Writing for E&T, Jade Fell and Jonathan Wilson report on the Konica Minolta ‘Workplace Hub’. Of course, there is much talk these days about the ‘internet of things’, ‘big data’ and so on and how IT technology might deal with it all. What I like about this is that it seems to put people at the heart of its purpose, aiming to create a modern workplace for the future that, according to the article, we are already living.
Personally, I’m not entirely comfortable with Douglas Coupland’s idea of living a ‘perpetual Wednesday’, but at a time when there are genuine concerns about automation taking over jobs this offers some reassurance that the human role may evolve and integrate with the technology rather than be replaced by it.
“Until recently, the future was something that lay ahead of us. It was something we anticipated and even dreaded,” he said. “But somewhere down the line the present melted into the future and we’re now living inside the future 24/7. It’s what I call the superfuture.”
Accompanying his presentation with a series of bold-colour, observational insights - PowerPoint memes, in a way - Coupland highlighted the way that technology and connectivity are changing traditional working culture, suggesting that we were moving towards a time when jobs and work days are more fluid, creating the feeling of the working week becoming a perpetual ‘Wednesday’, without Monday lows or Friday highs.
