I research technology and work in a global context. I primarily use qualitative methods including ethnography, interviews, design research, participant observation, and archival review. My scholarly work is primarily in conversation with the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), and design. I also contribute to popular conversations about the changing nature of work and the ethical dimensions of emerging technologies.

I am currently working on a book manuscript about the ways that technology-mediated work has reorganized our relationship to urban space, using empirical examples from post-pandemic New York City. It is tentatively titled Infrastructuring Public-Infrastructuring Private: Technology-Mediated Work and the Crisis of Space. More soon! I am also working on a collaborative project about the role of AI in immigration with Radha Hegde at NYU and Myria Georgiou and Philipp Seuferling at LSE, funded by an NYU-LSE Seed Grant.

My work has policy, programmatic, and technology design implications that I have researched with, presented to, and/or implemented with international development organizations (e.g. UNICEF, Clinton Health Access Initiative), tech companies (e.g. Facebook), and civil service organizations (e.g., informal sector union in Phnom Penh, Media Safe Cambodia, Urban Justice Center NYC, Queens Memory Project). I have received funding for my research from the National Science Foundation, Intel, Cornell’s Einaudi Center for International Studies, Women in Technology New York, Syracuse University Maxwell School of Public Affairs, and others.

My past research topics include global politics and technology, logistics, and work-life integration. Here is a list of my past publications (via Google scholar).

Select recent publications:

“The Rise in Independent Work and the Challenges in Realizing Autonomy” Melissa Mazmanian, Margaret Jack, Ingrid Erickson. In The Sage Handbook of Digital Labor (editors: Ergin Bulut, Julie Chen, Rafael Grohmann and Kylie Jarrett). 2026.

“In the Dirt: Place-Based Environmental Action and Technology-Mediated Work in New York City” Margaret Jack. Aarhus Critical Computing, August 2025. Please see a blog post about this work here.

“Relational Logistics and Alternative Supply Chains of Last Resort.” Margaret Jack and Robert Soden. CSCW, October 2025. Please see a blog post about this work here.