Look! No hands!
There's this class I have to take called "New Media Literacy", taught by a lady who insisted we all install Netscape 4.2 on our computers (Ryan refused) because she's a crazy lady who refuses to learn to use any other e-mail program. Basically, she's teaching us about how to lay out our e-mails real purty, so I'm not sure where this "literacy" part comes in. It's an online elective, which means a.) it's easy, and b.) I don't have to go to class.
My assignment for this week was to Google "the workplace of the future", find 3 related articles, and write an opinion, which I'd like to share with you because it's kind of interesting and I want to show you guys my homework. =D Ready?
The Workplace of Tomorrow
The workplace of today is already planets away from the places in which we worked a century ago. The workplace of tomorrow is whole new horizon outlined in smarter technology and wireless communications. The leaps we have taken to create an efficient and productive world is speeding us towards a future where computers aren’t as frustrating; where our workspace is more comfortable than the oppressive cubicle; and most importantly: where we can telecommute.
Businesses are changing the way they use office space. The old view was that top management should get the best offices and the best views, and everyone else should get stacked in tiny cubicles. Today, there are an increasing number of open offices and workstation offices that allow much more interaction between the staff and management. Employees are being armed with laptops, mobile phones, and other wireless gadgets, which gives them more options as to where to work. This is to allow the employees to spend more time with clients, go on business trips, and work from the comfort of their homes. Office space isn’t cheap, so Jeff Kinder suggests an alternative called Office Hotel, where people can book office space according to their schedule.
But Office Hotel is only an idea. Right now, people are turning their homes into offices. CompUSA is helping people set up home networks that tie their computers to their TVs to their sound systems to their printers to their phones to their security systems, and so on. Basically, people want to have all the convenient luxuries of the office right in their homes without fussy wires and odd ends sticking out everywhere. However, as Martin Bean and Robyn Thorpe explains, one of the main problems of home networking is making it user-friendly and maintainable by the homeowner. Unlike an office, the home doesn’t have an IT department.
In the future, there will be smart computers that can repair themselves and office chairs will give you back massages – anything to make you more productive. But with all these perks and telecommuting and wireless communications, people will be expected to work everywhere they go, and there will be no way to hide from the office. Dana Knight claims that “Forty-two percent of executives said they expect people will work longer hours by 2020. The average 40-hour workweek may be replaced by a 50-hour schedule.”
The workplace of the future is starting to sound a little scary. While all these technological advancements hope to make life easier for individuals, as a society they might burn us out. Will we know where to draw the line once we invite our employers into our homes through laptops and video conferences? Will we know when we’ve spent too much time working? All these articles talk about how telecommuting will be so amazing because it will save us time and money, and we won’t have to see our pesky co-workers and bosses. But part of our social development is learning to work with each other. When given the option of confronting someone we don’t like, the majority will choose to hide behind a computer or a phone. But that doesn’t make us stronger, and it doesn’t allow us to grow emotionally. As human beings, we must never forget that our society thrives on human intimacy, and though technology brings people around the world closer together, it is keeping the people around us farther apart.
My assignment for this week was to Google "the workplace of the future", find 3 related articles, and write an opinion, which I'd like to share with you because it's kind of interesting and I want to show you guys my homework. =D Ready?
The Workplace of Tomorrow
The workplace of today is already planets away from the places in which we worked a century ago. The workplace of tomorrow is whole new horizon outlined in smarter technology and wireless communications. The leaps we have taken to create an efficient and productive world is speeding us towards a future where computers aren’t as frustrating; where our workspace is more comfortable than the oppressive cubicle; and most importantly: where we can telecommute.
Businesses are changing the way they use office space. The old view was that top management should get the best offices and the best views, and everyone else should get stacked in tiny cubicles. Today, there are an increasing number of open offices and workstation offices that allow much more interaction between the staff and management. Employees are being armed with laptops, mobile phones, and other wireless gadgets, which gives them more options as to where to work. This is to allow the employees to spend more time with clients, go on business trips, and work from the comfort of their homes. Office space isn’t cheap, so Jeff Kinder suggests an alternative called Office Hotel, where people can book office space according to their schedule.
But Office Hotel is only an idea. Right now, people are turning their homes into offices. CompUSA is helping people set up home networks that tie their computers to their TVs to their sound systems to their printers to their phones to their security systems, and so on. Basically, people want to have all the convenient luxuries of the office right in their homes without fussy wires and odd ends sticking out everywhere. However, as Martin Bean and Robyn Thorpe explains, one of the main problems of home networking is making it user-friendly and maintainable by the homeowner. Unlike an office, the home doesn’t have an IT department.
In the future, there will be smart computers that can repair themselves and office chairs will give you back massages – anything to make you more productive. But with all these perks and telecommuting and wireless communications, people will be expected to work everywhere they go, and there will be no way to hide from the office. Dana Knight claims that “Forty-two percent of executives said they expect people will work longer hours by 2020. The average 40-hour workweek may be replaced by a 50-hour schedule.”
The workplace of the future is starting to sound a little scary. While all these technological advancements hope to make life easier for individuals, as a society they might burn us out. Will we know where to draw the line once we invite our employers into our homes through laptops and video conferences? Will we know when we’ve spent too much time working? All these articles talk about how telecommuting will be so amazing because it will save us time and money, and we won’t have to see our pesky co-workers and bosses. But part of our social development is learning to work with each other. When given the option of confronting someone we don’t like, the majority will choose to hide behind a computer or a phone. But that doesn’t make us stronger, and it doesn’t allow us to grow emotionally. As human beings, we must never forget that our society thrives on human intimacy, and though technology brings people around the world closer together, it is keeping the people around us farther apart.
posted by min_o at
4:40 PM
2 Comments:
The work place of the future will be more exciting than that, my friends! When evolution really kicks in, many animal species will gene-pool towards the neccessary survival skills of computer-literacy. Monkeys, fish and bears will inhabit the offices and fullfill as-yet-unthought-of niches of labor. Don't forget about robots! Robots and monkeys and fish and bears will co-mingle at the juice bar and enhance the speed and accuracy of delivery, programming and food service. The hunting skills of these beasts will enable massive improvements in hiring. Aquarian schooling charts will suprpass our primates filing strategies. Bears will stand at stream-beds in our office spaces and paw-thrash spam-schools of guppies advertising. Robotic underpants will eliminate the needs for bathroom breaks and plant-water simultainiously. With the increased threat of mauling, office relations will be at their most respectful. what the hell am I even talking about?
damn! should've done the essay on you guys! it would've been 1000000000000x more interesting. and probably more up-to-date it seems. i'm so behind in technlogy i still watch VHS.
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