Data Workers’ Inquiry is a global, radically participatory research initiative examining the people and labor behind artificial intelligence and digital platforms. Spanning nine countries across five continents, it supports data workers in becoming community researchers: identifying urgent workplace issues, developing their own questions, and sharing findings in formats that reflect their experiences. The initiative created Workers’ Inquiry as a Research Methodology (WIRM), a framework for making hidden and precarious labor visible and turning research into a basis for public engagement and change.

Through its repository, the project offers worker-created zines, documentaries, comics, essays, podcasts, reports, and animations. These works explore content moderation, data annotation, platform work, workplace conditions, mental health, pay, consent, and worker organizing. Contributors document experiences in countries including Kenya, Syria, Brazil, France, Germany, Spain, and Venezuela, addressing issues such as outsourcing, insecurity, low wages, and psychological harm. The initiative also highlights collective action and cross-border solidarity, providing a platform for data workers to share knowledge, describe their working lives, and call for better conditions and recognition.