Technological nomads
A new buzz-phrase is upon us. Technological nomads, technological Bedouins, or New Bedouins are people who do their business from coffee shops or other non-office, non-home environments. It’s possible thanks to powerful wireless technology - we can take our phones and computers wherever we like.
Technological nomads are the heir to telecommuting. A phrase that got started in the seventies when it became possible for people to have terminals at home that connected to mainframes at their work.
The Philidelphia Inquirer explained it well in 1983:
“In the Computer Age, many people may not have to commute any farther than the few steps from their bedrooms to their home-offices. It is called ‘telecommuting’…”
Fast-forward to March 2007 and the San Francisco Chronicle tells us of a new breed of worker:
“San Francisco’s modern-day bedouins are typically armed with laptops and cell phones, paying for their office space and Internet access by buying coffee and muffins.”
There’s […]
Original post by http://www.newscientist.com/blog/technology/2007/03/technological-nomads.html