Coordinating office space: Digital technologies and the platformization of work

Abstract

Digital technologies enable the dispersal of office work from physical office buildings. The same technologies involve a counter tendency of concentration where offices are shared by different businesses, often for short periods, via the ‘space as service’ model. These opposing tendencies of workspace dispersal and concentration indicate the contingencies of technologies of work, in which their operations are mutually shaped by workplaces. Understanding what a technology of work is requires examining its situated actions and spaces of activity, like the office. Yet, the spatial characteristics of the present-day office demonstrate that ‘situatedness’ is by no means a straightforward vehicle for understanding contemporary technologies of work. Digital technologies tend less to divide space according to a specific function (i.e. work–life division), and more to create spaces of coordination that can adjust the definition of purposeful activity. Such spaces of coordination constitute the platformization of work with digital technologies in which spatial and temporal processes for instituting work extend beyond a single organization. Including but exceeding the ‘gig economy’ and ‘platform labour’, platformization indicates a wider reorganization of work through technologies that produces flexible arrangements of space and time, creating forms of independence, interdependence and dependency that challenge orders of work–life division.

The disconnection turn: Three facets of disconnective work in post-digital capitalism

“…In previous research, they have been identified as nodal points for numerous work-related trends, including work precarization, virtualization, and flexibilization (De Peuter and Cohen, 2015;Leclercq-Vandelannoitte and Isaac, 2016). Richardson (2020) appropriately recognizes the coworking space as a flexible "space of services" which-akin to the model flexible worker herself-is always modifiable.…”

“…Technologies of work-such as calendars, video conference software, laptops, Slack, etc.-are reflections of contemporary (Silicon Valley-ingrained) work norms and shape how we work (Wajcman, 2019a(Wajcman, , 2019b. Richardson (2020) notes in regards to connective technologies of work that they tend "less to divide space according to a specific function, and more to create spaces of coordination that can adjust the definition of purposeful activity" (p. 349). Such technologies, and the escalating platformization of work especially, she argues, do "not necessarily fix location" (p. 359) but rather stimulates de-territorialization.…”

“…However, the digital-detox-at-work trend brings with it a particular segment of technologies of work which obstruct-or at least claim to obstruct-the transcending effects described by Richardson (2020). This segment exists within an expanding market of "mindful technologies" (Gregg, 2018a) which facilitate self-monitoring for the sake of reduced or more intentional screenuse 2 .…”

Urban geography 1: ‘Big tech’ and the reshaping of urban space

“…Many city governments have displayed an ambivalence toward attracting tech firms, particularly over regulatory norms relating to the likes of Uber and Airbnb (McNeill, 2016). The struggles of platform 'gig' workers have been explored in several ways: Uber drivers by Pollio (2019) and Wells et al (2020); Deliveroo by Richardson (2020a). A significant amount of work has charted the impact of Silicon Valley platforms on urban life in the growing South, as seen in Pollio's (2019Pollio's ( , 2021 studies of Uber drivers in Cape Town and Mumbai, and Bedi's (2016) ethnography of how different taxi business models 'land' and are adapted to local laws and norms.…”

Enterprise Digital Divide: Website e-Commerce Functionalities among European Union Enterprises

“…Information about customers provided by the Internet enables e-commerce to create personalized and individual-oriented products. Digital platforms have become a new phenomenon; today they are one of the key components of global economic exchange, creating new market mechanisms (Richardson, 2020). Enterprises often have a presence on social media, but their website remains the primary focus where customers inform, communicate, and buy their products or services (Kim et al, 2018).…”