Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
More precisely, probes are a collection of evocative assignments through which or inspired by
which the users actively record requested material (Mattelmäki 2008). The most typical forms
of traditional self-documentation are diaries and camera studies. The academic purpose of self-
documentation is to examine the daily factors of human lives. (Graham et al. 2007; Mattelmäki
2008.) A relevant feature of self-documentation is collecting data from several situations that
increase the reliability of the research (DeLongis et al. 1992). Self-documentation also
minimizes the observers' possible influence on the person observed.
4. Results
Virtual devices and applications make it possible to work from almost any physical location.
Some of the users started the working day in bed when waking up in the morning, by reading
emails with their mobile phones and ended it in the same place before going to sleep. The use
of virtual tools was constant: at all times, in all places, in work and in leisure. For instance,
both making and answering work related phone calls and emails are done when shifting from
one physical location to another in staircases, streets, cars, public transportation vehicles, taxis,
airports and airplanes. The virtual tools are also used in the middle of different kind of work
and leisure related events and meetings such as in lunch restaurants, cafés and bars, offices,
seminar facilities, saunas and at home. As one user (U4) wrote in his diary: “I welcomed
seminar guests and at the same time I answered some phone calls”.
4.1 Physical comfort and fit in the virtual workplace of a mobile employee
The themes of discourse about physical comfort included tools and application for the
virtual work as well as the places for the work including the theme of ergonomics (fig. 2).
The employees used multiple physical places for work during their working days and the
amount of different devices and applications that were utilized was numerous and varied
from user to user. The most common virtual devices carried with were laptop and mobile
phone. Some users also worked with table computers. The most common virtual application
was the e-mail. Additionally, users applied a wide range of other applications. Some of
them were used via the Internet e.g. Facebook, Skype, Google, blog, virtual newspapers and
net banks. Some of them did not demand an internet connection like shared hard disk,
virtual calendar and notebook, Microsoft Office programs and work specific applications
such as ArchiCAD.
In many cases the virtual tools were utilized concurrently. The users had usually many
applications open at the same time and they used them alternately. Some users also applied
different devices for fulfilling the same task. As an example, a user (U6) was waiting for his
next flight at the airport. The battery of his laptop was running low and he was charging it
while waiting for the boarding call. When the call came the battery was 70% recharged. The
user decided to answer some of the latest emails with the laptop and older ones with his
mobile phone. The concurrent use of different devices requires a large enough flat surfaces
to place the devices - this was not fulfilled especially in the means of transport or was
hardly fulfilled in bus stations, railway stations or airports. Also the lack or paucity of
functional power points or internet plug-ins or wireless webs was considered hampering the
work especially during transitions. The inability to use the printers or totally non-working
printers was a problem for some of the users.
