ENG 100
NOW YOU SEE IT… CH. 6 READING RESPONSE JOURNAL
“The Changing Workplace”
VOCABULARY
NOTES
I.
INTRODUCING THE PROBLEM (p. 165-170)
 There is much controversy regarding the use of the internet in the work place –
it has been said that it makes us stupid, distracted, and unfit to be good workers.
 The OECD ( Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says this
is not true. How does the fact that this org. has been monitoring and measuring
these things since WWII, affect the argument?
 Statistics show we are working harder and working longer hours – the
argument is that we don’t feel we are as productive or efficient as our
predecessors. The author again uses rhetorical questions to make us realize this.
 The author states that “every study of American Labor in the past five years . . .”
How can she make this assertion? Does this affect her ethos?
PAGE 165
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“There is a mismatch between the actual world we live, learn and work in and
the institutions that have been in place for the last hundred years that are
supposed to help us do a better job in that world.” Referring to schools. The
author is tying the two sections of the text together to show the connection.
To present the solution the author suggests that we must consider and analyze
our anxieties .
Additionally, we can’t look at either extreme (the internet makes us stupid vs.
the internet makes us brilliant) without admitting to attn. blindness.
The Agenda:
What is it that causes distress in the workplace?
What kinds of attn. does the modern workplace require?
How does this kind of attn. differ from what we have been and are being taught?
What are some new and innovative methods that are working and might hold
possible answers?
PAGE 166
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Part of the problem is that the structures in place were developed before the
internet.
Is the structure not changing because we have attn. blindness?
The internet not only connects us to distractions, but it also connects us to the
tools we need to do our work. It’s a paradox.
PAGE 167
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If the above is the case, why is it necessary for us to even be in an office to do our
work?
The computer connects us to past and present work load, colleagues, while also
holding our distractions in many forms – family, news, games, shopping, etc.
PAGE 168
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There is not a single-minded solution to a focused problem as in the past (think
the one right answer mentality of the multiple-choice exam)
We are working longer hours at different times (home time, etc.) to
accommodate for the loss of productive time that occurs via the distractions –
leisure time and work time get entangled
PAGE 169
II.
What’s at the root of our distraction? Solutions? (p.170-1)
 Logos – What constitutes her Authority – Gloria Mark – Prof. of Informatics at
the Bren school of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of
California – Irvine- studies how we work and its effectiveness
 “. . . the contemporary worker switches tasks an average of once every three
minutes.”
 “ . . . once interrupted, the worker’s she’s studying take nearly twenty-five
minutes to return to their original task.”
PAGE 170
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“. . . even in the most high speed, high-tech, multitasking, app-laden, informationintensive workplaces on the planet, 44 percent or workplace interruptions come not
from external source but from internal ones . . .” In other words we distract ourselves
– I can see that in myself and in my students.
“If we’re paying attention to one thing, we’re not paying attention to something else
– but we are always paying attention to something.”
Our mind is often wandering – stream of consciousness
PAGE 171
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We have noticed changes in productivity, so we question where and why they exist.
Since we don’t have an answer, we blame the newest thing – technology.
Office Arrangement:
o large space divided into smaller spaces
o desks reveal separate workplaces
o time is scheduled artificially – you don’t take a break when you are tired or
lunch when you are hungry
PAGE 172
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This arrangement of the office into mini divisions does not fall into the norms of
computer use or the natural rhythms of life – it makes me mad that our system regulates
our lives in this way.
E-mail is a great example of just one of the many distractions - I totally agree!!!!!
PAGE 173
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New business has emerged to block the internet at the user’s discretion for a specific
period of time, so that work can be done
The structure and rules of the workplace need an upgrade
We also need research on how we pay attention in the modern work place and what
works and doesn’t
PAGE 174
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Why does the author give us the bio on Aza Raskin?
Raskin is trying to remove the limitations of our current computer systems with the
thought that if they are more fun to use, we will be more effective.
He asserts that multi-tasking isn’t the problem – we’ve done that all along.
PAGE 175
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How does Raskin organize things to help him stay focused? He has two computers. The
first only is used for the priority project. It is the only thing pulled up on that computer
and nothing else goes on that computer until he is finished with it.
His second computer connects him to the outside world. It sits adjacent to the first.
This requires a physical and mental movement away from the project to focus on other
things. The project is also remaining in his view – he knows it’s still there and
uninterrupted.
He has a third computer set up farther away that requires him to actually get up and
walk away from his work – this one is set up for only fun things that might distract him
or temp him
He has also programmed the fun computer to pop up a to-do list on his procrastinating
sites to help him remain productive
PAGE 176-177
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Additionally, he has programmed his fun sites to get slower and more spotty the longer
he’s on them.
Since we don’t know how to or have access to this kind of programming, we have to
learn how to retrain ourselves for this kind of work.
PAGE 178
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She gives an example of someone who used a kitchen timer to allot times for specific
work items, i.e. 15 minutes for e-mail, etc.
Mozilla was built via crowdsourcing – “That means, with any problem, if you get it
wrong the first time, instead of being dismayed, you are challenged. When you get it
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right, you go to the next level. Open-source building is a lot like game mechanics that
entice everyone playing to compete together so they can move to the next challeng.”
Why don’t we teach like this? It makes so much more sense.
PAGE 179
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III.
It’s clear a cure is needed, but until we truly identify the problem, we can not find one.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT – WHERE HAVE WE BEEN? (pg. 181-187)
 A brief history of how Frederick Winslow Taylor transformed the industrial
work place by setting quotas and time limits to improve efficiency in the late
1800s and early 1900s.
PAGE 181
 This model included reducing jobs to discrete tasks, making the process as
machine-like as possible, compartmentalizing operations, segregating
management from labor, implying laborers were inferior (animal-like) and
needed strict supervision
 Skyscrapers were made in Chicago after the famous fire to further model the
industrial age.
 The structure of the office was then modified to emulate this and is pretty much
how it is still run today.
PAGE 182-183
 Efficiency became the scale by which all were measured, regardless of their
individual circumstances, talents or predispositions.
 Self-motiviation or lack of it became the problem. No one was being innovative
or even questioning the processes being used. Therefore, no progress was
being made.
PAGE 184
 The implication is that the way things are now, in its changed state, defies the norm.
But one must remember that the “norm” was manufactured all the way down to our
child-rearing practices and our educational system. These things were also adapted
to fit into the manufactured “norm.”
PAGE 185
 We are on the cusp of a revolutionary change as radical as Taylorism’s
industrialization. It won’t happen overnight and may look extremely different than
the “norm.”
PAGE 186-187
IV.
(PG. 187-205)
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V.
(PG. 205-207)