Brave new work: The office of tomorrow

The office of the future will be a digital, data-driven place. For many workers the productivity gained by having a computer program tell you exactly whom you should team up with on your next project far outweighs the big-brother nature of how the software arrived at its conclusion (tracking your whereabouts, monitoring your work). More "work product" will be recorded and stored; teleconferences will be instantly transcribed and the text saved, for example.

Privacy experts say companies will have to give employees full control over their privacy: Workers will need to grant permission to be recorded in a videoconference, for example, and they should be able to maintain their online computer through customized settings. For many, this world sounds ominous, but for the generations that embrace Facebook, Foursquare, and Spotify, the future will be business as usual.

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