Page 29 - digitalliteracy

1.3 How Technology Has Transformed the Way We Work

A Closer Look: Do You Remember When. . .?

The 21st-century workplace would be surprising to someone traveling here from, say,
1980. In the short span of 35 years, our time traveler would notice that all the desks in an
office now have a large desktop or portable monitor and keyboard on them. “What hap-
pened to the typewriters?” they might ask. The telephone system looks vaguely familiar,
but the office no longer has a switchboard operator or a receptionist who routes phone
calls and takes written messages if someone is out of the office.

The desks in this 21st-century office are often empty, and people walk by who seem to
be talking to themselves. The traveler notices they have a strange-looking device called
a Bluetooth receiver attached to their ear or an earplug connected to a wire that disap-
pears into their clothing. When our traveler asks why the office has so many empty
desks, the answer is because many employees work remotely in other cities or states
and rarely come into the office. Also, several employees telecommute and work from
home several days a week.

With the ever-increasing cost of real estate, the virtual office has become an attractive
option for many businesspeople. Company employees can work from different locations;
technology allows work teams to communicate via video software such as GoToMeeting
or WebEx, collaborate through secure websites, and share documents through secure
cloud-based storage sites, which will be discussed in Module 2. The time traveler would
also note that people can make phone calls, send text messages, teleconference, video-
conference, send e-mail, listen to and share music, and take photos wherever they are—
and all on a device as small as the average disposable camera developed in the 1980s.

Evening Standard/Singer/Getty Images Hero Images Inc./Hero Images/SuperStock
The typical office setting has changed since the 1960s. Computers and laptops have
replaced typewriters, and people can now conduct business in a mobile setting.

(Continued)

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