Happy May Day.

I had a professor once who would start off the semester by asking, "Where does your breakfast come from?" This led us into creative discussions of where other necessities of modern life came from, whether news and information, water and electricity, or clothing and shelter. Not coincidentally, this was the professor who introduced me to the idea of advocating, at minimum, a "living wage" for any and all laborers who help reproduce the many and various conditions of modern social life.

As someone who professes to study "information labor" I tend to think it is important to remember and recognize the ongoing and often hidden human effort, skill, thought, and value that underpins our daily material and cultural existence.

For more information on the changing value of human labor in our national information society, you might wish to explore the Economic Policy Institute. For a more local view, check out the Center on Wisconsin Strategy.