DIGI SOCIETY

Digitalisation in my work so far and in future

I started my career as a physiotherapist a quarter of a century ago. Then patient information and instructions were written on paper, forwarded in an envelope, and the office’s most modern device was a fax machine. If I were still working as a physiotherapist, I might be able to say that the actual object of the work, the human, has not changed, but the office work has certainly changed a lot.

My current job is a combination of expert and supervisor work. My work is mostly about acquiring, processing, sharing and storing information. Working with data has, as Kenneth Cukier says in his lecture “Big data is better data”, revolutionized in a couple of decades and many tasks can be done much faster. An incomprehensible amount of information can be accessed just by sitting at the computer, information can be transferred to the other side of the globe in few seconds, and banking and shopping can be handled at home even in the middle of the night. At the same time, it has become more difficult to verify the origin and veracity of information. The unlimited amount of information challenges people to think about what information is correct, what is essential and how we use it.

In addition to handling information, my work is a lot of communication with my employees, colleagues and other people. Digital means of communication have made working easier, but at the same time people have become impatient and things are expected to happen even faster. With the increase in communication channels, controllability of communication and focusing on the essentials have become more difficult. Sometimes the same issue is handled in many channels and with changing group of people, which leads to confusion, repetition and inefficiency.

Digital solutions have also affected workplaces. Data is being stored less in archive rooms, which has reduced the need for space in workplaces. The possibility to work remotely and hold meetings as video conferences have also led to new types of space solutions in many workplaces. For example, at my workplace, everyone no longer has their own office, and the number of meeting rooms has been reduced and rooms are smaller than before. Work and education trips have decreased significantly.

It was interesting to watch the learning material videos ”Office of Today, Workplace of Tomorrow” and ”Watch your day in 2020”, which were made about 10 years ago. Many of the things described in the videos have come true, but the increase in remote working was not predicted at the time. In my opinion, the options offered by remote work are one of the biggest positive effects on people’s well-being that digitalization has made possible. I hope that not only technology but also the rules and attitudes of work communities will develop in the future to favor multi-location and mobile work.

Open digital society – threat or opportunity?

In health care, the sensitivity and confidentiality of health data have been recognized already before digitalization. With digital storage and data transfer, this awareness has been strengthened even further. The Data protection reform introduced in the European Union in 2018 has brought accuracy to data protection matters to other sectors as well. Currently, the generation entering working life is used to sharing a lot of information about themselves digitally. Therefore, it is very important that global privacy protection and awareness of information security risks are constantly improved.

Data protection matters are present in my work both as an expert and as a supervisor. I lead a work unit that implements social rehabilitation, so when dealing with clients’ affairs, the data protection rules must be followed very closely. Care must also be taken when processing employees’ personal data. Exchanging information via encrypted e-mail or in secure systems can sometimes be stiff and slow, but the rules must still be followed. Permission to store and disclose information is important for privacy protection, although its absence can sometimes slow down or even prevent things from progressing.

One challenge in both work and private life is identification. There are certainly hundreds of passwords and codes that are challenging to manage securely. If only one day you could open all the machines, doors and systems like in science fiction movies, just by blinking an eye!

Self-evaluation

Studying the offered material was an interesting stop and time travel. The videos were an inspiring and interesting way to learn of the subject. Our world has changed enormously in a few decades. Many of today’s taken-for-granted things were once utopias. I remember when my own grandmother did not understand and was afraid of the TV remote control. In the late 1990s, I tried to explain to my other grandmother how my mobile phone works.

I’m not a very technical person, I like to do many things the old way. Just as my grandmother was afraid of the TV remote control, I am suspicious of some technological inventions. Part of the doubt is lack of knowledge. I should get to know and be more interested in the development of digitalization so that I could be more confident. Nevertheless, I believe that although the development of technology is for the most part beneficial to humanity, it also contains many dangers and risks. However, the human mind and body have developed quite a bit over thousands of years. I hope that we will keep up with the pace of development and not destroy ourselves with it.

I visited blog sites of Johanna Nykänen and Anna-Maija Mononen and commented their posts on this topic.