This website was made for a University research project submission for the 3rd year of my Communications and Media degree. For this research project I chose to research whether the fear of a digital workforce ‘taking our jobs’ is based on solid facts and evidence or due to a lack of understanding, or willingness to understand, based on prior research from a variety of different sources.
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The research will be divided into four sections, three for different sources used and the final remarks (doubling as an abstract):
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Non-academic information blogs (explanation of some key terms regarding computer processing)
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Deloitte. (in-depth explanation of the three levels of application for machines in the workforce)
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McKinsey&Company (feasibility of a digital workforce, what jobs are potentially at risk and the future of the digital workforce)
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Conclusion/References
These different pages can be found in the navigation bar as different headings along the top of this page. Each section will either focus on defining aspects of the digital workforce and workplace automation or the feasibility of replacing certain roles in the workplace with a machine.
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The digital workforce refers to any kind of machine carrying out a task that, previous to the invention of the machine, was done by a person. This includes anything from customer assistant bots (chat bot) on a retail website to artificial intelligence (AI) that is able to diagnose patients visiting their doctor based on various symptoms, recommend the best course of action for the patient and prescribe any drugs needed. Job automation is nothing new, but as the complexity of the machines we are creating continues to grow, so does the possibility to replace people in jobs with machines that are not only more effective at the work, but would save the business money and the concept of a fully automated workforce is becoming more feasible with each day that goes by. Because of this it is important for people to have at least some understanding of what the digital workforce is and how it may effect them because it is better to be prepared for the potential implementation of a digital workforce and its affects than be taken by surprise.