Where do you work?

The world has certainly changed since I last looked for a job.  I have begun to think more and more about where and how I would like to work in my next job, and I’ve decided I certainly don’t need a desk in an office; that I could work anywhere what with all the mobile technology that is out there.  Teaching, which I am leaving, no longer needs a classroom in a school.  Online learning is becoming more popular and even a local school district is allowing its summer school students to take classes via a computer at their home.

I just read this over on another blog:

My friend Rael lives in Portland and works at an office in San Francisco, and he does it via Skype. At the office, he’s got a desk, chair, and a computer with a webcam, microphone, and Skype always running. When he sits down to work at his desk in Portland, he video Skypes into his San Francisco workstation for the entire workday. His California co-workers joke that he’s just a floating head on a screen. But when someone in the office needs to talk to him, they go sit at his desk and do so. He can hear ambient conversations going on around the office and they can hear and see him. In fact, on a particularly quiet day at the office, someone complained that his keyboard clacking was too loud! The always-on video connection lets Rael’s co-workers know when he’s at his desk, see his expressions during conversations, and watch his body language when they’re collaborating on-screen.

To collaborate with a co-worker on-screen, Rael uses iChat’s screen-sharing feature. It lets him point, click, and type on the same screen simultaneously with a co-worker. If you don’t have a Mac running iChat, Skype offers screen-sharing as well as a service called LogMeIn.

I got a taste of working like this a few months ago when I did a webinar with Microsoft and ISTE.  The whole thing was set up through conference calls and some nifty meeting software, and although we never met face-to-face, I got to know the participants pretty well and felt very comfortable working in that mode.

I would be very willing to work remotely, without an actual desk in an office; and even though I like being around people, I think I would like using tools like Skype to interact and engage with my coworkers.