GigaOM » Collaboration

We're All Web Workers Now

Simon Mackie — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:37:33 +0000

I had my first real taste of web working back in 2000, at Wrox Press. Wrox used Microsoft Exchange for email and calendaring. Exchange came with Outlook Web Access (one of the first real web apps), which meant that you could open up Internet Explorer on any PC, log in to the site, and see an interface that looked almost exactly the same as Outlook and do all of the things that you could do at work on your work machine. At the time, I found it quite incredible. It was an amazingly liberating setup: it meant that I could effectively work from anywhere that had a PC with an Internet connection.

Fast forward to 2009. The functionality which I found so amazing in Outlook Web Access in 2000 I take for granted now. I no longer work in an office, something which is true of many of my peers, as you might expect of people who work in tech. But now, even my mother, probably the least computer-literate person that I know, can access her work emails and do work from home. Does that mean that we’re all web workers now?

I may be biased, but I would argue that, to a certain extent, yes, we are. Lots of people use the web to work for at least a small part of their jobs, even if they don’t have what we might think of as the typical “web worker” lifestyle: working from home or a coffee shop, tapping away on a laptop. Teachers, for example, use the web to research and gather new teaching materials; farmers communicate with customers and suppliers over email and file their accounts using web apps. It’s hard to think of a profession that doesn’t use the Web in some way now.

Web working is getting even more common, thanks to a few trends we’ve seen over that past few years:

The Gig Economy

Over the past few years more and more people have turned to freelance work (the “Gig Economy“); it’s a shift that will likely be accelerated as companies shed jobs over the coming year. While it’s never good to hear of people losing their jobs, we’re all adjusting to a new way of working that will continue into the future. The current dire economic climate is just accelerating something that was happening anyway. oDesk has been calling this trend “homeshoring” (as opposed to offshore outsourcing, see Freelance Job Growth Accelerates in the U.S. on the oDesk blog). Companies and individuals are realizing the benefits of being flexible: not being tied to a particular job, and moving from project to project as needed.

Falling Costs, Better Connectivity

Another driver is falling costs and better connectivity. All of the costs associated with web working have dropped to the point where it’s now accessible to nearly everyone. Back in 2000, there was no way that I could have afforded Exchange, let alone the server to run it on, but now my needs are met by Gmail and Google Calendar. Likewise my home Internet connection is cheaper now, not to mention many times faster. I can access the Internet over Wi-Fi from many of the coffee shops near my house, and even when I can’t find a Wi-Fi hotspot, through my iPhone. My laptop is way more powerful and was cheaper to buy, in real terms, than my old desktop PC was.

Increasing Functionality

There are web apps to do nearly anything today. If you had told me, back in 2000, that you could shift not only Outlook, but the whole Microsoft Office suite, onto the browser, I would have scoffed. But now I no longer use Office day-to-day: Google Apps does everything I need. Many more of the desktop apps we used to have are moving into the cloud, and with that shift comes the benefit of shared data and collaboration.

The Future?

So yes, we are all web workers now, at least to a small extent. I think it’s pretty safe to say, looking at these trends, that in the future — maybe not all that long from now — more of us will lead the “web worker lifestyle” and the web will be such an integral part of working that life without it would be unthinkable.

For many of us, we’re already there.

Are we all web workers now? What about the future?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Write for WebWorkerDaily

Simon Mackie — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:27:44 +0000

I’m looking to add to the great team of writers that we have here at WebWorkerDaily. If you think you have what it takes to write for WWD, I’d love to hear from you. I’m looking for writers with a good, clear writing style, a unique voice, extensive experience of web working and time to contribute regularly to the site. It doesn’t matter what type of web working you do.

Email me at tips@webworkerdaily.com with writing samples or links to existing work.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

A WebWorkerDaily Manifesto

Simon Mackie — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:34:14 +0000

As you will probably have read on Friday, Judi Sohn has stepped down as editor of WebWorkerDaily. I’m the site’s new editor.

I’d like to thank Judi for the work that she’s done on WWD and also for making the transition between editors as simple and painless as it could possibly be. I’m thrilled that she’ll be staying on as Senior Writer: she has a great voice, plenty of valuable experience, and will make a fantastic lead for our team of writers here.

We have some exciting changes planned for the site that we’ll be introducing shortly, but in this post I’d like to briefly talk about WebWorkerDaily. Om Malik started the site back in September 2006 with a vision for a blog that would cover the new way of working for the increasing number of people no longer chained to their desks; those who work from home, a cafe, or wherever they could set their laptop and get an internet connection (the “neo-Bedouin”, to use a term coined by Greg Olsen). 2006 was only a couple of short years ago now, but the trend for flexible working means that, in that time, many more people have joined our tribe of nomadic workers. The proliferation of mobile devices with internet connectivity, increasingly available wi-fi, and coworking spaces blossoming in many cities means that the web working lifestyle is accessible to many more people than it was even a couple of years ago.

One of the things that I’ve been working on is a “manifesto”, a statement of what I think WebWorkerDaily is and should be. I’d like to share it with you.

A WebWorkerDaily Manifesto
The modern workforce is increasingly moving out of the office. Using the Web and mobile technologies to connect to colleagues and customers, people can work wherever they set their laptop. WebWorkerDaily is a daily blog and community that empowers Web workers, connecting with them, inspiring them, and helping them to be more productive and successful. The team at WebWorkerDaily believes that people work better without being tied to a desk, and that companies which make effective use of web workers are leaner, more profitable and, ultimately, more successful.

WebWorkerDaily is about putting the Web to work for you.

We believe that everyone can use the Web to work more effectively.

We publish content that helps our readers to get the job done. While we cover technology, the technology is not the story.

WebWorkerDaily isn’t about the theory of web working, it’s about the reality. Our content is practical and relevant. It tells stories from the trenches.

We are an integral part of the web working community. We publish content that builds ideas and conversation.

WebWorkerDaily is written from experience: our team live and breathe the web working experience every day.

We’ll be working hard to make sure that our content achieves those goals to make WebWorkerDaily the best resource for you that it can be. I want us to be an integral part of the web working community: we thrive on your feedback. So, please, feel free to share your feedback and suggestions in the comments, or email me at tips@webworkerdaily.com.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.