Creating the Future Today, RIT Undergrads Point the Way to the 2020 Workplace

Nancy Doubleday, Associate Professor, School of Interactive Games and Media, Rochester Institute of Technology

Adam Smith, Assistant Professor in the New Media Design and Imaging program at Rochester Institute of Technology

What happens when you ask the future workers of tomorrow what they think work will be like in 10 – 15 years from now?

Xerox did just that,  and the answers they got were intriquing and creative especially when predicting how we will interact with content, peers and devices.  The assignment handed to RIT students asked them to research, explore, design and develop interactive prototypes, working models and applications for the workplace of 2020.

The students weren’t just asked to create for the classroom. Instead, they were given an inside look into the perspectives and processes of the corporate environment. That provided a new and different perspective from what they deal with day to day in the classroom.

It was a broad challenge: envision the workplace of the future.  Students were encouraged to focus on specific aspects and create specific prototype solutions. They had to adapt their results to hold up against the concerns and questions raised by Xerox researchers and scientists, whose rich feedback encouraged them to focus on the audience and end user at every step of the project. As a result, field research, scenario creation and usability testing became extremely important aspects of the project.

The students came back with some pretty visionary solutions. And in return, Xerox was given a peek into the possible future of the workplace through the eyes of RIT new-media students. This collaboration between Xerox and undergraduate students created a great environment that fostered research and creativity while leveraging the imagination and production skills of dedicated students.

You can take a virtual tour of many of the projects and also check out descriptions of the projects here.   Learn more about Xerox lab project on the Future of Work:  http://www.xerox.com/innovation/news-stories/futureofwork/enus.html