I think it's safe to say that many technologies have changed our lives in significant ways. No where is this more apparent than in the workplace. Employers have vast tools at their disposal in an effort to increase efficiencies in the workplace. From being able to log every employee's keystroke to following every article that's read, today it's not difficult to see what's being done when we're working...and goofing off. And if they choose, an employer can even implement software that maps everyone we communicate with, painting an interesting picture of our daily communications. Remember the email clusters at Enron that showed which employees communicated with each other? This shed a lot of light on conspiracies taking place in the company. (http://jheer.org/enron/v1/). Even though most employers don't dissect every employee's behavior, the technology is there for them to do so.
While we've become accustomed to some of the technologies that monitor employee activities, there appears to be much more on the horizon that I'm sure many people will find very interesting. For example, if Microsoft has its way, in the not-too-distant future managers will receive alerts if their employees are experiencing increased levels of stress or anxiety. How? By patenting a technology that will monitor the blood pressure, heart rate, electrical-type skin response and facial expressions of employees, Microsoft plans to help managers know a lot more about their staff then just what keys they're typing. With the continuous need for increased productivity in the workplace, we can look forward to new and improved tools to boost workplace productivity.
