Today we have a guest post from Tom Drews. Tom is the CEO and Founder of What Works! Communications, a company that helps people to design and deliver effective virtual presentations. He is considered to be a leader in the field, and his clients include Google, Symantec, CLIF Bar, McKesson and Citrix Online. You can learn more about his programs at www.whatworks.biz.

Presenting and selling in the virtual environment is the wave of the future! It can be an incredibly effective means of communicating both your message and your value. That said, it will mean next to nothing if you can't effectively engage them. And that is the number one challenge we face when presenting online. What follows are ten best practices for engaging your prospect when using GoToMeeting, or any comparable platform.

Know Your Platform Well

In my early days, I inadvertently kicked 150 people out of a meeting, crashed my computer, and kept an audience waiting for eight minutes while I figured out how to push the start button. Learn from my mistakes and know your platform inside and out! Practice makes perfect. Make dry runs and call support when necessary, and be sure to look for an easy-to-use solution.

Present Value Throughout

The biggest mistake I see sales people make is not presenting value. You may have the greatest product or service in the world, but it will mean next to nothing if you can't effectively communicate your value based on your prospect's most important needs. The very small percentage of virtual sales presentations that hold prospects' attention are those that deliver genuine value based on the audience's most important needs. Connect with your prospect in advance to learn more about their situation, the problems they face, the impact those problems are having on their business, and their needs.

Grab Your Audience's Attention

Most people begin their presentations with an agenda, or by talking about themselves. This is painfully boring. We have to grab the prospect's attention right from the start, or else we may lose them forever. Start with a provocative question, a personal story, a quote, or an interesting fact. My favorite way to start is by presenting the number one challenge that my prospect faces, and then showing how solved the same problem for another customer. Be sure to add engaging visuals, photos or graphics to help support your point.

Keep Your Slides Simple

At least 95% of the presentations I see are crammed with text. Here's the problem with this: We are naturally designed to read what's in front of us, and while you're reading what's on the screen, you're not paying attention to what I have to say. I suggest breaking complex slides into several different slides, and adding visuals to support each point. You can also use a build, where you bring in points one by one. That way the audience isn't reading ahead. And if you absolutely have to keep your slides busy, then at the very least use the annotation tools to help draw attention to what you want your prospect to focus on.

Add Some Hollywood

Instead of designing a dull PowerPoint® presentation, imagine yourself as the writer, director, producer and actor of your own Hollywood production. An Academy Award-winning film consists of thousands of images strung together to tell a story. Apply this approach to your virtual presentations. How can you add photos and other visuals to help you tell your story and illustrate your points? For an example of how to present Hollywood, feel free to view our recorded webinar at www.whatworks.biz under the "event" tab. For stock photos, www.istockphoto.com is my favorite resource.

Make the Most of Your Voice

When presenting online, we don't have the luxury of connecting with eye communication, our bodies, and movement. All we really have to work with are our visuals and our voice. So we have to make the most of it. There are many elements of voice, including volume, tone, inflection, pace and articulation. Record your Web presentations, and then play it back for yourself or others so you can collect feedback and make an honest assessment of your voice. I don't recommend using a cell phone, but I do suggest using a headset connected to a landline.

Eliminate Distractions

I have polled literally thousands of people to learn what they find most annoying when sitting in on virtual presentations, and distractions rise to the top of the list. If someone in the audience is making unnecessary noises, such as coughing, heavy breathing or burping, don't hesitate to mute them. Be conscious of your own background noise, as well. I've sat in on webinars and heard people doing dishes, dogs barking and people snoring. You want your prospect to focus on you, your message, and the value that you have to offer, and that is it.

Use Annotation Tools

Most Web conferencing platforms, such as GoToMeeting, provide annotation tools, which include pens, arrows, boxes, circles, laser pointers and more. The highlighter is one of the most useful tools. It is essentially a pen that allows you to highlight text and other images. Using annotation tools throughout your presentation will help to keep your attendees engaged and focused on your most relevant content.

Interact Often

When presenting virtually, we can't see our prospect, and they "know" that we can't see them. So they're free to do whatever they wish. Social Media and Email are some of the most common distractions nowadays. In order to keep our prospect from wandering, it is absolutely essential that we interact often. Most Web conferencing platforms provide interactive tools such as Polling, chat rooms and white boards, which are ideal for keeping larger audiences engaged. Interact with smaller audiences by asking questions and fielding questions throughout. My No. 1 strategy for interacting and engaging with smaller groups is to address people by their first names, and ask individuals if you're on track and covering their most important needs.

Stand and Deliver

Wearing a cordless headset connected to a landline will allow you to have your hands free, as well as your body. If you use a remote clicker, as you would when presenting in person, you can move about the room while advancing your slides. If frees up your energy so you can be your most enthusiastic self. I've witnessed some of the most successful sales people walking around and gesturing enthusiastically while delivering virtual sales presentations.

In conclusion, presenting in the virtual environment can be an incredibly effective way of communicating your message and your value to your audience. Focus on your value, add some "Hollywood," and keep them entertained. By doing so, you'll be sure to more effectively engage your audience and leave them with a message they won't forget! Of course, you will also shorten your sales cycle, beat the competition, and close more business.

Photo Credit: ShashiBellamkhonda

I've been workshifting since before there was a term for it. I started back in the late 90s, when I convinced my office that I could manage most of my project details remotely. By the early 2000s, when the company where I worked acquired a new building, I even built workshifting (then called telecommuting) into the desk counts for the office space. Years later, I brought workshifting to my marketing company, New Marketing Labs , because my home is 67 miles away from my desk.

But recently, I picked up an office space closer to home because working out of coffeeshops was getting too disruptive. And in so doing, it gave me pause to reflect on the differences between being 100% nomad and having a desk. It also gives me a new way to workshift, so I'll share that, too.

The Immediate Stretch Out

The first thing I noticed upon getting an office is that I've stretched out my stuff again. I bought a second monitor right away (because living inside a laptop lid is restrictive). I had to buy all these "supplies" like an easel board and dry erase boards, so that I could have some "object permanence." When we're workshifting back and forth to different coffee shops, we can't do that kind of thing.



Oh, and I had to start thinking about refreshments and breaks, because when you're at a coffee shop, you're surrounded by things to snack on and drink, but in an office environment, especially if you've rented your own, there's nothing unless you bring it in.

New Benefits for Workshifting

One thing I noticed right away. The moment I had a desk in my office, I didn't want to be tethered to my cell phone all the time for communication. I turned on Skype right away (though I roll in invisible mode all the time). I'm also renewing my GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar usage (they're a client and the sponsor of this blog).

The benefit of having my office is that I'm not worried about all the loud noises and interruptions of others around me. It doesn't matter when the espresso machine runs, because there's not one in my office. So, I can use remote communications tools much more effectively here.

Having an office space away from my main office (but not a coffee shop) means that I can have more team-minded meetings again. Because I can use remote communications software, I can see everyone's frustrated heads more easily, and that sometimes helps (because nonverbal cues are important to better understanding).

Still a Nomad at Heart

I still have to leave this office behind sometimes. Not counting airports and hotel rooms, I still have to get out to coffee shops and bookstores sometimes. I can't stand too much silence. And hey, sometimes a change of locale helps the experience of thinking and understanding.

When all is said and done, there are benefits to having some kind of office space from time to time. Workshifting isn't about giving up offices entirely, nor is it about staying out there away from the mothership forever. What it is about are options. The more you can work in ways that best suit your role at work as well as your roles in life, the better it is for everyone.

Much like the shirtless dancing guy in the amusing but compelling video above, workshifting is a physical movement--but instead of flailing your arms, you seamlessly move the location of where you do work. One day, you're meeting your manager online from a coffee shop.  And the next, you're prepping a client presentation while sitting at an airport gate.  This is all possible thanks to the World Wide Web and its wondrous ways of allowing us to use remote technologies.

• www.workshifting.com ;)
• "Work Unchained: Workshifting and the Competitive Edge of the Anywhere Office" [podcast, eBook]
• "Leading Virtual Effectiveness: Four Strategies for Effective Communication in a Distributed Workforce" [eBook]
• "The Top Ten Strategies for Managers of Mobile Workers" [white paper]
• "Presenting the Business Case for Web Commuting" [white paper, podcast]

Today's post is from Jennifer Marcus Newton, a freelance writer located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She routinely works from all the usual workshifting haunts--cafes, park benches, airports--and also maintains a tidy writing studio and messy home office. Her most remote work location was among the yaks in Shangri-La. Work/life balance for her means using both a Mac and fountain pen. Contact her at fidhlear@gmail.com.

On April 3, iPad will hit the streets. And airports. And coffee shops. And all the other places people live, work and play. With just a few days away from the official release, everyone's buzzing about iPad. We have to admit that here at Citrix Online, we're eagerly anticipating the release, too. (And not just because we love innovative technology, but you'll have to wait until Saturday to get any more details out of us.)

iPad is already stimulating people's imaginations and piquing curiosity. One of the biggest questions people seem to have is who will be buying iPads? But folks are also wondering about how iPad will ultimately be used. Will it serve primarily as a media consumption device for surfing the Web, reading e-books and browsing photos? Or, is there a more serious side to iPad that will make it an indispensible business productivity tool? In other words, will it be all work or all play or something in between, like casual Friday?

So far, opinions vary widely. But from what we've read, many organizations have already announced plans to purchase iPads for company business. And we personally know a number of folks here at Citrix Online (without naming names) who simply can't wait to take iPad for a spin, professionally speaking.

We, of course, are keenly interested in how iPad can be used for business. Obviously the ability to check email and work from the road are key attributes of any self-respecting business tool. And you know us--tools that help facilitate remote work and productivity are right up our alley. We're also big fans of collaboration, and that's what is especially compelling about iPad for business use. iPad's exceptional visual capabilities are a perfect match for every flavor of collaboration--from presentations and demos to reviewing design specs and more. That, combined with iPad's mobility, is why we believe iPad is set to become a favorite in the collaboration toolkit. And with the right business app, iPad's mobility lays the foundation for enabling people to easily and effortlessly collaborate with anyone, from anywhere.

Let's be honest. We love our laptops. We might even love our laptops a little too much (hey, who doesn't?), but a laptop is not always the most efficient tool to use in every situation. Imagine, for example, that you're about to board a plane but need to quickly access a file, document or app. Guess what? iPad is "instant on," just like a phone. Turn it on. Access file. Take your seat. Using iPad will be as instant, efficient and simple as that. And should you need to access a file, document or application on the company server before boarding that plane, we're optimistic that there will be numerous apps, particularly in the software-as-a-service category, making an appearance that will enable remote access, among other things.

Before going completely gaga over iPad for business, however, be prepared to face a little resistance from the IT department. Remember IT's initial resistance to the iPhone? We all know how that little dance turned out. IT managers, realizing that they could do little to stem the tide of iPhones being used to access corporate email, astutely decided to go with the flow. The same is likely to happen with iPad. And perhaps there will be less resistance this time around since iPad is not replacing existing devices, but rather complementing them.

iPad's success as a business tool will largely be determined by the availability and quality of business productivity apps. Judging by what we've seen so far (and it's not even launch day yet), things look very promising. In fact, we think there will be no shortage of business-focused apps for the business-ready iPad. We'll even go out on a limb and predict that half of all iPads out and about in the world will be used for business purposes in some way.

April 3 will soon be here. We'll do our best to contain our excitement until then. You certainly won't want to miss it. And if you're stuck on what to wear, business casual is always a safe bet.

What do you think?

Photo Credit: S. Robbin

Inga hit my hot button with her recent post "What's in a Name". Depending on whom you ask, the number of U.S. telecommuters ranges from between 2.8 million people (consider home their primary place of work, not including the self-employed) and 44.4 million (includes anyone works at home at least once a year).

The counting problem isn't because no one has bothered to study the work-at-home population. The IRS, Bureau of Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics Small Business Adminsitration, and a number of private researchers all collect data about people who work from home. But they all come at it with their own needs and biases.

The big problem, as Inga points out is that no one agrees on whom to count. Bruce Phillips, a researcher for the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) called the task of separating out the real work-at-home numbers as a "statistical Vietnam--the data goes in, but you can't get it out."

The population of people included in various counts range from people who work from home as little as one day a year, to those who do so the majority of the time (Census). Some sources count incorporated and unincorporated small businesses, others don't. Some consider telecommuters to include road warriors whom, while they may be teleworkers, they are not not using technology to replace their commute--the classic definition of telecommuting.  BLS and Census even include unpaid family workers among the work at home population.

None of the studies separate out those employees and business owners who work at home from those who work from home. For example, while a plumber may be home-based, he only earns his living with his head under someone else's sink.

It seems to me the whole thing is a bit like studying meteoroids. We know there are a lot of them, we know there are different kinds, and we know they're important, but we don't know where they all are and not everyone agrees on which ones to count.

Of course I have my biases too. As a telecommuting researcher and author, I'm interested in the people who regularly work both from and at home because they offer the greatest potential to reduce global warming, energy usage, and traffic congestion. They're also the ones who derive the most work-life benefits from telecommuting.

For those counts, I lean toward Census data. They ask employed workers where their principal place of work was during the survey week. Granted, some may have had an unusual week, but the numbers for 2008 show that 5.9 million called home their principal place of work. Of those, 3.1 million were home based businesses. That means that only 2.5 million employees, 1.9% of the working population, worked at home most of the time. That's a long way from the 52 million people who hold telecommuting compatible jobs.

Of course, others, such as equipment and software suppliers, are just as interested in the mobile workforce counts (i.e. road warriors, plumbers, electricians). A reporter from Inc. magazine (they're doing a month-long experiment with telecommuting) asked if I knew the size of the mobile workforce marketplace. I was embarrassed to say I didn't, but as I thought about it, it goes back to the same problem--we're just not capturing the data.

Over two dozen local, state and federal programs aimed at promoting telecommuting have been proposed or adopted in the past year. Federal funds are already flowing to the cause. Without proper statistics on the growth of the trend, the return on investment for these programs will be impossible to determine. I've actually submitted several proposals aimed at doing the research necessary to get a handle on the existing telecommuting population and coming up with a way to standardize the counts going forward. Everyone I've talked to seems interested, but so far no one's been willing to put up the dough. Stay tuned on that.

Where do you get your stats on telecommuting?  Have any good sources?  Let's share them around and see if we can solve this, finally.

Photo Credit: RaeA

Since I know that many of you access this blog via RSS or email, you may not know that we have recently uploaded tons of new whitepapers and eBooks to our Downloads section.  To give you a little taste of what you can find over there, we have recently added:

• Leading Virtual Effectiveness: Four Strategies for Effective Communication in a Distributed Workforce
• It's Time to Review - And Renew - Your Telecommuting Policy
• The Top Ten Strategies for Managers of Mobile Workers
• Five Tips for Better Virtual Meetings
• 9 Management Practices for Exceptional Webinars
• Getting the Most from Your Marketing Events: The ROI of In-Person Seminars, Trade Shows and Webinars
• Emerge! How to Avoid the Seven Sins of Live, Online Presentations
• Beyond the Basics: How to Optimize Online Training for Maximum Impact
• How to Promote the Value of Online Training within Your Organization
• Five Keys to Getting Started with Interactive Online Training

Over the next couple weeks we will be making the Downloads section easier to navigate and more organized so that you're able to find the information you're after a little faster.

If there are whitepapers or eBooks you would like to see the Workshifting team focus on, please let us know in the comments below.

As always, thank you for continuing to make our little community around here so much fun to be a part of.

Photo Credit: ConanTheLibrarian

Today we have a guest post from Gene Marks.  Gene, an idiot, is also an author of four best selling small business management books and a frequent online columnist for Forbes.com, Businessweek.com and American City Business Journals.  Gene owns The Marks Group PC, a ten-person CRM and Financial consulting firm located in Bala Cynwyd, PA.

I am a remote worker.  And I am an idiot. 


I'm also the owner of a small business and everyone in my company also works remotely.  We used to have an office.  We now have a virtual private network supported by a local IT firm.  



And now Windows 7 is released.  Now that really sucks for my IT firm.

My ten person company is no different than many other small businesses around the world.  Most of the businesses my size are still in Windows XP Land. That's because they were smart enough to stay away from Windows Vista and all of its shortcoming.  I recently read Windows Vista has been adopted by only 8.8% of potential users.  At the same stage in its lifecycle Windows XP had been adopted by 87.1% of potential users.  



The bad news is that I've been told that my company is going to have to migrate to Windows 7 in the next year or two.  Citrix Online recently conducted a poll of 200 IT professionals in the SMB world and found that 42% of them expect Windows 7 will have "more than a small impact" on their operations next year.  And at the same time, only 13% of these guys plan on hiring extra staff to help migrate their clients to the new platform. 



I've got everything PERFECTLY organized on the computer I've been using for the past five years.  Upgrading me will not be fun.    



Thank God for GoToAssist.  Whether I decide to upgrade my existing computer (unlikely) or get a new computer (probably, but it still kills me to do so), my IT guys will be using GoToAssist to take control of my system.  This way I can turn my computer on while they connect and do what they have to do to configure my system. 



And thank God for GoToMeeting.  Because even before I let my IT guys touch my beloved, perfectly configured and trusted Windows XP workstation, I'm going to need to have an infinite number of conversations with them. With GoToMeeting, my IT guys can show me what I'll be expecting to see on my screen and how they're going to get me there. 



The research firm Forrester says that there are about 34 million "teleworkers".  They say that by 2012 enterprise mobile workers will make up 73 percent of the workforce.  My IT firm, and many IT firms like them, will have their hands full supporting idiots like me when we all have to upgrade to Windows 7.  They're going to need all the remote tools they can get their hands on.  



By the way I forgot about one other remote connection tool.  That's GoToMyPC.  I'll be using it to connect to my old Windows XP box which I fully intend to keep up and running.  Just in case Windows 7 hiccups.  Hey, maybe I'm not such an idiot after all!

If you want to read more detail about Windows 7 migration, online tools and why I'm an idiot, check out the extended version of this post, er, a whitepaper (or so I'm told): Windows 7 Migration and Online Tools.

If you're sick of reading, check out the webinar I recently was a part of: Windows 7 Nirvana Roundtable.

Photo Credit: techedlive

A few years ago this discussion wouldn't be happening. It is (or was) the American Dream to buy a home and pay a boat load for it during the prime years of your life. The years when you are starting a family, have a secure job and could afford the nicely wrapped payments mixed between the two weeks of vacation you were given from your employer. Over the past two years the mindsets of many people (including myself) have changed.

For some, time has become more important than income and material things. Experiences, people and memories serve as souvenirs from a life well lived. No longer were we subject to the white picket fence that meant we had to settle down in one place for as long as possible.

In the workshifting, lifestyle design and internet business world, we are coming to a piece of mind that renting may actually be a better option to this lifestyle. Renting allows us the freedom to move from place to place, traveling the country or the world and putting our saved monies into other investments, or even in experiencing more things. A recent article from Housing Watch notes that "a mere 55% of adults say buying a home is the best investment families can make."

Personally, I still believe in the power of real estate investments. But my mindset in working from home, the beach or the park tells me that 6-12 month rentals are not only freeing mentally, but they can save you a ton of money in the short term to enjoy your time. I am not pretending to be an expert in real estate (I read everything I can get my hands on, but still get confused), but I can see that investing in a home that is depreciating faster than the interest is rising is not a good financial plan for my own future. Much like many of us have made the decision to work location independent, whether for a company or out on our own - we did it to better our situations in life.

A recent article from the LA Times echoes that fact for people in upside down mortgages as proposed by Professor Brent T. White:

Go ahead. Break the chains. Stop paying on your mortgage if you owe more than the house is worth. And most important: Don't feel guilty about it. Don't think you're doing something morally wrong.

Renting may be the answer, but maybe its not. In my own life, I am torn between these 2 worlds. There are benefits and advantages to both. What I want to do is turn the conversation over to the community and see what you think of the situation.  What do you think about the following questions:

• Are you renting or do you own a home?
• Have you thought of foreclosing, a short sale, etc?
• How do you manage your travel and work schedule with your living situation?

Let's learn from each other in this community. To buy or not to buy, that is only part of the question!

Photo Credit: Azhure

Now that we're just about 5% of the way through 2010, you may be at that point where some of those New Year's resolutions you made just a few weeks ago are already starting to slip.  There is still time to recover and keep to those resolutions.  But, make sure we don't make the following mistakes or else you'll certainly derail yourself:

Ten surefire ways to fail your New Year's Resolutions!

1. Make huge, unrealistic and unsustainable resolutions like "Lose 6KGs in the next 4 weeks", "join gym and go every day" or "Go to bed at 9.30pm every night without fail"
   
   
2. Make sure you set the sort of resolutions that you think you should achieve, not those that really "pull" you towards them.  New Year's Resolutions have nothing to do with who you are and who you want to become.
   
   
3. Ensure that you make at least 5 New Year's Resolutions, preferably addressing every area of your life. That'll keep you busy for this first week of January!
   
   
4. Make New Year's resolutions into your one and only chance to change your life this year.   Keep telling yourself that if you fail now, you may as well give up and accept that you'll never make those positive changes.
   
   
5. Test your resolution at every opportunity. So for example, if you've resolved to give up smoking, hang around all your nicotine pals at every opportunity.  If you've resolved to be a calm parent when your children test you, make sure you are exhausted most of the time and that you haven't met your own needs first.
   
   
6. Remember that you must do it alone.  It's not up to any of your friends or family to support you in achieving your New Year's Resolutions.
   
   
7. If you've managed to keep your New Year's Resolution through to the end of January, don't give yourself a pat on the back. You have to keep on your toes, dammit!  Just because you've managed a month that doesn't mean you should reward yourself or acknowledge your so-called achievement in any way.
    
8. Ensure that  your New Year's Resolutions fill you with horror/dread/a sinking feeling every time you think about them (all ten of them). Nothing worth achieving was ever easy, was it? No pain no gain!
   
   
9. Compare yourself frequently with other people who appear to have achieved what you are trying to achieve with your resolutions.  Remember that whatever you achieve, there will always be someone who has achieved it faster and better than you.
   
   
10. Don't prepare for your resolutions at all.
    

Of course, I don't need to tell you that, in order to achieve your resolutions, the opposite of the above ten points apply!  However, let's get the positivity flowing for 2010, shall we.  Here are the ten tips that will increase your chances of success with your resolutions:

Ten Ways to increase your chances of succeeding in your New Year's Resolutions

1. Make small, achievable resolutions.  Instead of "Never lose my temper with my children again", try a resolution that addresses when and/or why you lose your temper.  It might be because you are tired, you are in a rush, and you've got too much on.  Which resolution might you choose that addresses one of the underlying causes of you losing your temper?  
Or try a more general resolution.  Try on "Be nice to me and my kids by ensuring I get my 8 hours sleep most nights".
   
   
2. Set resolutions that are a reflection of you and your values, not resolutions that reflect someone else's values.
   
   
3. This year, just try one or two resolutions.  Once you've achieved one (maybe you could set a realistic date), then try another.  Think quality resolutions rather than quantity.
   
   
4. You're bound to have days when you do less well in keeping your resolution than you'd hoped.  Don't define such days as failure. Instead use them to reflect and learn in order to do better tomorrow.
   
   
5. Just because you don't achieve 100%, it doesn't mean you've failed the test.  Treat your new year's resolutions in a similar way. Give yourself the best chances of success by keeping temptation out of reach. If this is impossible, then make a choice as to whether a tempting situation is going to mean that your resolution is not going to be kept on that particular occasion.  If you anticipate this and give yourself permission to "slip up", then you're more likely to keep with the resolution afterwards.
    
6. You're more likely to achieve your resolution if you get support from those who want you to succeed.  Note the careful wording there - choose your support team carefully and avoid the naysayers and false friends!
   
   
7. Build in celebratory milestones and acknowledge yourself for what you've achieved at each of those milestones.  I believe that people nowadays are starved of acknowledgement, and it's important that you learn to acknowledge yourself in all areas of your life, not just for your resolutions!
   
   
8. Choose resolutions that fill you with joy, peace or pleasure at the thought of achieving them.  Put each resolution through the joy/pleasure/peace filter. If they don't meet one, bin them!
   
   
9. Remember that comparison is the killer of creativity. This is your resolution - nobody else's!
   
   
10. Prepare!  The following questions WILL of course help you to prepare effectively for keeping your resolutions:
• "How can I give myself best chances of success?"
• "What must I do more of/start doing in order to keep this resolution?"
• "What must I do less of/start doing in order to keep this resolution?"
• "Will this bring me nearer to achieving this resolution or further away?"
  

Happy New Resolutions!

Photo Credit: beX out loud

Does workshifting spell the demise of society as we know it? Are virtual companies an invitation to sweatshops and child labor violations? Will the rise in outsourcing, freelancing, and cloud labor lead to dirty bombs and political repression? Will the pay-per-click mentality become the basis for all human interaction?

No, I haven't been drinking the Kool Aid--but based on an article in Newsweek last week, I think someone there has. In an article titled Work in the New Digital Sweatshops, the author, Johanthan Zittrain (a Harvard University law professor), all but accuses Elance and LiveOps (a 16,000 person all-virtual call center) of using the workshifting model to exploit workers:

"...online contracting circumvents a range of labor laws and practices, found in most developed countries, that govern worker protections, minimum wage, health and retirement benefits, child labor, and so forth."

He asserts that Amazon's Mechanical Turk project could lead to all manner of evil:

"People can also be enlisted to do work without any idea for whom they're working or why. You might synthesize a new chemical that winds up being used as a poison or in a bomb. Iran's leaders could ask Turkers to cross-reference the faces of the nation's 72 million citizens with those of photographed demonstrators. Based on Mechanical Turk's current rates, Repression 2.0 would cost a mere $17,000 per protester."

And he conjectures that the growth of the web will mean the demise of honest human relationships:

"If labor can be summoned and directed from afar, fewer and fewer interactions will remain untainted by those seeking to influence their outcomes. I see a park of the future, its visitors staring into small screens, clicking or talking away. One puts the finishing touches on a $10,000 challenge answer. Another casually asks three friends to see a movie with him that evening, not because he wants to, but because he'll earn a $10 commission. A third is picking up a penny for counting how many others are there, not sure why or to whom it matters. We might miss the days when we went to the park just to have fun."

I suppose the man's entitled to his opinion. Who knows, maybe the chicken-little slant was the product of the editorial process. But if Newsweek is going to drag the names of innovative companies like LiveOps, Amazon, CrowdFlower, Elance, and InnoCentive through the mud, they ought to offer a bit more than just made-up scenarios. Through my workshifting research, I've come to know two of the accused quite well and the article's accusations couldn't be farther from the truth.

If employment conditions are so oppressive, why is LiveOps inundated with job applicants--hiring only one in a hundred of those who apply? Why do over 100,000 freelancers use Elance? Because virtual jobs allow people to work when and how much they want. In fact, two-thirds of Americans say they want to work from home and over a third would happily take a pay cut to do so.

Far from the doomsday prognostications offered by the article, virtual employment offers a relatively simple, inexpensive solution to some of the world's most vexing problems. It reduces greenhouse gases and fuel usage. It improves work-life balance. It saves companies and individuals money. It helps address the special needs of disabled workers, rural residents, retirees, and military families. It reduces traffic and the strain on our transportation infrastructure. And it helps ensure continuity of operations in the event of a disaster or pandemic.

Is life different because of workshifting? Of course it is, but I think it's a change for the better. How about you? What has workshifting done for your relationships? opportunities? working conditions?

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