Academic Casualization, Precarity, and Information Practices: Initial Findings

Abstract

There is increasing recognition of the challenges academics working on short‐term contracts experience, as well as universities' increasing reliance on their labor. While discussions of these issues have expanded, there is a lack of empirical research around the information experiences of contract academic staff. This poster reports on initial findings of a qualitative research project that interviewed 34 contract academic staff (CAS) from across Canada, exploring institutional provisions of information, information practices in the workplace, and how marginalization and social inclusion influence workplace information practices. We present preliminary findings in three themes: precarity and uncertainty necessitate holistic and situational understandings, exclusion and isolation are enacted and experienced on many levels, and uncertainty as a barrier to investment and furthering careers, exploring what these findings mean for contract academic staff members.