Journal 4 2023/03/08(future of work)

Digital nomads are people who travel freely while working remotely using technology and the internet. Such people generally have minimal material possessions and work remotely in temporary housing, hotels, cafes, public libraries, co-working spaces, or recreational vehicles, using Wi-Fi, smartphones or mobile hotspots to access the Internet. The majority of digital nomads describe themselves as programmers, content creators, designers, or developers. Some digital nomads are perpetual travelers, while others only maintain the lifestyle for a short period of time. While some nomads travel through multiple countries, others remain in one area, and some may choose to travel while living in a vehicle, in a practice often known as van-dwelling. In 2020, a research study found that 10.9 million American workers described themselves as digital nomads, an increase of 49% from 2019. 

People typically become digital nomads due to a desire to travel and location independence. and the lowered cost of living often provided by leaving expensive cities. Cost of living ranks chief among the criteria that digital nomads value when selecting a destination, followed by climate, diversity, and available leisure activities. There are also benefits for employers, as a 2021 study concluded that there is a causal relationship between worker productivity and the option to “work from anywhere,” as workers who were freed from geographic limitations showed an average output increase of 4.4% while controlling for other factors. Digital nomads also typically spend more than 35% of their income in the location in which they are staying, an injection of capital that has been shown to stimulate local economies in popular destinations, primarily promoting the service industry and the sale of consumer goods. 

My attitude towards digital nomads is positive. First of all, this is a more environmentally friendly and free working mode. While promoting tourism, it also saves energy in fixed workplaces, and secondly, it can heal work fatigue well. 
I think contemporary work stress can greatly reduce productivity. If we can travel while working, we may be able to improve this situation.

I work as a freelancer. To be honest, I am struggling with work and life balance. At first I thought I could arrange my time more freely, but later I realized that starting a business in the fashion industry may be an endless job. And fashion is hard to work remotely, so I might not have the convenience and freedom of being a digital nomad. but maybe i could go to work camp like a digital nomad. To do some initial research job remotely. Although it is impossible to completely leave the clothing studio, the temporary research and design work can become more flexible.

So our group took this as an inspiration. We come up with the project called “SEASAW”

Humankind born from the sea and back towards the sea again.

Drowned by ever-rising sea levels. Drowned by competition. Sea levels continue to rise due to the constant competition in the onshore world in the Capitalocene. We take you to an oasis where you can breathe. Suspended and floating above the ever-rising sea level. This is our own way of staying with the trouble.

A reductive relationship. The waves that come and go. Breathing in and out. Let’s go back to the sea, instead of marching in a constant straight line towards an endless exit by an accelerating neoliberalism. Let’s go back to where we came from.

The SEASAW project is an archipelago consisting of six “islands”: Leisure gathering & relaxing space, Group work & meeting space, Private workstations, Communal Discussion & Meet-up Space, 3D Scanning Station, and Well-being Centre, supporting with a resort hotel and a research centre locating at the shore of nearby continent. 

In the SEASAW project, people play between two concepts: work-life balance and land and sea. It is no longer realistic to force us to choose between the two dichotomies. We can live in balance, like a seesaw, in a constantly changing situation.

The island is both land and sea and neither, a seesaw between land and sea. What the sea saw. That’s how the project was named.