Ethan Marcotte

https://follow.ethanmarcotte.com/@beep

Designer. Started that responsive design thing. Writes a bit, or tries to. Spends a normal amount of time thinking about The Locked Tomb series.

*A perfectly normal amount of time.*

My latest book is YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION! (You can purchase it from my bio, or just about anywhere books are sold!)

pronouns: he/him
my website: https://ethanmarcotte.com
my latest book!: https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union

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npub1qggnytqrld8cv730hs6m2ppwnf47nlyn6989adrd2pelgx9z5ums000ptl

NIP-05 Address

beep_at_follow.ethanmarcotte.com@momostr.pink

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nprofile1qqsqyyfj9splknux0ghmcdd4qshf56lfljfaznj7k3k4qul5rz32wdc63hwlf

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Last Notes

2024-09-19 16:19:27

Calling this an essay doesn’t feel quite right; @npub1vud…pqdp did something remarkable here. If anything, it feels like a gift: https://aworkinglibrary.com/writing/coming-home

2024-09-18 15:53:32

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eleventé

2024-09-17 16:23:55

but these are my emotional support unread articles in my rss reader

2024-09-13 22:01:08

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STRUGGLE FILES

2024-09-10 19:28:17

“The New York Times Tech Guild, which represents more than 600 staffers, on Tuesday voted to authorize a strike in protest of stalled contract negotiations with The Times’ management, sources confirmed to Axios.” — https://www.axios.com/2024/09/10/nyt-tech-union-strike-vote
#1u #unions #TechUnions

2024-09-09 18:39:43

make smaller phones challenge 2024

2024-09-02 14:06:36

Since todaybor day is Labor Day, I spent a few minutes freshening up the page for YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION. Nothing fancy, but I added some more options for buying the paperback, added *long*-overdue links for the ebook, and cleaned up some tiny design things that’d been bugging me.
https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/
#1u #unions #YDATUbook #bookstodon

2024-08-23 15:02:37

“In a loss for Amazon that could force it to meet the Teamsters union at the bargaining table, a regional National Labor Relations Board director said Thursday that the company is a joint employer of some of the thousands of contractor delivery drivers who deliver its packages.”
YOU TRULY LOVE TO SEE IT
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/08/22/amazon-teamsters-delivery-drivers/

2024-08-20 00:46:30

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Yes! It was indeed! Another reason it was: a GREAT day <3 <3 <3

2024-08-19 19:25:19

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Aw, man — what a day that was. I’m so sorry I missed the group photo!

2024-08-16 02:02:18

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You’ve done a hell of a job, Jenn. Congratulations, and here’s to a fantastically well-deserved rest 👏🏻🎉🏆

2024-08-03 15:43:37

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I’m not sure I have a clear winner yet, but I will say that Raindrop imported my Pinboard links without a hitch.

2024-08-03 14:53:47

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Ugh, yeah, I stopped using pinboard after the Rowling tweet. I must’ve kept the account online in case it was a one-off fuck-up; seems like it very much wasn’t.
Anyway, thanks again. 💜

2024-08-03 01:06:53

oh my goodness oh my GOODNESS https://public.work/

2024-08-03 00:37:47

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Welp, that’s it. Account’s closed.
(Thanks for the heads-up.)

2024-07-09 01:06:14

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“Shortly after [the union campaign] fell apart, I called Jane McAlevey, sobbing. She picked me up off the proverbial floor, and after we hung up, she sent me a text message that I still have saved on my phone: ‘Class struggle is not easy. It is, however, urgent and ongoing.’” — https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/jane-mcalevey-obituary-labor-organizing/

2024-07-07 22:13:19

I will never have the words to say how much I learned from Jane McAlevey, and how grateful I am to her. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/07/business/jane-mcalevey-dead.html

2024-07-03 15:17:05

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Your occasional reminder that “this tool frees you from performing mundane tasks” is just code for “we’re not going to pay you for that kind of work any more.”

2024-07-03 15:15:10

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“Even if you’d be doing work for free as a fresh designer-to-be, the back-and-forth with you is more messy and laborious than the AI designer who responds instantly and churns out 3 more variants with a click on a little sparkle icon.”
A really moving look at how automation inevitably leads to deskilling: https://sdw.space/figma-ai-and-lost-jobs/

2024-06-26 21:19:46

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the best time to read ursula franklin was thirty years ago; the second best time is today

2024-06-26 21:18:56

“Ideally, all of the new Figma AI tools will allow people who are newer to Figma to test ideas more easily while letting those who are more well versed in the app iterate more quickly, according to [Figma’s chief product officer].” — https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/26/24183730/figma-ai-tools-app-redesign-slides
that isn’t how this works
that isn’t how any of this works

2024-06-19 00:54:16

LET’S GO https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/18/24181246/amazon-labor-union-teamsters-affiliate-agreement-warehouse-workers

2024-06-15 16:43:23

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this is the WORST behavior, it breaks me every time it happens https://follow.ethanmarcotte.com/@beep/111743745483843583

2024-06-11 19:24:14

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omg tierra whack tiny desk omg https://www.npr.org/2024/06/07/g-s1-1873/tierra-whack-tiny-desk-concert

2024-05-13 19:35:02

you first, asshole
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/112/435/455/651/240/021/original/6fa57ccb31aead63.png

2024-05-03 20:24:22

“Amazon has launched a new ‘one-click to quit the union’ tool, and they’re relentlessly pushing it to every worker in their Coventry warehouse. […] If a worker scans the QR code and clicks the link, Amazon’s software automatically generates a letter from the worker and then emails it to the trade union, ending their membership.”
A legal challenge to some gnarly union-busting tactics that Amazon’s deployed in one of its UK warehouses, on the cusp of a union vote: https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2024/05/02/legal-challenge-to-amazon-uks-new-one-click-to-quit-the-union-tool/

2024-04-20 20:32:22

every tech company designing products that assume a fast, reliable, always-on network connection is henceforth required to use hotel wifi for a month
these are just the rules i do not make the rules

2024-04-20 03:12:59

“Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., passed a historic vote to join the United Auto Workers on Friday, becoming the first Southern auto factory to approve a union with an election since the 1940s.”
LET’S GO https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/19/vw-uaw-tennessee-vote/
#unions #labor #1u

2024-04-17 18:11:18

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“Around 9:45PM on Tuesday, nearly eight hours into the protest, a group of police officers and a man who appears to work at Google approached the four workers remaining in the New York office and told them to exit the building. ’We’re asking you to leave again for the last time,’ the man said after informing the workers they’ve been placed on administrative leave and their access to the building has been revoked.”
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/17/24133056/google-protests-project-nimbus-no-tech-for-apartheid

2024-04-16 18:22:10

Solidarity with these tech workers, solidarity forever. https://www.instagram.com/p/C51DSugON4G/

2024-04-12 16:02:35

🦊
wrote up how i’m blocking “artificial intelligence” bots from accessing my website, with some copy-and-paste code that should (🤞🏻) stay up-to-date whenever i update my blocklist https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/blockin-bots/

2024-04-02 17:51:13

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It’s important not to see this as happening to some “other” class of workers; these people are, first and foremost, *tech workers*. Without their labor — and the terrible conditions they labor under — these platforms would fail.
At the risk of being That Guy on main, a relevant bit from YOU DESERVE A TECH UNION:
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/112/202/892/350/358/574/original/de5bc95190ca8fd1.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/112/202/892/514/269/930/original/76f3faf5f02a9207.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/followethanmarcottecom/media_attachments/files/112/202/892/692/562/486/original/bb49772dee269545.png

2024-04-02 17:26:07

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when Silicon Valley says “innovation,” it’s okay to mentally swap in “rendering labor invisible, while visiting new levels of precariousness and harm on the workers who perform it”
it’s a few more syllables, but i think it generally still scans

2024-04-02 17:19:45

“Though it seemed completely automated, [Amazon’s] Just Walk Out relied on more than 1,000 people in India watching and labeling videos to ensure accurate checkouts. The cashiers were simply moved off-site, and they watched you as you shopped.” https://gizmodo.com/amazon-reportedly-ditches-just-walk-out-grocery-stores-1851381116
[removes glasses; pinches bridge of nose; sighs until the heat death of the universe]

2024-03-22 12:15:44

my love language is manually deleting all the tracking bullshit from a link before i text it to you

2024-03-15 14:00:29

happy new tierra whack day to those who celebrate