“Through the looking glass: envisioning new library technologies” pandemic response technologies: remote working

Oftentimes, promising technologies lack the impact their proponents’ desire. Meanwhile, other technologies become so embedded into our everyday lives that their impact recedes to the point of invisibility, even as they continue to mediate our lives in profound ways. As the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates, a crisis can disrupt our habitual patterns, enabling embedded technologies to be used in novel ways, as well as illuminating new ways to use overlooked technologies.

This column focuses on remote working software that has already had a dramatic impact because of the sudden need for physical distancing. This column is the first of a series...