays-Mitchell, and D. Ziegler. Rowman and Littlefield, 557-597.

Graham, M. and H. Haarstad. 2012. Global Production Patterns. In 21st Century Geography: A Reference Handbook. ed. Stoltman, J. London: Sage. 411-421.

Graham, M. 2012. Die Welt in Der Wikipedia Als Politik der Exklusion: Palimpseste des Ortes und selective Darstellung. In Wikipedia. eds. S. Lampe, and P. Bäumer. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb, Bonn.

Graham, M. 2011. “Perish or Globalize:” Network Integration and the Reproduction and Replacement of Weaving Traditions in the Thai Silk Industry ACME: Journal of Critical Geographies 10(3) 458-482.

Graham, M. and H. Haarstad. 2011. Transparency and Development: Ethical Consumption through Web 2.0 and the Internet of Things. Information Technologies and International Development. 7(1). 1-18.

Graham, M. 2011. Wiki Space: Palimpsests and the Politics of Exclusion. In Critical Point of View: A Wikipedia Reader. Eds. Lovink, G. and Tkacz, N. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 269-282.

Graham, M. 2011. Time Machines and Virtual Portals: The Spatialities of the Digital Divide. Progress in Development Studies. 11 (3). 211-227.

Graham, M. and M. Zook. 2011. Visualizing Global Cyberscapes: Mapping User Generated Placemarks. Journal of Urban Technology. 18(1), 115-132.

Graham, M. 2011. Cultural Brokers, the Internet, and Value Chains. In The Cultural Wealth of Nations. eds. Wherry, F. and N. Bandelj. Standford: Stanford University Press. 222-239 (email for a copy).

Graham, M. 2011. Disintermediation, Altered Chains and Altered Geographies: The Internet in the Thai Silk Industry. Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries. 45(5), 1-25

Graham, M. 2011. Cloud Collaboration: Peer-Production and the Engineering of the Internet. In Engineering Earth. ed. Brunn, S. New York: Springer, 67-83.

Graham, M. 2010. Justifying Virtual Presence in the Thai Silk Industry: Links Between Data and Discourse. Information Technologies and International Development. 6(4), 57-70.

Zook, M., M. Graham, T. Shelton, & S. Gorman. 2010. Volunteered Geographic Information and Crowdsourcing Disaster Relief: A Case Study of the Haitian Earthquake.World Medical and Health Policy. 2(2), 7-33.

Graham, M. 2010. Neogeography and the Palimpsests of Place. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. 101(4), 422-436. (pre-publication version here)

Zook, M. and M. Graham. 2010. The Virtual ‘Bible Belt.’ Environment and Planning A. 42(4), 763-764.

Graham, M. 2010. Web 2.0 and Critical Globalization Studies. Radical Teacher. 87, 70-71.

Graham, M. 2009. Different Models in Different Spaces or Liberalized Optimizations? Competitive Strategies among Budget Air Carriers. Journal of Transport Geography. 17(4), 306-316.

Graham, M. 2008. Warped Geographies of Development: The Internet and Theories of Economic Development. Geography Compass, 2(3), 771-789. (pre-publication version here)

Brunn, S., R. Ghose, & M. Graham. 2008. Cities of the Future and the Future of Cities. In Cities of the World, 4th edition, eds S. Brunn, M. Hays-Mitchell, and D. Ziegler. Rowman and Littlefield, 565-613.

Zook, M. & M. Graham. 2007. The Creative Reconstruction of the Internet: Google and the Privatization of Cyberspace and DigiPlace. Geoforum, 38, 1322-1343.

Zook, M. & M. Graham. 2007. From Cyberspace to DigiPlace: Visibility in an Age of Information and Mobility. In Societies and Cities in the Age of Instant Access. Ed. H. J. Miller. Springer, 231-244. (request copy by email).

Zook, M. & M. Graham. 2007. Mapping DigiPlace: Geocoded Internet Data and the Representation of Place. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design. 34(3) 466 – 482.

Zook, M. & M. Graham. 2006. Wal-Mart Nation: Mapping the Reach of a Retail Colossus. In Wal-Mart World. Ed. S. Brunn. Routledge, 15-25.

Fiction

Graham, M. 2020. Platform Socialism. In Fecher, B. (ed). twentyforty – Utopias for a Digital Society. Berlin: Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society. 187-207. https://zenodo.org/record/3677158

Graham, M. 2019. City of Loops. Alphabet. In Graham, M, Kitchin, R., Mattern, S., and Shaw, J. (eds). How to Run a City Like Amazon, and Other Fables. London: Meatspace Press. 101-143.

Other publications

Ustek-Spilda, F., Graham., Katta, S., Howson, K., Ferrari, F., and Bertolini, A. 2020. The Untenable Luxury of Self-Isolation. New Internationalist. March 18, 2020.

Katta, S., Howson, K., and Graham, M. 2020. The Fairwork Foundation: Action Research on the Gig Economy. Global Dialogue. 10(1). 44-46.

Miller, S., El-Bahrawy, A., Dittus, M., Graham, M., and Wright, J. 2020. Predicting Drug Demand with Wikipedia Views: Evidence from Darknet Markets. In Proceedings of The Web Conference 2020 (WWW ’20), April 20–24, 2020, Taipei, Taiwan. ACM, New York, NY, USA 7 Pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3366423.3380022

Katta, S., Howson, K., Ustek-Spilda, F., and Graham, M. 2020. Uber and Deliveroo’s ‘charter of good work’ is nothing but fairwashing. openDemocracy. Feb 3, 2020. Also translated into Portuguese: O lobo cuida do galinheiro. CartaCapital. Feb 17, 2020.

Ferrari, F., and Graham, M. 2019. Myth: Digital Work is Immaterial. In Bust-ed! The Truth About the 50 Most Common Internet Myths. In Kettemann, M. C., and Dreyer, S. (eds). Berlin: Internet Governance Forum. 146-149.

Dittus, M., Ojanperä, S. and Graham, M. 2019. Myth: There is no “there” on the Internet. In Busted! The Truth About the 50 Most Common Internet Myths. In Kettemann, M. C., and Dreyer, S. (eds). Berlin: Internet Governance Forum. 156-159.

Graham, M, Woodcock, J., Heeks, R., Fredman, S., du Toit, D., van Belle, J-P., Mungai, P., Osiki, A. 2019. The Fairwork Foundation: Strategies for Improving Platform Work. In Proceedings of the Weizenbaum Conference 2019 “Challenges of Digital Inequality – Digital Education, Digital Work, Digital Life” (pp. 1-8). Berlin https://doi.org/10.34669/wi.cp/2.13

Graham, M. 2019. How to build a fairer gig economy in 4 steps. World Economic Forum. Nov 1. (also translated into Portuguese in Carta Capital)

Graham, M., Englert, S., and Woodcock, J. 2019. Holding platforms accountable to digital workers’ rights. New Internationalist. May 01, 2019.

Graham, M., Ferrari, F., and Woodcock, J. 2019. Plattformökonomie braucht Mindeststandards. Der Tagesspiegel. Apr 15, 2019.

Gillwald, A., Graham, M., Englert, S., van der Spuy, A., and Woodcock, J. 2019. Fairwork exposes exploitation in gig economy amid regulatory vacuum. Business Day (South Africa). Apr 11, 2019.

Wood, A. J. and Graham, M. 2019. Networked but commodified: digital labour in the remote gig economy. New Internationalist. Feb 28, 2019.

Woodcock, J., and Graham, M. 2019. How can we better regulate digital platform capitalism to protect workers? LabourList. Feb 22, 2019.

Ojanperä, S, O’Clery, N, and Graham, M. 2018. Data science, artificial intelligence and the futures of work. Alan Turing Institute Report. October 24. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1470609

Dittus, M., and Graham, M. 2018. To reduce inequality, Wikipedia needs to start paying editors. Wired. Sept 11, 2018.

Graham, M. 2018. Communications. In The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World. London: Times Books. 28-29.

Wood, A. J. and Graham, M. 2018. Can African and Asian workers challenge exploitation in the gig economy? New Internationalist. Aug 8, 2018.

Wood, A.J. and Graham, M. 2018. The government consultation on employment classification and control: a response. Response to the UK Government open consultation on employment status. Feb 7, 2018.

Graham, M. 2018. The UK universities strike is the frontline of the gig economy fight. Wired. Mar 12, 2018.

Graham, M. 2018. The Rise of the Planetary Labour Market. New Statesman. Jan 29, 2018. (republished in Technosphere, The Invisible Worker, and the RSA’s Field Guide to the Future of Work)

Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, L., Wood., A., Barnard, H., and Hjorth, I. 2018. Could Online Gig Work Drive Development in Lower-income Countries? In Galperin, H., and Alarcon, A. The Future of Work in the Global South. Ottawa: IDRC. 8-11.

Graham, M., and Sengupta, A. 2017. We’re all connected now, so why is the internet so white and western? The Guardian. Oct 5, 2017.

Wood, A., and Graham, M. 2017. Virtual Monopolies and The Workers’ Voice. iai News. Sept 4, 2017.

Ojanperä, S., and Graham, M. 2017. Africa risks fading from digital knowledge economy. SciDevNet, June 6, 2017.

Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V., Wood, A., Barnard, H., Hjorth, I., and Simon, D. P. 2017. The Risks and Rewards of Online Gig Work At the Global Margins. Oxford: Oxford Internet Institute.

Graham, M. and Wood, A. 2017. How to resist the exploitation of digital gig workers. Red Pepper. Apr 14, 2017

Graham, M. and Shaw, J. 2017. An ‘Informational Right to the City’?. New Internationalist. Feb 8, 2017

Graham, M. Friederici, N. Ojanperä, S. 2017. The Link Between Internet Access and Economic Growth Is Not as Strong as You Think. Council on Foreign Relations: Net Politics.

Wood, A., Graham, M., Anwar, M. A., Ramizo, G. 2017. Minimum wages on online labour platforms. Oxford Internet Institute.

Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V., Barnard, H., Wood, A., Hjorth, I., Azarhoosh, K., and Simon, D. 2017. Written evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee inquiry into self-employment and the gig economy.

Graham, M. 2016. Let’s make platform capitalism more accountable. New Internationalist. Dec 13, 2016

Graham, M. and Wood, A. 2016. Why the digital gig economy needs co-ops and unions. openDemocracy. Sept 15, 2016

Graham, M. 2016. Digital work marketplaces impose a new balance of power. New Internationalist. May 25, 2016

Graham, M. 2016. Organising the Digital “Wild West”: Can Strategic Bottlenecks Help Prevent a Race to the Bottom for Online Workers? Union Solidarity International. May 11, 2016 (also translated into Turkish)

Graham, M. 2016. Digital Work and the Global Precariat. Union Solidarity International. Mar 30, 2016

Graham, M. 2016. Facebook is no Charity, and the ‘Free’ in Free Basics Comes at a Price. The Conversation Jan 11, 2016

Graham, M. 2015. Why Does Google Say Jerusalem is the Capital of Israel? Slate.com Nov 30, 2015

Zook M, T Shelton, A Poorthuis, R Donohue, M Wilson, M Graham, M Stephens. 2015. What would a floating sheep map? Lexington, KY: Oves Natantes Press. http://manifesto.floatingsheep.org

Graham, M. 2015. Internet For All Is An Impossible Dream Right Now. Gizmodo Oct 11, 2015 /Internet for all Remains an Impossible Dream, No Matter What Jimmy Wales Says. The Conversation Oct 8, 2015.

Graham, M. 2015. Digital Work Signals a Global Race to the Bottom. SciDevNet Sept 15, 2015

Graham, M. 2015. The Hidden Biases of Geodata. The Guardian Apr 28, 2015.

Foster, C. G., and Graham, M. 2015. Connectivity and the Tea Sector in Rwanda.Oxford Internet Institute Report, Oxford, UK.

Foster, C. G., and Graham, M. 2015. The Internet and Tourism in Rwanda. Oxford Internet Institute Report, Oxford, UK.

Mann, L., Graham, M., and Friederici, N. 2015. The Internet and Business Process Outsourcing in East Africa. Oxford Internet Institute Report, Oxford, UK.

Graham, M. 2014. Why global contributions to Wikipedia are so unequal. The Conversation September 8, 2014

Graham, M. 2014. Geotagging reveals Wikipedia is not quite so equal after all. New StatesmanAugust 18, 2014.

Graham, M. and B. Hogan. 2014. Uneven Openness: Barriers to MENA Representation on Wikipedia. Oxford Internet Institute Report, Oxford, UK.

Graham, M. 2014. Kenya BPO and ITES Policy Brief. OII White Paper March 2014

Graham, M. 2013. Kenya’s Laptop’s For Schools Dream Fails to Address Reality. The Guardian June 27, 2013.

Graham, M. 2013. Geographies of Information in Africa: Wikipedia and User-Generated Content. In R-Link: Rwanda’s Official ICT Magazine. Kigali: Rwanda ICT Chamber. 40-41.

Graham, M, M. Stephens, and S. Hale. 2013. Mapping the Geoweb: A Geography of Twitter. Environment and Planning A 45(1) 100-102.

Wilson, M and M. Graham. 2013. Neogeography and Volunteered Geographic Information: A Conversation with Michael Goodchild and Andrew Turner. Environment and Planning A 45(1) 10-18.

Graham, M. 2013. Reaching Audiences Through Blogs and Social Media. In Publishing and Getting Read: A Guide for Researchers in Geography. Eds. A. Blunt, and C. Souch. London: Royal Geographical Society. 34.

Graham, M. 2012. The Problem with Wikidata. The Atlantic Apr 6, 2012.

Graham, M. 2012. Big data and the end of theory? The Guardian Mar 9, 2012.

Graham, M. 2012. In a Networked World, Why is the Geography of Knowledge Still Uneven?The Guardian Jan 9, 2012.

Zook, M., M. Graham, & T. Shelton. 2011. Analyzing Global Cyberscapes: Mapping Geocoded Internet Information. Proceedings of the 2011 iConference.

Graham, M. 2010. A New Kind of Globalisation? User-Generated Content and Transparent Production Chains. The Guardian. Dec 9, 2010.

Graham, M. 2010. Will Broadband Internet Establish a New Development Trajectory for East Africa?. The Guardian Oct 7, 2010.

Graham, M. 2010. The Digital Economy. Book review essay in Regional Studies. 44:3, 385-386.

Zook, M., M. Graham & T. Shelton 2010. The Presidential Placemark Poll. Atlas of the 2008 Election. Ed. S. Brunn. In Press.

Graham, M., T. Shelton and M. Zook. 2010. Map of U.S. Abortion Providers and Alternatives. In Mapping America: Exploring the Continent. Eds. F. C. Kessler and F. Jacobs. Black Dog Publishing. 140-141.

Graham, M. 2009. Wikipedia’s Known Unknowns. The Guardian Dec 2, 2009.

Graham, M. 2009. Ethical Consumption and Production through Web 2.0: A Call for Participation. Development Geography Specialty Newsletter of the American Association of Geographers. Autumn 2009: 4.

Graham, M. 2009. Fluid Knowledge and Transparency: Using Web 2.0 to Promote Compassionate Consumption. Qualitative Geography Specialty Group Newsletter. March 2009: 3.

Graham, M. 2008. Globalization, Culture, and Inequality. Book review essay in Progress in Development Studies, Vol 8(3), 296-298.

Graham, M. 2006 For Space. Book review essay in Growth and Change, Vol 37:4, 643-645.

Graham, M. 2005. Working in Silicon Valley. Book review essay in Urban Studies Vol. 42:13, 2535-2537.

Teaching

  • Economic Development in Digital Capitalism

    Introducing the debates and practices surrounding ICT uses in the Global South and Global North, drawing on Anthropology, Development Studies, Economics, Geography and History to examine the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that underpin development.

Videos

News

Events

Blog

Press

Integrity Statement

My work is financially supported by the ERC, the Alan Turing Institute, the ESRC, the Ford Foundation, and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. I have previously served on DFID’s Digital Advisory Panel.