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Journal of New Frontiers in Spatial Concepts ISSN 1868-6648 | Volume 7(2015), 31-41 KIT Scientific Publishing Journal of New Frontiers in Spatial Concepts ISSN 1868-6648 | Volume 7(2015), 31-41 KIT Scientific Publishing http://ejournal.uvka.de/spatialconcepts/archives/1950 The Tragedy of the Attentional Commons – In Search of Social Rules for an Increasingly Fragmented Space Prof. Dr. Dirk Nicolas Wagner Faculty for Business Economics & Management, Karlshochschule International University, E-Mail: [email protected] Abstract The majority of the workforce in the developed world consists of knowledge workers who are confronted with computers in between them. The problem of degradation of the knowledge worker is briefly reviewed, before focus is given to the attention economy as a relevant context for the issue of degradation. The notion ‘atten- tion space’ is introduced and as part of the attention space the ‘attentional commons’ is identified. Based on economic analysis, it is derived that the attentional commons shows properties which are typical for the rise of the so called ‘tragedy of the commons’. The degradation of the knowledge worker is identified as the actual tragedy of the attentional commons. Potential avenues leading to a solution of the tragedy in form of mar- ket-, norms- and organization-based approaches are discussed. Keywords: tragedy of the commons, attention economy, externalities, spatial turn, knowledge worker. Manuscript received 28 August 2015, revised 28 August 2015, accepted 30 September 2015. Copyright note: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited. Introduction YouTube and Skype. In this context, one can say that The achievements of the modern business world “…knowledge workers are engaged in the production, 2 very much rest on the shoulders of people who since process, or distribution of information.” Peter Drucker introduced the term in 1959 have Organizations who employ these knowledge been called knowledge workers. In the industrialized workers claim that people are their most important parts of the world, the share of knowledge workers asset. They need them to produce, process and steadily rises and they represent the majority of the distribute information in the most effective and workforce.1 A typical knowledge worker today efficient ways. This is supposed to be achieved with interfaces with other actors in at least several of the technological support and as Hal Varian claims: following ways: the office/meeting room, desk “Due to the dramatic cost decrease in computers and phone, mobile phone, email client, instant messaging communication, there is now a computer in the 3 client, computing devices with Internet browser and middle of virtually every transaction.” Initial waves Apps including but not being limited to search of electronic commerce and electronic business are engines, social media networks, RSS feeds, Wikipedia, now followed by what is called the digital disruption of 1 See Wolf, E. (2005): The Growth of Information Workers in the 2 U.S. Economy. In: Communications of the ACM 48 (10), 37–42. Karr-Wisniewski, P.; Lu, Y. (2010): When more is too much: Apte, U.; Nath, H. (2004): Size, structure and growth of the U.S. Operationalizing technology overload and exploring its impact on economy. Center for Management in the Information Economy knowledge worker productivity. In: Computers in Human Behavior (Ed.), Business and Information Technologies Project (BIT) (26), 1061–1072. (Working Paper). 3 Varian, H. (2014): Beyond Big Data. In: Bus Econ 49 (1), 27–31. Journal of New Frontiers in Spatial Concepts | ISSN 1868-6648 | Vol. 7(2015), 31-41 32 almost every industry.4 However, it is not the tech- outcomes.8 At the same time, the attention economy nological change as such but rather the change of is an object of study and attention economics is in social processes which appear to matter. 5 Whilst the process of becoming a dedicated discipline.9 companies seek to gain competitive advantage in this Also, the digital commons has been studied.10 era of fast paced change, their knowledge workers However, there is some way to go in academia and find it increasingly difficult to cope with their working practice for the topics and the issues involved to be environment.6 As will be shown below, they lose interrelated for the benefit of the individual and for attention. the organizations concerned. It is at this point, where this paper pays attention and presents itself in the following structure: First, The Problem of Degradation the problem of degradation of the knowledge worker Inspired by Schirrmacher, who describes the experience is briefly reviewed. Second, focus is given to the of permanent ungraceful degradation of brains in attention economy as a relevant context for the issue relation to the existing information flood, degradation of degradation and notion ‘attention space’ is can be observed to take place when humans interact introduced. As part of the attention space the with other humans and with machines.11 This process ‘attentional commons’ is identified. Third, it is of degradation is largely fueled by the human actors derived that the attentional commons shows properties themselves: Human beings are keen to interact via which are typical for the rise of the so called ‘tragedy information technology. They cannot wait to respond of the commons’, a phenomenon that has intensively to new electronic messages.12 They increasingly and been studied by social scientists. The degradation of the knowledge worker is identified as the actual tragedy of the attentional commons. Fourth, potential 8 See Kolb, D.; Caza, A.; Collins, P. (2012): States of Connectivity: avenues to a solution of the tragedy of the attentional New Questions and New Directions. In: Organization Studies 33 (2), 267–273. commons in form of market-, norms- and organiza- MacCormick, J.; Dery, K.; Kolb, D. (2012): Engaged or just tion-based approaches are discussed before the connected? Smartphones and employee engagement. In: Organi- paper is concluded. zational Dynamics 41 (3), 194–201. Related work has been conducted in various Dery, K.; Kolb, D.; MacCormick, J. (2014): Working with connec- fields. The effects of information technology on tive flow: how smartphone use is evolving in practice. In: Eur J Inf Syst 23 (5), 558–570. knowledge workers have widely been studied for 9 See Davenport, T.; Beck, J. (2001): The attention economy. many years, for example with a recent focus on email Understanding the new currency of business. Boston: Harvard 7 overload. This links into research on connectivity Business School Press. Festré, A., Garrouste, P. (2012): The choices and how they affect personal and social ‘Economics of Attention’: A New Avenue of Research in Cognitive Economics. In: Egidi, M., Rizzello. S. (Ed.): Handbook of Cognitive Economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Falkinger, J. (2007): Attention economies. In: Journal of Economic Theory 133 (1), 266–294. 4 McQuivey, J. (2013): Digital disruption. Unleashing the next Falkinger, J. (2008): Limited Attention as a Scarce Resource in wave of innovation. [Cambridge, Mass.], Las Vegas, NV: Forrester Information-Rich Economies*. In: The Economic Journal 118 Research, Inc.; Amazon Publishing. (532), S. 1596–1620. Ocasio, W. (1997): Towards an Attention 5 Beinhocker, E. (2007): The origin of wealth. The radical remaking of Based View of the Firm. In: Strategic Management Journal 18 economics and what it means for business and society. Boston, (Summer Special Issue), 187–206. Mass.: Harvard Business School Press, 261ff. 10See Greco, G.; Floridi, L. (2004): The tragedy of the digital See also: DeSanctis, G.; Poole, M. (1994): Capturing the Complexity in commons. In: Ethics and Information Technology 6 (2), S. 73–81. Advanced Technology Use: Adaptive Structuration Theory. In: Huberman, B.; Lukose, R. (1997): Social Dilemmas and Internet Organization Science 5 (2), 121–147. Congestion. In: Science 277 (5325), 535–537. 6 See Nink, M. (2015): Engagement Index Deutschland 2014, 11 See Schirrmacher, F. (2009): Payback. Warum wir im Informa- Berlin: Gallup. Towers Watson (2012): Global Worforce Study tionszeitalter gezwungen sind, zu tun, was wir nicht tun wollen, 2012. Towers Watson. und wie wir die Kontrolle über unser Denken zurückgewinnen. 1. 7 See Jackson, T.; Dawson, R.; Wilson, D. (2001): The Cost of Aufl. München: Blessing. 13. Email Interruption. In: Journal of Systems and Information 12 See Alberts, I. (2013): Challenges of Information System Use by Technology 5 (1), 81–92. Jackson, T.; Dawson, R.; Wilson, D. Knowledge Workers: the Email Productivity Paradox. ASIST. (2003): Understanding email interaction increases organizational Montreal, Quebec, 01.11.2013. Deal, J. (2013): Always On, Never productivity. In: Communications of the ACM Vol. 46 (No. 8), Done? Don't Blame the Smartphone. Center for Creative Leadership 80–84. (White Paper). This document is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 DE License (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/ Journal of New Frontiers in Spatial Concepts | ISSN 1868-6648 | Vol. 7(2015), 31-41 33 voluntarily feed social media platforms and electronic of work related stress from emails. 19 “Continuous systems to buy, sell and review goods and services. partial attention used as our dominant attention And they even do this free of charge and call this mode contributes to a feeling of overwhelm, over- sharing.13 There is something ungraceful about these stimulation and to a sense of being unfulfilled.”20 interactions as the human beings start to degrade. This is confirmed by Hallowell who recognizes a Ungraceful degradation manifests itself in more and neurological phenomenon called attention deficit trait more algorithmic behaviours and in loss of attention.14 (ADT). “Marked by distractibility, inner frenzy, and This is why degradation is a concept of relevance to impatience, ADT prevents managers from clarifying management thinkers and practitioners. priorities, making smart decisions, and managing Different types of degradation can be distinguished their time.
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