Over five years ago I taught two seminars at Goldsmiths as an associate lecturer. At the time I setup my Goldsmiths e-mail account to forward to my main account. Fast forward five years and I’m still getting e-mail from Goldsmiths because I can’t work out how to get into the Goldsmiths account (IT is deactivated but the e-mail seemingly isn’t) in order to turn this off. There’s currently a detailed argument taking place in my inbox from an institution I never really worked for in the first place.
For people who are securely employed, as I have been for 2.5 years, the digital and cognitive labour involved in managing precarious employments is effectively invisible. I resolved once I started taking on teaching and research leadership positions that I wouldn’t forget the reality of precarious employment in the platform university. I haven’t always lived up to that as much as I’d like. But these endless e-mails from Goldsmiths, including what is in some cases fairly sensitive information, stands as a stark reminder of these employment conditions.
Mark Carrigan 