The presence-in-person paradigm

Until very recently, expressions such as ‘I’m at work’ or ‘Let’s book a meeting’ would by necessity imply the action of going to the office and to sit down at one’s desk; or travelling somewhere in order to gather in a conference room to discuss something with someone. In fact, the office as we know it since the sixteenth century, does exactly this: it provides spatial and technical support for individuals who are gathered in one location in order to produce work, sometimes through collaboration but mostly in solitude.