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Disconnected
Are you a cultural isolate? According to Disconnected: Haves and Have Nots in the Information Age, by William Wresch, "isolates" comprise between 27% and 50% of the members of most corporate and private organizations.
"Many individuals," he writes, "have tenuous connections to the organizations they work for. They want no more to do with that organization than their job, or their paycheck, requires. They don't show up at the company picnic, read the company newsletter, or tune in to the company grapevine."
Wresch suggests that this is so because despite the explosion in new information technologies, most companies don't know how to get their employees to communicate with one another. He says it's impossible to imagine any Japanese organization reporting 7% alienated employees, much less 50%. U.S. organizations not only have huge numbers of isolated employees but still manage to survive and prosper.
Wresch cites Lucasfilms which discovered through internal research that there was almost no horizontal communication between editors, cinematographers, and artists, to which it responded by carefully restructuring its softball teams so that no team could have more than one person from the same department.
Curiously, Wresch portrays "isolates" as problem employees in need of curing. (I consider myself an isolate. I am quite happy to belong to an organization, but have no interest in showing up at the company picnic, reading the company newsletter, or wiring into the company grapevine. Nor do I want to join the company softball team (the idea of a Slashdot softball team is pretty amusing) to make me more social or communal. Working alone, or from something of a distance seems to me as valid a choice as being the kind of rah-rah team players the Disney Corporation breeds and encourages.)
But Disconnected is still a thoughtful, provocative study of a world in which there are vast and growing disparities between what people know and how they know it. His portrayals of information realities in other parts of the world are startling, an information context most Americans are losing touch with. He writes of "information exiles" whose culture or geography keep them disconnected from the information age. He also reminds us that our own techno-rich culture is still, in many ways, an anomaly in the world. He contrasts the way information moves around in the info-rich West with the way information moves (or doesn't) in Namibia, where he spent some time working and researching.
What will happen to the disconnected of the information age, he wonders? "As subsistence farming and handicrafts persisted through the industrial age, will the disconnected carry on, barely feeding themselves, producing the primitive and quaint for middle-class coffee tables? Early indications are that the disconnected will fare far worse than their predecessors in previous revolutions. The gap between the rich and the poor, the knowing and the ignorant, will be larger, the room along the margins far smaller."
Disconnected is a reminder that our own information experiences -- especially those in America, Asia and Western Europe -- aren't yet remotely typical of the world, where laborers often stand on street corners for hours, even days,waiting to hear some news about possible jobs. And even in our own hi-tech cultures, there are curious disparities between information haves and have-nots. Wresch, a computing professor at the University of Wisconsin, also raises a number of useful ideas about closing the information divide, from community computing centers to the conversion of civic and public affairs offices to electronic centers of information dissemination.
"Cultures of isolation aren't the only problems of personal information channels," he writes. "Since these channels are largely invisible, they can be filled with myths, lies, and hatreds. Few outsiders even know what is being said, nor do they have opportunities to correct even the most egregious errors. Yet error-prone or not, these are channels that supply much of the world's information."
You might not always agree with Wresch's conclusions, and he raises many more questions than solutions, but "Disconnected" is an interesting book (the writing isn't great but workable) which looks at information technology from an original perspective, especially for a computing academic. The book tells some uncomfortable truths about information and technology, and as happy as we are to play with our information-scarfing new toys and tools, it's an important reality check. Wresch essentially is writing about the forgotten people in the Information Revolution, the info-refugees and exiles, the people who fall between the cracks, unable or unwilling to use technology to collect information in an accessible or beneficial way.
Purchase this book at ThinkGeek.
Sorry boss, but I have a life, and it isn't my job. I know the folks who keep up with the grape vine in my department, and I talk to them just enough to figgure out what is going on here. Those who work with me closely know where I'm the expert, and I know the experts I normally work with. I know that this product must do something useful, but it doesn't matter, my job is to make sure the fans are running, and if not warn the customers. I don't need to know anything about what the customer would buy this box for. I know mky co-workers are smart people and will see their part works, and the grapevine people are watching over the whole thing to make sure I can spend my time working with fans (and many related things), not worring about how I will affect them.
There are only so many man-months in my life, and If I had to personally know everyone on this project The number avaiable for me to concentrate on fans is greatly reduced.
I like to fish. I like enjoy creating a program. I don't enjoy talking to many people or meeting new people. I know folks who do enjoy that type of work, and so I let them be my connection to the rest of the company. It works good for all of us.
Fortunatly my boss knows that I work to feed and shelter me. We would both be retired if we didn't have to eat and have warm cloths on our backs. We both have friends who do not work in the same building as us. We both know that we spend about half our waking hours at work already.
PS, for those who don't get the subtilties of english, pppbbbbt is the closest I can come in words to sticking my tongue out at those who think I should live according to what they think is important.
Coming just in time for XMas..."Save JonKatz" (for Win95/98 and Nintendo)
In this exciting computer game adventure, JonKatz is trapped in the socialist-devout readings section of the University of Wisconsin library, forced to write book reviews from nearsited, geek-angst drivel.
Do you help JonKatz excape to the Christian reading room for the salvation of his soul, or seek the Objectivist section for the restoration of his mind? Or let him rot as he reads of hatred for Western civilization and professes the superiority of the uneducated rice-paddy masses.
Only your guidance and your quick reactions gives Katz any hope!
Sure to be an arcade classic. In stores soon.
"Many individuals," he writes, "have tenuous connections to the organizations they work for. They want no more to do with that organization than their job, or their paycheck, requires. They don't show up at the company picnic, read the company newsletter, or tune in to the company grapevine." Wresch suggests that this is so because despite the explosion in new information technologies, most companies don't know how to get their employees to communicate with one another.
...SNIP
Early indications are that the disconnected will fare far worse than their predecessors in previous revolutions. The gap between the rich and the poor, the knowing and the ignorant, will be larger, the room along the margins far smaller."
Without having read the book, from Katz' review it sounds like the Wresch confuses "cultural isolates" with ignorance. Sure, channels of information will be different between social groups, but that doesn't mean one group of information is any less valuable than another.
I'm not sure whether this is just Katz' spin or the author's opinion, but I'm really getting tired of reading about the poor technilliterates. Almost every non-technical person feels like they don't know enough about computers. However, almost all of them know enough to do what they need to do with computers. We still need people to build roads, design buildings, make coffee tables, airplanes, etc. Not everyone needs to be a programmer. Sure, some of these skills require some basic computer skills, but people learn what they need to learn to do these things. Most people studying aerodynamics are not going to have any trouble learning CAD. Someone with the talent to write the next great work of literature will figure out Abiword (or whatever) without too much trouble.
The problem is not with "technical literacy". The problem is with education in general. Teaching people to read is far more important than teaching them to use computers, and is a far more difficult thing to learn. People who can read well can teach themselves all they need to know about computers, which may very well be nothing.
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I can only wonder what they and places similar would do about those of us who would rather avoid softball (and other "but everybody likes x" activities).
Probably something about 'not a team a player' or other such dreck. Am I an 'isolate'? Perhaps. But let's get cause and effect straight first shall we? Maybe the 'popular' things are the same things I'd sooner visit a dentist than get involved in. (I have finally gotten my coworkers trained enough to not bother me with their "fun" things I find nauseating or painful.. took long enough too).
About apparent isolation the first question should be "Is it real?" and follow that with "And if so, is it a problem?" and only after finding 'yes' as an answer to both questions should a treatment be sought -- and of that it must be asked "Will this help, or it will cause resentment?" Just becuase some simpleton believes "everybody likes X" doesn't make it the case. (Quick: Does every geek like Star Wars? Does every male watch the Superbowl?)
I'm just tired of being seen as a nail by imbeciles that only have hammers.
I don't subscribe to RMS's GNUtopian vision.
So far, every company that I've worked for has had a "downsizing" (or "reorganization" or "resource action" -- my favorite -- or whatever euphamistic label they want to attach to firing people). Given that, and the prospect that similar actions will continue, some find it pointless to become attached to people with whom they work.
Now, compound the above with the increase in hours worked per week. (Note: people in other countries may work more hours, but if you're used to working 40 hours a week and now work 50, you have less free time.) If your available free time is less, do you want to use it playing softball with the people you're already spending more time with? ("Gee, Chuck, I know you've just worked 70 hours a week for the last month, but I'm disappointed you skipped the picnic the company so generously arranged for us.")
Companies have for a long time shown less loyalty to employees than in the past. This is changing, now, because it's a "seller's market" for hi-tech employees. My feeling -- too little, too f**king late.
The ability to function in isolation is dependent upon the tasks you do and how they fit into the whole. In particular if the overall task can be partitioned into well defined subtasks or jobs.
The classic example is the Shaker barn raising. While the people are working together, they are essentially autonomous. People get together with a pile of wood in the morning and at the end of the day they end up with a barn. They've done so many of these things anybody can simply see the next thing to be done that he is capable of. When this kind of structure works, it is perfect because there is no wasted time put into management or meetings. So -- routine performance of easily partitioned tasks of moderate complexity work well in the autonomous mode.
On the other hand, consider the Bletchley park scenario. While each cryptanalyst works alone on a particular message, they may call in others with a special knack, and need to meet to develop and share new methods. Extremely difficult creative work then requires give and take and considerable interaction with coworkers.
Now consider the job of processing insurance claims. It is very routine, predictable, with measurable success metrics; on the other hand change does happen occaisionally and procedures must be altered. This is an environment tailor made for hierarchy (i.e. bureaucracy).
Now look at your own organization. It probably has elements of all three of these models, and perhaps others.
From a purely functional standpoint, different tasks require that organizations different social structures. Most require that people know each other and communicate on a regular basis. What goes on around the water cooler is often more important than appears. I once talked to a groupware expert who was working on a job for a large insurance company. New top management had looked at the org chart and identified a layer of management with no identifiable purpose. Using B-school logic, they eliminated it, only to find out that layer dealt with tasks having to do with vital interdepartmental coordination.
It's nice to have friends at work too. Many if not most people are happier being part of a team than being an anonymous productive factor.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
For some reason I'd have never thought that the campus in my hometown would ever get mentioned on /. Call me crazy. :P
;-)
The state of Wisconsin does have quite a few Public University campuses... Let's see, my favorite is UW-Madison, a place I spent 4 great years studying to be an EE _as_well_as_ rooting on Ron Dayne and the rest of the Badgers.
Then there's all the UW State Schools-> UW-Stevens Point, UW-LaCrosse, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Eau Claire, Stout, Superior, Green Bay, Whitewater, Park Side, Platteville, (is that all?) and that doesn't even include the numerous UW Centers around the state. Many apologies to the campuses I've forgotten.