Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Real Space and Virtual Space at Work and Home
Bernard's Blog has an interesting post for November 26, 2005, with a link to a same-day article in the Guardian about MIT Professor, William J. Mitchell, who is the author of multiple books, such as Me++: The Cyborg Self and the Networked City, Placing Words: Symbols, Space, and the City, and City of Bits: Space, Place, and Infobahn. Bernard notes in his post that he is particularly interested in Mitchell's "notion of the importance of 'unassigned space,'" because his department at Manchester Metropolitan University is curently exploring "new ways of using [its] buildings to go beyond the simple notions of lectures and seminars, to make more use of 'in-between spaces.'"
For Mitchell, as quoted in the Guardian, "Unassigned space, what used to be thought of as non-productive space, is actually where all the real action happens" in the wireless laptop culture. In cyberspace, "[y]our own address is not pinned to a place; it is simply an access code, with some associated storage space, to some computer located somewhere on the Net" (Mitchell). Consequently, for those who do information work, your work space can become ANY place where you can sit down, go online, and conduct information work, such as an airport terminal, hotel room, library, telecommuting center, coffee shop, train, one's home, or remote mountain cabin. Of course, whether your work space moves with you or not depends upon the technology and approval of your employer/institution and the acceptance of the owners/managers of commercial establishments and other places where you sit and go online. For example, although sitting at one's laptop at coffee shops may be accepted and encouraged by owners/managers of those venues, the same activity may not be welcome in many restaurants.
Currently, I telecommute once a week from my home, which, for me, is a welcome blending of real space and virtual space. I can wake up an hour later, forego an eighty-mile roundtrip drive, use my desktop to go online, and do my job. I'm home, but at work at the same time. I dream of the day that I can telecommute all of the time, so that I can spend 5 to 6 months in Vermont and the remaining months in Florida. I don't want a virtual Vermont to visit while I'm living in Florida; I want to really be there, and not experience it as a real virtuality.
For Mitchell, as quoted in the Guardian, "Unassigned space, what used to be thought of as non-productive space, is actually where all the real action happens" in the wireless laptop culture. In cyberspace, "[y]our own address is not pinned to a place; it is simply an access code, with some associated storage space, to some computer located somewhere on the Net" (Mitchell). Consequently, for those who do information work, your work space can become ANY place where you can sit down, go online, and conduct information work, such as an airport terminal, hotel room, library, telecommuting center, coffee shop, train, one's home, or remote mountain cabin. Of course, whether your work space moves with you or not depends upon the technology and approval of your employer/institution and the acceptance of the owners/managers of commercial establishments and other places where you sit and go online. For example, although sitting at one's laptop at coffee shops may be accepted and encouraged by owners/managers of those venues, the same activity may not be welcome in many restaurants.
Currently, I telecommute once a week from my home, which, for me, is a welcome blending of real space and virtual space. I can wake up an hour later, forego an eighty-mile roundtrip drive, use my desktop to go online, and do my job. I'm home, but at work at the same time. I dream of the day that I can telecommute all of the time, so that I can spend 5 to 6 months in Vermont and the remaining months in Florida. I don't want a virtual Vermont to visit while I'm living in Florida; I want to really be there, and not experience it as a real virtuality.
