[CAVEAT: This is a work-in-progress, attempting to build a framework for my recent thoughts about digitally-mediated working environments. More to come.]

Social networks are at the heart of creative business. During the ’80s and ’90s, progressive businesses responded to this (relatively obvious) insight through workplace innovations. Hot-desking, freeform physical environments and mobility were intended to provide opportunities for project teams and communities of practice to self-organise. At the periphery of these task-based clusters, it was also possible for serendipitous interactions between people and teams who would not otherwise come into contact. Tight clusters, peripheral interactions.

However, at the same time that creative businesses were tearing down office walls, these businesses became increasingly dependant on PC-mediated communications and workflow processes. At best, exploitation of roaming profiles and ‘portable identity’ freed workers from the need to lug their laptops, power supplies and cables from desk to desk. At worst, whole businesses fell victim to the Curse of the Exploding Tamagotchi.

But unnoticed by most, personal computers engendered a deeper malaise — no-one noticed the gentle sucking sound of attention being relocated from real-world social context to the screen.

Hence the question: how do we ‘only connect’ the realworld social networks at the heart of creative work with the behind-the-screens systems which provide those networks with information and connectivity. The need for electronic mediation is real — especially for businesses operating in multiple locations and time zones. But the issue is how to maximize the connection between people, and minimize the attentional suction of screen-based interfaces.

Once attention is seen as a valuable resource, different attentional needs and opportunities can be identified. Consider when, why and for how long information needs to be visible.

Some suggestions:

• Investigate the contexts in which communication is both relevant and important. Pitch help and new business requests have a different window of importance than updates on existing accounts, and require a different attentional commitment to accrue useful responses on the part of their recipients.
• Develop systems which are both portable and In Your Face, which do not absorb attention, but are instead responsive to a timely glance. Adoption of pocketable, always-on devices like Blackberry helps with this. Such devices allow important systems to receive continuous partial attention, rather than sucking attention wholesale into an on-screen environment.
• In Your Face interfaces can be developed for more traditional computing environments, so that again a glance will suffice to keep people informed and in contact, and allow the centre of attention to be where it should be, off-screen. Move from the metaphor of desktop and overlaid application windows, where possible, to something like the ‘control surfaces’ used in music production studios, where everything important is visible immediately at the top level of the interface.
• Think hard about where information lives — in hearts and minds. Instead of the conventional attempt to codify snapshots of knowledge states in systems which must be navigated into and moused through — consuming attention in the process — build lightweight systems which link knowledge-holders together so they can communicate directly with each other. Exploit consensual surveillance to capture valuable information, and use agent systems to get this information back to users when it’s relevant.
• Exploit the ‘presence’ information available in Instant Messaging so that people know when their correspondants are actually available and willing to talk, rather than blindly firing emails off into the ether with no knowledge of the attentional context of the intended recipient. This is not only more polite, it is more likely to open communication channels when correspondants are receptive and willing to share their valuable knowledge and attention.
• Use social network mapping tools to analyse email and Instant Messaging logs to see who is actually talking with whom. Monitor usage over time to see if and how the above recommendations are actually changing the social organisation of your business.