Work Routines

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Routines

In addition to the resources required for their production and disposal, end devices also consume electricity and water over the course of their product life cycle. Digital space is not closed off; rather, it is a global network. Cloud-based services are becoming increasingly important. We no longer primarily save our data locally on our devices. Rather, we synchronise it onto servers in data processing centres that consume further resources. More than half of the energy consumed goes to operating the infrastructure. In large part, it falls on operating the data centres and transporting the data. The rise of video streaming and video calls as well as AI- and AR-based applications is a major factor here.

There is a lot we can do in terms of how we handle our data and use our cloud storage. By setting up a clear system and rules for handling data that we can use for any project, we can make sustainable action the norm. Technical solutions can offer further support. Customizing default settings and programmed rules can help us enforce greater discipline upon ourselves. It is not easy to learn new processes and programs, and it is even more difficult to shake off old habits. We need good transformation management that is considerate of employees, especially when dealing with larger organisations or offices with fixed IT structures and processes. In these cases, it is important to define where to focus on technical solutions and where to establish new routines and rules on a case-by-case basis.

Tips:

• Understanding how programs work and consciously customising deault settings can simplify work routines and automate processes
• Checklists for certain work processes can help to adapt routines
• You can make digital clean-up sessions fun by doing it as a team over coffee or tea
• Schedule a regular clean-up day. This could be on one afternoon per month or for an hour each week

Communication

We communicate all day long, and we use almost exclusively digital tools to do so. Online communication can help reduce emissions, e.g. when air travel is replaced by video calls. But there is a rebound effect here, too, with ever larger video conferences, streaming and never-ending inboxes. With regard to communication, a lot of data can be saved by a deliberate and intentional choice of means.

Ultimately, the most important thing is to make a conscious decision. When considering third-party communication services, it is worth paying attention to data security. This means that they should comply with GDPR norms, use end-to-end encryption and be powered by clean energy.

The Green Web Directory, operated by the Green Web Foundation, is a helpful resource when choosing providers and green hosting services.

E-mail

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In present-day work contexts, e-mail is still the main mode of communication. Approximately 700 billion e-mails are sent every day. A normal e-mail causes about 10 grammes of carbon dioxide. This amounts to the carbon footprint of a plastic bag. Our inboxes are often full of old e-mails.

E-mails also scale up quickly when the entire conversation history is included in every reply. Long discussions by e-mail and large attachments are thus supremely inefficient.

Tips:

• Clear your inbox regularly. Download important attachments and remove them from your inbox. This reduces the need for storage and thus energy consumption.
• Adjust your default settings so that attachments are not automatically resent when replying.
• Be mindful when subscribing to and unsubscribing from newsletters. The strict norms laid out by the GDPR make it possible to unsubscribe from any newsletter at any time. Instead of holding on to unopened newsletters or deleting them as they come in, it is better to be honest with your time and cancel unread newsletters.
• Check whether e-mail is really the most efficient and effective mode of communication. In fixed groups or teams that communicate frequently, messengers such as Slack, Teams, Signal etc. can provide a resource-saving alternative. Pay attention to whether the services use end-to-end encryption and what personal data could be communicated to third parties.
• Nowadays we are all used to sending short messages over messenger services, but classic text messages (SMS) can serve as a reliable and quick mode of communication, especially if you want to remain offline.
  

Peer-to-peer

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Not every exchange of data requires data to be uploaded to clouds, i.e. external servers. Sometimes we just want to transfer data from one computer to another. For this we can also use internal networks or peer-to-peer exchanges. Cloud storage is more suitable when we need to work on a document with others or when we need to work with the latest version of the document at any given time.

Video calls

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Video conferences have a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to air travel, but they are still not climate-neutral. It is important to consider which video conferences are really necessary and when a phonecall will do. But even in a video conference, you can reduce your ecological footprint by 96 per cent just by switching off your camera.

Tips:

• Collegial video conferences: After a round of introductions, establish common rules. For example, when someone is sharing their screen and giving a presentation, all other listeners should switch off their cameras. Only the person speaking and the moderator should leave their camera on.
• For large conferences, the host can customise the default settings so that all cameras are switched off until people want to speak and are brought to the “stage”.

Wi-Fi vs. mobile data

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WiFi-connections are more than 50 per cent more energy-efficient than LTE connections. That is why it is better to use WiFi- or cable connections rather than mobile data, especially for large uploads and downloads.

Working in collaboration

To avoid e-mails with multiple attachments, clouds offer a viable alternative. Cloud-based collaborative working does not only save data but also enables co-workers to work on documents together in real time, regardless of their location. Here, too, it is important to find a provider that uses green servers and complies with GDPR norms.

Collaboration tools

• Etherpad
• Cryptpad
• Nextcloud

Whiteboards

Whiteboards are further tools that help with collaborative creative brainstorming and project development in real time, regardless of your location.

• Kinotopio
• OpenBoard
• Draw Chat
• Excalidraw

Saving and archiving

While clouds are better suited for collaborative work than e-mails, they are not necessarily the most sustainable solution for long-term storage or archiving projects. Since the data in clouds is always accessible, it is also constantly consuming energy. More than 50 per cent of data stored in clouds by companies are only used once and then never again. This includes unnecessary copies, old or superfluous documents and forgotten or unknown files. Good work routines and rules for saving projects can save a lot of data.

Tips:

• Rules and checklists can help determine how to archive completed projects and what can be deleted.
• Cloud services should only be used for data from ongoing projects that have multiple people working on them. The rest can be archived in a more energy-efficient way on external harddrives.
• Back-ups: Generally, it is good practice to have more than one storage medium. But there is the question of how many old back-ups you need and how long they should be preserved.
• Readability of data: To guarantee long-term readability, migration strategies must be applied on a regular basis. Files must be continually transferred to new formats and systems if they are to be archived for the long term.
• Best practices for successful long-term digital archiving include regularly verifying the integrity and completeness of the material, as well as creating meta data describing the material in detail.

Beyond that, storing and archiving digital goods and artworks are fields that this wiki cannot cover. There is a good introduction in the publication “Grundlagen der digitalen Langzeitarchivierung” [Basics of Long-Term Digital Archiving] by the NFDI4Culture – Consortium for Research Data on Material and Immaterial Cultural Heritage. The two approaches of migration and emulation are explained on the information platform foschungsdaten.info.

There are several initiatives and institutions that explore methods and strategies to preserve and archive born-digital art and digital cultural artefacts:

• LI-MA
• Small Data Industries
• ZKM | Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe
• Rhizome
• Guggenheim New York
  

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