66: Workplace Isolation – Tom Forester (Part 1)

We continue our series of episodes related to the social change being spurred by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic that has brought about rapid and immediate social change. In this episode, we explore the social and emotional impacts to the worker on having to work from home. For some workers, the concept of telework is hardly new. But many other vocations place great value on regular social contact with clients and customers. These include teachers, doctors, lawyers, public servants, and many others. The sudden thrust to teleworking for an unknown period of time has raised questions as to how these workers are coping with the new normal.

This time we are joined by our former podcaster - Ella Hafermalz - to discuss Tom Forester’s “The Myth of the Electronic Cottage,” an article from Futures in 1988, republished in Computers & Society in 1989.