The Boston View — Data, architecture and the (new?) working age
A column by Paolo Ciuccarelli
Invisible digital infrastructures are constantly mapping people’s connections and their behavior: from IP communication to the sensors that check occupancy or ensure indoor climate quality, offices and other working spaces especially are equipped with an intricate network of devices and cables. Analyzing the data they produce and visualizing them — within the boundaries of laws and norms (a.k.a. privacy) — can reveal the impact of the forced changes in working dynamics. And eventually lead to (re)consider the role and the value of space and physical-social relationships in productivity.
This was the topic of a short seminar by Carlo Ratti and Martina Mazzarello at MIT Senseable City Lab earlier in May, it’s worth reconsidering it now as we are going to be back — sooner or later — to our workplaces. Or maybe not?
The talk, available here, summarizes the first results of a broader research based on data collected from MIT students, professors, and administrators during the pandemic. The researchers built two models of the same social network, analyzing people’s interactions before access to campus was banned and during the shutdown.
One key emerging point is the (ir)reproducibility of the serendipitous encounters that randomly happen in a physical space — often leading to interesting conversations, unplanned knowledge sharing and ultimately new ideas and innovation. That’s something that seems to be hard to replicate online, where every activity is tight to a schedule, everything is — and needs to be — planned, and we usually connect for a specific purpose. Within these conditions one more luckily cultivates the closer circle of solid relationships and gets less exposed to the ‘weak ties’ of the broader unplanned network that usually grows through the random connections we build in public spaces, or in the transit between the private and the public. So depending on your business domain and the importance of leveraging on the unexpected, the decision on whether to come back to the physical working habits or not might be even more difficult. Adding competences related to analysis and visualization could help make sense of all the data produced by the sensors and the processes that silently capture indoor activities and the ‘behavior’ of buildings and spaces. That’s also where information designers can aim at having a more direct impact on people’s wellbeing and more broadly on sustainability.
Paolo Ciuccarelli
Center for Design, Northeastern University
