The Semiotics of Remote (3 min read)

Real world journalist Vs. desk-bound theorist

The following is based around a blog post that I wrote in 2018, and am now revisiting in light of the Coronavirus pandemic and its impact on our working practices. I’ve included the initial post as I believe it’s still so relevant, and have added to it to give it context in 2021.

January 2018 (Medellin, Colombia – month 11 as a digital nomad)

Remote. Remote. Remote. Remote. Remote.

Barely an hour goes by where I don’t hear this word being uttered, read it on a Slack post or see it somewhere in my immediate environment. I’m so used to hearing it that I almost don’t hear it anymore. Does that make sense?

Recently though, I’ve started hearing it again. And listening. I mean really listening. And what I’m hearing has started to clarify some things in my mind.

This past year I’ve heard many different people’s experiences of their remote working lives. It’s disappointing, but not altogether surprising that a significant proportion of employers have serious reservations about allowing their staff to work remotely. Some reject the idea outright and others find obstacles to place in the way.

I’ve tried to unpack this the best I can, with the help of the Remotes that I’m travelling with and others I’ve met along the way, and I hear the same concerns around trust, communication and collaboration raised again and again.

 As those who have followed my journey know, I’m currently 11 months into conducting a year-long ethnographical study into Digital Nomadism (working title: MyLifeAsADigitalNomad), and these are all themes that I’ll be reporting on in detail in 2018, so they are not going to be the focus of this piece, but what I do want to look at is what semiotic cues can be taken from the word Remote itself and how this can affect people’s perceptions and therefore their actions.

First off, here’s a snippet from the Oxford English Dictionary definition of Remote: 

Adjective: (of a place) situated far from the main centres of population; distant - Having very little connection with or relationship to.

 …and some synonyms from a brief Google search just to hammer the point home:

Irrelevant to, unrelated to, unconnected to, unconcerned with, not pertinent to, inapposite to, immaterial to, unassociated with, inappropriate to.

I think it’s fair to say that our residual definition of (and associations with) Remote sit at the core of people’s apprehension, and while there is positive evidence to show that the word is being used increasingly in our everyday lives, I feel that this is an issue that needs to be tackled head-on and I for one am willing to take up this gauntlet and run with it.

Before starting to write this piece, I sought the opinion of an experienced Semiotician who is a former colleague and current friend, and whose complex mind I admire greatly. He suggested that I “consider what the positive signifiers are of remoteness in the context of work, but what the negative associations are in terms of our cultural understanding…”, but in truth I struggled to find any historical references to the former.

On the whole, his thoughts and mine were pretty well aligned; “…the myths about slobbing around in pyjamas, not engaging fully with work, productivity dropping, too many (homely) distractions etc, and how we might signify proactivity to offset that assumption with activity signifiers…. greater use of email to declare work in progress and checking in for reviews etc. The stuff we habitually do to make sure nobody thinks we’re slacking off.”

Interestingly, his immediate associations are around working from home, whereas mine are generally intertwined with travel; clearly a product of him being a dedicated partner and father living outside of London, and me being a little more footloose and fancy-free.

The issue as I see it is that these negative perceptions are barriers to individuals and employers considering remote work as a positive step forward. Not only does this create resistance to a movement that is growing in popularity and momentum, but it also holds people back from exploring their full potential and becoming their best selves.

My experience of living as a Digital Nomad wholly contradicts the dominant/residual semiotic cues of Remote. Of course, every individual is different, but on the whole I see only good things coming from those who are free to live a more integrated work and personal life. A life full of richness, cultural immersion, flexibility, opportunity, gratitude and positivity. The world and how we connect with it and each other is changing, and that to me is exciting.

When all is said and done my friend and I agreed that it feels like there is a battle of opposing perceptions… one dominant/residual that focuses in on the negatives, and the other emergent/dominant that tries to articulate the positives. The challenge is that the negative signifiers are well established and understood, whilst the newer, less formalised positive signifiers are still evolving and coalescing to create a new set of semiotic codes. And so we are left with a question in our heads and in our hearts:

How do we neutralise the negative perceptions of ‘remoteness’ with powerful signifiers of ‘remote action’?

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March 2021 (London, UK)

Zip forward 38 months (has it really been that long?!) to March 2021, and we find ourselves in an almost unrecognisable world, yet still struggling with the residual connotations of Remote.

Essentially, the pandemic forced many businesses to ‘go remote’ overnight, with varying degrees of success. Switching to remote working has allowed businesses that were previously office-based to continue trading, and tools like Zoom, Teams and Slack have helped make it possible. For some, it has been an eye-opening, perception-challenging, positive experience, however such a massively accelerated paradigm shift is not without its obstacles, these being:

1)    The need to become familiar with remote working tools, extremely quickly

2)    The lack of embedded remote culture

3)    The issue of not having an adequate remote working environment

If the above resonates with you, it may well be that you are still feeling the negative residual connotations of remote, and it’s hardly surprising given all that is going on right now. My belief is that no’s 1 and 3 are easily resolved, and no.2 is the only one we really need be concerned with.

And so, two dominant mind-sets are emerging from those fresh to remote working:

1)    The realisation that remote working is possible for them; they prefer this lifestyle and are looking to make a more permanent change. In this scenario Remote starts to shake off its negative connotations

2)    The frustration of not being physically present and around their co-workers, plus the annoyance of having to use Zoom for 8 hours a day, coupled with ‘homely’ disturbances, leads to a resistance to on-going remote working. In this scenario we see the residual connotations of Remote being reinforced

 It is a truth that technology evolves more quickly than humans do, so changing the culture of an organisation is not going to happen overnight. It requires time (and in this situation, experience, which is what many people are lacking right now).

Luckily, there are some of us who have been advocating this shift for years, as we see the full extent of life-enhancements it can offer and are well-placed to help organisations manage this transition smoothly, and for long-term success. If you’d like to know more about the bespoke services I offer, you can contact me on deborah@caminoinsight.com for an initial chat or have a look at my Remote by Default course outline at caminoinsight.com/remote.  

 If you’re still not convinced that Remote can have positive connotations for your organisation, just take a look at the many fully distributed organisations that pre-date the pandemic and chose the lifestyle proactively. They are the ones who have, on the whole, continued to function unhindered, and there is much we can learn from them.

Vegetable soup: Batch #2, Day #9

5 things I’ve learned in Lockdown

1. My estate is a wonderful place to live

The Whittington Estate (on a quieter day)

I live in North London on the Whittington Estate. It’s a Brutalist estate owned by Camden Council, which has received a generous slice of attention over the years as an admirable example of London’s housing developments in the 1970s (check out The Golden Age of Camden Housing, by Fabian Watkinson). The architecture and the history of the estate and the area was what first drew me to it. Since the lockdown, it’s really come into its own; from both a social and a design perspective. Even while adhering to social distancing, I’ve met, smiled at and interacted with so many more of my neighbours in the last two weeks than in the 15 months I’ve lived here. There’s a real sense of a community pulling together and I like it. The low-rise flats and pedestrianised ‘streets’ were designed so that kids could play outside while parents looked on from in the kitchen or living area. The numerous routes around the estate were designed as such so that wherever you lived you could easily and safely access the communal areas. Although the basketball court and garden are, sadly, temporarily out of bounds, there is still ample space for kids and families to safely play outside. Life spills over the sun-warmed, south facing balconies, where conversation flows, meals are enjoyed, music plays out and claps and a few fireworks are faithfully delivered to the Whittington Hospital next door, every Thursday at 8.

2. There are streets in my neighbourhood that I’ve never walked

A rare view of Archway Road completely free of traffic

One walk a day and it must be within your local area. That calls for some imagination.

Luckily I live in an area that I find really interesting and beautiful. I have parks and woods within easy reach, and plenty of interesting architecture to feast my eyes upon. But let’s face it, no matter how lovely the surrounding area is, walking the same couple of routes day after day gets dull quickly. I crave variety and newness - always have. So, I’ve taken to discovering random streets I’ve never walked down and little local businesses that I never new existed. Cool little community gardens and lookout points with views over London that I’ve never before seen. It’s made me fall even deeper in love with my neighbourhood (honestly, I’m obsessed). Also… I’m still trying to figure out where the lone wind turbine is in east London that I saw from the top of Highgate High Street last week… anyone?  

3. Everyone’s suddenly a remote work expert

If you want to work remotely from home, experts say cats are less distracting than dogs (duh)

If you’ve engaged with me / my ramblings over the last three years you’ll already know that I am a steadfast advocate of remote working, and have conducted in-depth research into the movement. Pre-COVID-19, the resistance of some to even contemplating a remote working model for their business was something I believed would soften organically with time. Of course, I did not expect that the working world would be forced to transition to remote quite so fast. So now everyone is a remote working expert, it seems? Is it really possible to become an expert in something in a few weeks (of panic and fire-fighting)?

From my perspective it’s a fascinating thing to observe – and more than a little ironic. Last week I presented a webinar on how to use Zoom as a research tool, and one of the keenest participants was the very same person who (has probably forgotten this, but) turned me down for a project three years ago because even though I was, in his words ‘the best person for the job…’ he just didn’t ‘…feel comfortable with me not being in the same room’. Now, although by necessity rather than choice, he has seen the light and is busy selling the advantages of remote research to his clients so that he can maintain his business. So, in my opinion some things are changing for the better and that feels like a good thing. I do believe though, that with all of the tools and none of the rules of how to really embed remote working into company culture, the experience for some will feel somewhat dissatisfying. Luckily there are folks out there like me who can help with that! Look out for more on this soon…!!

4. It’s probably not worth it for a manicure

Last week I popped down to the Nisa Local to pick up a few essential items. OK, and chocolate. Wait… chocolate is an essential item now, right? As I walked passed a very, very small nail salon I glanced in the window and saw someone inside actually having their nails done, face to face, hand to hand, gel to acrylic. Not only that but there were another two inside waiting their turn. Um, HELLO?!! How can it possibly be more important to have perfectly manicured nails IN A LOCKDOWN, than to limit the risk of catching or passing on Coronavirus by observing social distancing? Five minutes later and still baffled, I passed the salon again where not one but two armed response units had surrounded said premises, and were escorting the sheepish offenders out. It was honestly a scene I never imagined I’d see in my life.

Karma says there’s now at least one person walking around looking ridiculous with half a manicure. I secretly hope they got gels.

5. I was wrong about the Nutribullet

Mmmm just look at all that kale

I’m not one for fads. I don’t trust them. They simply don’t align with my values.

When the Nutribullet sky-rocketed onto the scene some years ago I was interested but unconvinced. The idea of making fresh smoothies and juices at home (that you could also take out and about with their nifty lid) sounded great, but also, like a fad. But there it was, suddenly ALL my friends seemed to have one and I sat enthralled, listening to their latest concoctions of beetroot, ginger, coriander and lime and who knows what. It seemed as though everyone had ramped up the nutrition stakes by a few notches and I was trailing behind, still drinking coffee as a morning pick me up. The chatter went on for some time (exactly 6 weeks, yawn)…but then stopped. Just like that. But, why? So I did me some research…

1.  It’s a pain in the bum to clean

2.  You need a constant supply of fresh or frozen mango, kale, oats, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, matcha and flaxseed to put in

3.  The lid thingy broke so now it can only be used at home

4.  It gets expensive buying all those superfoods from Planet Organic

5.  It’s a pain in the bum to clean

I felt a bit smug. I was secretly pleased with myself that I hadn’t jumped on the bandwagon and run out to spend my pennies on this expensive fad. Besides, I already had an ice-cream maker, a mini Kenwood and some kind of electric whisk gathering dust in the spatially-challenged kitchen cupboards. There simply was no room for a sidelined juicer to join the ranks of the unused and unloved.

Then there was lockdown… and my boyfriend…and his Nutribullet. It’s rare for me to say this, so listen carefully. I was wrong. Maybe his is an updated version (easier to clean, more powerful, I dunno), so clearly some good design decisions have been made, but blimey, this thing is bloody amazing! I’m one of those people who prefers to just throw things in and see what happens so there have been a few questionable attempts, but also, I am now enjoying either a mean, lean and very tasty green juice or blueberry and banana smoothie every vitamin-packed morning. And once normal life resumes, it’s the first thing on my list. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes being wrong feels right. :)

Vegetable soup: Batch #1, Day #2

At this moment I should be sitting under a palm tree on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast sipping something very different from canned tomato soup. Instead, after cutting short my trip, I am prematurely back in my spatially-challenged flat in London, cooking up batches of vegetable soup and planning for the long, tough months ahead. So I thought I’d take the opportunity to write.

I’ve only been back in the country for a few days, so am still dealing with jet-lag, disbelief and the reality of being a self-employed insight consultant and small-time landlord… with tenants due to move out imminently and no income whatsoever for the foreseeable future. I’m doing my best to take it in my stride, be the adaptable, strategic, resourceful person I know I am.

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Dreaming of those Costa Rican beaches

Like many, I’ve been wondering how this whole situation is going to affect us humans in the long term. There is a sad inevitability that many lives will be lost and mourned. But how are we going to cope with social isolation, both physically and emotionally? The message from the government is clear – keep your distance – but there are many who are choosing to disregard this advice. Sadly, the invisible cape of immunity that some feel they have draped over their shoulders is going to have a significant impact on where we all end up after this whole bizarre episode is over - and are hopefully still here to pick up the pieces. 

And come on guys… lead by example, FFS! After watching BJ on Sky News reinforce his social distancing message very clearly, the programme then cut immediately to the news presenter with a backdrop of attendees leaving No.10. I was staring, wide eyed and mouth gaping at the TV as I watched an almost comical scene showing a slow but steady stream of people walk out of the front door and right past the policeman on duty, with barely a foot or two’s grace. To my utter amazement, a group of people then exited together, cheerily chatting as they made a mockery of the whole kit and caboodle. It makes me wonder. Seriously.

Keen to maintain a daily routine of exercise and ‘fresh’ air, (and to stave off cabin fever for as long as humanly possible), I, along with most of the nation, decided at the weekend to take a walk on Hampstead Heath. It was teeming with people and dogs. Some were making a concerted effort to keep their distance, while others passed by worryingly close to one another. I had my weapon of choice: old hiking boots. This was a strategic choice for the purpose of taking the wettest and muddiest paths that everyone else wanted to avoid. Over those few hours, which included a trip to the local independent supermarkets, which were way more crowded than anticipated, reality started to set in. 

Hampstead Heath attracting walkers with and without dogs :)

No swimming for the foreseeable future… :(

As I thought about everything I was seeing, hearing, reading, it struck me that we are in something akin to the initial Forming phase of Tuckman’s Team development model (1965), where everything is new and unknown; and fear and panic set in.

Tuckman’s Team Development model is a useful proxy for determining the phases of behaviour we’ll see during the COVID-19 era

The first time I left home after returning to the UK, it felt very Britishly rude to give ordinary people a wide berth as I passed them on the street. I still got the sense that people wearing masks were potentially taking things too far, and I felt utterly discombobulated.

The second time I ventured out, I did my bit to maintain distance from others wherever possible – but also tried to engage in ‘safe’ social contact with a smile, or a nod, or a stroke of a passing pooch. I did ask one dog walker if she minded me stroking her springy miniature pinscher as I thought people may be a bit uncomfortable about it, but she said she was fine with it, as it had been confirmed that dogs couldn’t carry COVID-19.

Last night, I was watching Netflix… safest place to be employed right now I reckon… and I found myself physically recoiling every time two people passed within a metre of each other. Like, whaaaat?!

…That’s when I realised: I was already adapting to this ‘new normal’.

If, after only a day or so, I am already uncomfortable with the notion of getting ‘too close’ to another human, what will it be like after months like this?

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NINE. One year on... (Interview with Anne Kuppens, owner of Ninecoliving, Tenerife)

In June last year, Anne claimed the keys to the traditional Canarian property (est 1852) that was transformed over 2 months into Ninecoliving; a coliving and coworking space to serve Tenerife’s burgeoning Digital Nomad population. I spent 10 days at Nine (mostly on my hands and knees restoring 170 yr old tiles, or otherwise up a ladder, paintbrush in hand...) helping with the planning and renovations. I came back to Nine one year on to see how everything had been going...

D: So, Anne... it’s been a year. How’s the journey been so far?

A: Well, first of all a year flew by. I cannot believe it’s already been a year, and yeah, I mean, the first part went really fast... for like 2-3 months remodelling and then I started in September. First, I invited Remote Year people with a 50% discount for anyone from the (Remote Year) Nation, and in Sep a few people showed up. I had 2 people by the end of Sep and then October, I had a few more and then November became actually pretty busy, and then from end of Nov on I went into like a super high season which I never expected so it was very full on because I was not really prepared to be full for like 3 months straight through until Feb. I can have up to 16 people but that never really happens because then all my doubles have to be booked for two. I have some volunteers, so right now there’s like 16 people in the house. I just went with the whole thing and by the time winter was over it was a little slower... So, by March, I realised I needed help – it was too much to do it on my own, so I looked for a host and found Katia who started at the beginning of May. (Katia and her partner Emmanuel are staying at Nine for a year).

In that year, everything fell into place, a routine... and then I had my first volunteer, and I didn’t really have any idea what she would do except for taking care of the dog (Lara is a rescue dog and became Nine’s second permanent resident in September)! And now I feel like most things have their structure and routine, and now guests turn up and they kind of fall into the way of doing things and it all runs smoothly. So now I have a bit more time for myself and also to work on seeing how Nine can grow and what other things I can do, so yeah... I’m very happy with how things are going.

D: What would you say has been a favourite part of the journey for you so far...?

A: I guess of course my fave thing is meeting all these people because it’s crazy how many people I’ve met and everyone’s been so nice... and seeing this community become its own thing – being part of Nine – apparently that means something and that’s really cool. There’s now this kind of community like after Remote Year as well... it’s a thing – it’s become way more than just a hotel basically - it’s because more like a community where people really feel like they want to stay in touch and stuff. Beautiful house, beautiful town... but the people they met... that’s what they value the most. And it’s why they come back, I think.

D: What would you say has been the biggest surprise for you?

A: That I was full all winter without any marketing. I hoped I’d picked the right place (Tenerife) but I had no idea people were actually looking for coliving places in Tenerife, and then Nine comes up because I’m the only one here.

D: You say you haven’t done much marketing, but you seem like you’ve got a pretty good handle on social media...

A: ...but everyone found me through Google. Now it’s through a friend, or social media, or a Facebook group, but the first few months were all through Google. It’s just being at the right spot where people want to be... (plus a good bit of SEO). It was kind of logical that this would be a good place and because there wasn’t anything else like this yet... if you think of Gran Canaria, it’s a big hub already. 

D: What would you say have been your biggest challenges?

A: The internet... I knew that the one thing I needed to get right was the internet, but it’s hard in this building because it’s in the old centre, and people weren’t too up front about that when I was looking into it so I thought it would all be OK and then there was a minute where it wasn’t looking so good... I remember when I was here last time and you were looking into it, that it was pretty stressful. Luckily we found a solution and the wifi has been pretty stable since then, and that has been the biggest challenge. And in other ways (people ask me this a lot), I think another challenge is that I find time for myself. Especially in the beginning I just kept going, going, going and now I’m much better at taking time off and taking time out of the community here and taking time to make my own friends on the island with people that are not moving, basically, because otherwise you only have friends that are going to leave. I think that maybe it’s like, something that doesn’t come super easy... so time management I guess for me.

D: It can be very hard to separate yourself from your business at this early stage... especially when your business is also your home!

A: Yeah, it’s really important to set boundaries for yourself, because, it’s really easy to go out almost every day for dinner, because there’s always people going out for fun dinners... and it never stops. It really never stops... so if you think ‘ah they’re almost leaving... but they’re almost leaving...’ so you wanna spend all your time with them and it never stops... and you’re basically out for dinner and drinks all the time... you have to, like, say no sometimes so I think that’s probably the hardest thing. No... I’m gonna do my own thing and cook myself dinner and just chill... watch some Netflix.’ Tell me a little bit about the coliving and coworking community in Tenerife... It’s not a big hub yet but there’s definitely a lot of digital nomads here, a lot of expats, a lot of people who come here for 6 months or a year or something like that and they definitely look for a community or the structure or events or someone who takes that structure on, and that isn’t really there yet... I’m really good friends now with a girl from Coworking in the Sun, which is here in Puerto de La Cruz and they’re the only ones who take care of events and they’re also the owners of the Facebook group (Tenerife Digital Nomads), which is really active so they’re the ones that do that now, but... it could be a lot more developed and I could definitely be a big part in that. The people are definitely here and they’re wanting to connect and find that community....it’s just so easy to go ‘oh but we have such a cool group at Nine’ ...but it could be really beneficial for me and also just be super nice to kind of like have that community a bit more active here in Tenerife, yes.

D: What would you say to someone who was considering coming to Tenerife / Nine but they didn’t know so much about it...

A: Well, Tenerife in general is super, super awesome and it’s surprised me in so many ways, in terms of nature, culture, and how much there is to do... I would always suggest to go to the North but I know there are people who like the South better. What I like more about the North is that it’s about local life. There’s a lot of cultural events and there are so many festivities here and you don’t really have that in the South as much. But, in the South it’s always warm and sunny, so if that’s what you come for, you go to the South. If you want more of an active lifestyle and community and culture then I definitely recommend the North. If you want to stay up to 3 months in Tenerife I would recommend staying in a coliving space because it’s such a cool place to meet or live where you work... the whole thing. I can imagine if you stay much longer you might want your own space... but there’s not a really good coworking space here yet that you could go to, so I’d still recommend coming here!!

D: Well, Anne’s been making her lunch while we’ve been speaking and I can tell she’d really like to eat it, so the last thing I want to ask is – if there’s anything else you’d like to mention?

A: Definitely put Tenerife on your list, because it’s definitely better than we, in Europe, think it is... it’s not just a destination for sun seekers... give it a chance. It’s mountains, volcanoes, hiking, surfing, a very cool community of young people, Digital Nomads, surfers, expats, hippies – there’s something here for everyone.

You’ll find Nine Coliving in the heart of La Orotava, in Tenerife. For info and bookings, visit ninecoliving.com

The humble laptop: Heaven or Hell?

Being a Digital Nomad pretty much dictates your laptop as your most valuable possession. We have little time for software updates, bugs or (if you’re faint-hearted avert your eyes now), breakages. As for theft… don’t even make us contemplate that! …Except do, because if we don’t think about it most of the time then the chances are it’ll happen sooner or later.

If you’re travelling with a community, you can be fairly confident that if anything untoward happens someone will *probably* have a backup that you can borrow until you find the nearest Apple or HP dealer // dodgy fake Apple maintenance store // anyone who has any knowledge whatsoever of laptops // someone to mule you a new one from another country.

Joking aside, if you don’t have a working laptop (or someone to lend you one), not only can you not work, you can’t support your team // colleagues // clients, and ultimately you are not going to get paid, and that leads to all sorts of other ‘inconveniences’.

This is serious business.

But this ascension of the humble laptop in the eyes of the Digital Nomad has another, maybe less obvious impact on our lives, too. It’s a feeling that you and your laptop have melded; think 2-become-1, but a little less passionate lovers and a little more life revolves around a piece of hardware that will never need you the way that you need them.

This is not a good thing. It is not what we would call a healthy relationship.

What tends to happen after travelling and working remotely for a while is that it becomes genuinely difficult – if not almost impossible - to close the laptop, step away, and enjoy even just one day without work // admin // business development // 13” screen interactions.

I tried to explain this concept to my current co-workers (most of whom are office-based) and they found it a bizarre concept; ‘Why don’t you just have a holiday?’ or… ‘Just don’t take your laptop with you!’ These are both very logical points of view, but they don’t take into account three things about being a Digital Nomad:

1.     How attached you become to your laptop

2.     How you find yourself constantly defending your lifestyle to people who think that you’re on an extended holiday (and therefore feeling like you have to over-deliver on your work to prove you’re working)

3.     How the concept of not being ‘always’ on becomes foreign after a while because of client demands, different timezones or personal projects

In fact, the only way to really down tools is to go somewhere where you have no option but to leave the laptop behind. I recall a discussion that continued over a few weeks in the lead up to a group of nine of us trekking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, where we were deciding whether or not to bring our laptops. The reality was that we weren’t going to use them, but being separated from them for a whole week caused unfathomable anxiety.

‘What happens if a client wants to get in touch with me?’

‘What if someone needs something from me?’

‘I might miss out on some work!’

‘I might miss out on…something!’

In the end we made a collective decision NOT to take our laptops 4000m up into the Andes (mainly through fear of not having anywhere secure to leave them), but it was a good decision and we didn’t regret it. It meant we were able to reset and recharge our own batteries, do a little internal software update and come back refreshed and ready.

Truly taking time away from work is healthy, and as the lines between our work and personal lives blur we need to get better at doing it. Being away from home used to mean being away from work, but now that the two are no longer mutually exclusive we need to redefine ‘time off’.

Who would have thought that the humble laptop would become such a force for freedom but also captivity in our lives?

The semiotics of Remote

Real world journalist Vs. desk-bound theorist

Remote. Remote. Remote. Remote. Remote.

Barely an hour goes by where I don’t hear this word being uttered, read it on a Slack post or see it somewhere in my immediate vicinity. I’m so used to hearing it that I almost don’t hear it anymore. Does that make sense?

Recently though, I’ve started hearing it again. And listening. I mean really listening. And what I’m hearing has started to clarify some things in my mind.

This past year I’ve heard many different people’s experiences of their remote working lives. It’s disappointing, but not altogether surprising that a significant proportion of employers have serious reservations about allowing their staff to work remotely. Some reject the idea outright and others find obstacles to place in the way.

I’ve tried to unpack this the best I can, with the help of the Remotes that I’m travelling with and others I’ve met along the way, and I hear the same concerns raised again and again:

As those who have followed my journey know, I’m currently 11 months into conducting a year-long ethnographical study into Digital Nomadism (working title: MyLifeAsADigitalNomad), and these are all themes that I’ll be reporting on in detail in 2018, so they are not going to be the focus of this piece, but what I do want to look at is what semiotic cues can be taken from the word Remote itself and how this can affect people’s perceptions and therefore their actions.

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First off, here’s a snippet from the Oxford English Dictionary definition of Remote: 

Adjective: (of a place) situated far from the main centres of population; distant - Having very little connection with or relationship to.

 …and some synonyms from a brief Google search just to hammer the point home:

 Irrelevant to, unrelated to, unconnected to, unconcerned with, not pertinent to, inapposite to, immaterial to, unassociated with, inappropriate to.

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I think it’s fair to say that our residual definition of (and associations with) Remote sit at the core of people’s apprehension, and while there is positive evidence to show that the word is being used increasingly in our everyday lives, I feel that this is an issue that needs to be tackled head-on and I for one am willing to take up this gauntlet and run with it.

Before starting to write this piece, I sought the opinions of an experienced Semiotician who is a former colleague and current friend, and whose mind I admire greatly. He suggested that I “consider what the positive signifiers are of remoteness in the context of work, but what the negative associations are in terms of our cultural understanding…”, but in truth I struggled to find any historical references to the former.

On the whole, his thoughts and mine were pretty well aligned; “…the myths about slobbing around in pyjamas, not engaging fully with work, productivity dropping, too many (homely) distractions etc, and how we might signify pro-activity to offset that assumption with activity signifiers…. greater use of email to declare work in progress and checking in for reviews etc. The stuff we habitually do to make sure nobody thinks we’re slacking off.”

Interestingly, his immediate associations are around working from home, whereas mine are generally intertwined with travel; clearly a product of him being a dedicated partner and father living outside of London, and me being a little more footloose and fancy-free (and currently in Colombia)!

The issue as I see it is that these negative perceptions are barriers to individuals and employers considering remote work as a positive step forward. Not only does this create resistance to a movement that is growing in popularity and momentum, but it also holds people back from exploring their full potential and becoming their best selves.

My experience of living as a Digital Nomad fully contradicts the dominant/residual semiotic cues of Remote. Of course, every individual is different, but on the whole I see only good things coming from those who are free to live a more integrated work and personal life. A life full of richness, cultural immersion, flexibility, opportunity, gratitude and positivity. The world and how we connect with it and each other is changing, and that to me is exciting.

When all is said and done my friend and I agreed that it feels like there is a battle of opposing perceptions… one dominant/residual that focuses in on the negatives, and the other emergent/dominant that tries to articulate the positives. The challenge is that the negative signifiers are well established and understood, whilst the newer, less formalised positive signifiers are still evolving and coalescing to create a new set of semiotic codes. And so we are left with a question in our heads and in our hearts:

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How do we neutralise the negative perceptions of ‘remoteness’ with powerful signifiers of ‘remote action’?

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With thanks to Tim Spencer, Semiotician extraordinaire.

Life through kaleidoscope eyes

Perspectives.

Something we talk a lot about in the world of insight. Something I’ve come to consider more and more over the last 8+ months during my foray into digital nomadism.

For me, it comes back to an age-old maxim of the insight world; I mean, what researcher worth their salt can honestly say they haven’t written a slide with the header ‘Context is King’ or ‘Perception is Reality’ – and if not, why not?

The fact of the matter is that context IS king; people’s perceptions ARE their reality; and perspectives really DO matter.

I know that living and working in a city for a single month doesn’t mean I can consider myself a local by any stretch, maybe even calling it ‘living’ is a gross exaggeration; I don’t have to deal with bills, local authorities or plumbers, and making the effort to make new friends when I am travelling with a 50-strong community of remotes is more of a bonus than a necessity.

I feel the most immersed in a city when I bring structure into my daily life. Navigating local ‘green markets’ to find the freshest and best value vegetables, getting laundry done, attending a local yoga class and becoming a recognised face in a favourite coffee shop or workspace. All these things expose you to parts of local culture that I haven’t experienced when I’ve travelled exclusively for leisure or business. They give you a different perspective on the place and the people.

This shaded digital street display shows Valencia at a balmy 28...

...but just moments later, and only a street away, it's a sizzling 34! It's all a matter of perspective.

These are also the things that have been making me stop and reflect on research I’ve conducted in the past - and the nuances I may have missed by not having seen things from the ground, up.

“A lot of people in our industry haven't had very diverse experiences. So they don't have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one's understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” 
Steve Jobs

A timely example: a few years back I worked on a qualitative study for a brand looking to fill a potential gap in the hot drinks market. I’d never heard of Yerba Mate at the time – and certainly had never tried it. I understood from the dialogue that it was a very popular drink in Argentina and some other parts of South America. I had an idea of how it was served and that it tasted bitter – a little bit like strong green tea. What I didn’t know, however, was that Mate is much more than just a drink – it’s a ritual, it’s a way of forming and strengthening social bonds, it’s about sharing, and it’s an obsession! Having now dabbled, myself, over the last couple of months, I can see how it brings people together – regardless of age, gender, social standing or otherwise and this is something the Argentinian people are very proud of. Such is the obsession with Mate in Argentina, there are even signs on roads and trekking paths prohibiting its consumption whilst driving or walking. Why? Because it is drunk through a metal straw and as such a Mate straw through the eye is one of the most common causes of injury in the country!

Grant tops up his beloved 'mate'

Lima, Peru

If you think a brand new drink product has the potential to replace such a well-loved national treasure, think again!

It’s true to say that this lifestyle is giving me the gift of perspective, which I will gladly accept and carry with me, always.

Making sense of a new world

“You’ll never understand anything unless you adjust your frame” (Orphan Black)

It’s taken me a while to get this blog going, but not because I didn’t know where to start. I’ve known exactly what the theme of this first post would be since the moment I announced - heart racing - what I was planning to do with 2017. When I told of my plans, pretty quickly every conversation took a similar turn:

‘Wow, you’re going travelling for a year… I’m so jealous!’

‘You’re going on massive holiday…’

‘Will you be getting a job in each place?’

Um… not exactly, no…

To be specific, I’m living in a different city each month for a year, but continuing my work as if I was still based in London (kind of); a lifestyle that’s been neatly coined ‘Digital Nomadism’. It’s true; I am officially a digital nomad. I’ll be working, yes, but it won’t be 9-5. I’ll have an office, but it might not have desks as we know them. I’ll be exploring the world and immersing myself in local cultures, but not in a break-from-life kind of way. Digital Nomadism is a genuine and viable way of mixing up life and work into one big bowl and baking a beautiful marble cake (mash-up) rather than traditionally switching from one to the other.

Wayco co-working space

alencia, Spain

No matter how clearly and succinctly I tried to put it to those who enquired, I could tell that most times I misfired. Turns out it’s almost incomprehensible for many, and I realise how condescending that could sound, but I truly don’t mean it that way.

If it comes across as though I’m putting myself on a pedestal to demonstrate to you that I am a pioneer; an innovator; ahead of the crowd, that’s not my intention, although I wouldn’t blame you if that is your impression. It’s merely a timely segue into presenting the idea that our minds have become programmed to work in a certain way in order to understand the world around us… to make sense of it.

Soho Co-working Space

Sofia, Bulgaria

When I started working in the late 90’s this type of lifestyle was unheard of, not least because our access to the internet did not extend much beyond email / browsing and the odd purchase from ASOS. Our desks were fixed, as were our working hours (except when we were expected to do unpaid overtime), we worked on desktops not laptops, and had landlines rather than mobile phones. In all senses of the word, we were ‘attached’ to our carbon-copy offices. Holidays were set to 20 or 25 days a year  and booked at least a few months in advance to avoid ever being off at the same time as one of your team members. Perish the thought.

But times they are a-changing. And society as we know it is being forced to evolve. It is now viable for people to travel, work and live in a truly integrated way. And it’s not just a lifestyle that applies to software developers or web designers. No. Our community of 5o digital nomads includes (but is not limited to) product designers, writers, PR consultants, recruiters, graphic designers, film producers, business owners, marketers, social media experts, life coaches, and of course, a generous helping of coders.

We live, travel and work side-by-side, and with all of the logistics taken care of we are able to focus on our work in much the same way as if we were sitting in our homes or offices. In fact, in a lot of ways were are able to be much more productive – but that’s something I want to explore in more detail, later.

Back to the point though – even though I am 5 months in, I still struggle to find the language to use to describe this life and all that comes with it.

At dinner tonight my friend Michelle; a product and packaging designer from Australia, was telling me about a new type of beauty product she had been asked to design by her client and it reminded me of a perfect analogy for this post - and something I have been faced with many times in my work in consumer insight: When presented with a scenario or a set of cultural codes that don’t fit neatly into the binary language we create for ourselves, we struggle to know what to do with them.

A few years back I conducted research for the first 'In-shower body conditioner' for a global health and beauty brand which will remain nameless. It was a product designed to cut the time and hassle of post-shower body-moisturising. One applies the product in the shower after washing, waits a few moments and washes it off. Simple. But because it was a totally new category people just didn't know what to do with it, where to look for it in a shop or how to talk about it. If you put it in the body wash aisle, people used it as a shower gel. If you put it in the body lotion aisle, people used it as a lotion (and forgot to wash it off). So the brand was challenged with educating its target audience on a whole new product category from the bottom, up, in order to make sense of it. 

That's kind of how I feel about what I'm doing.