The jibtv office has its own geography. Maybe because we are in Japan (an archipelago), I don't know, but all the desks are arranged in little islands grouped around each other. I'm not sure why they chose to put them this way as I can think of as many negatives for any possible benefit.
On the plus side of the work islands that dot the office is the ease of communicating with people all working together on the same project. It forms an actual group and gives everybody at the island a wonderful sense of working on the same team. However, much like being stranded on an island, these are the people, faces and personalities that you are going to be stuck with every day, day after day after day. When people are stranded on an island, they may end up eating each other. I don't think this has happened in this office, though there are a few empty chairs.
Another plus would seem to be the ability to easily manage a group of workers. Everybody sitting together out in the open facing each other makes for a very focused group of workers. However, I've seen how this can quickly fall apart. It can start with one yawn, which magically and quietly makes its way in full circle around the table subconsiously skipping from one person to the next like a row of sleepy dominoes.
Or in another case when one person returns with a cup of coffee, the fidgeting begins in the other chairs. They smell the coffee. They look at the coffee. They consider the coffee. Before long their neighbors are off to get their own coffee. Again the wave rounds the table until a once coffee free pod of diligent workers is now sitting clutching their java and giving knowing appreciative smiles to each other and to the hot black liquid in their cups.
I guess this is an office community. They all have their own patch of ground, but they work and share the day together. I saw an episode of one of my favorite TV program on jibtv called Tokyo Eye. In the program they talked about summertime "Bon Odori" dances. The village people all dance in a circle set to the same music. Everybody knows the dance, and everybody follows along in rhythm. I can't help but see my fellow workers in their circles in much the same way. Except we might replace their Yukatas with suits and their summer fans for ink filled pens.
Before living in the office, I lived in a forest. There were clear cut benefits to each creature's location. Trees all sought out places with good light and fresh water, whereas spiders, moss and mice would seek the shadier corners of the woods. It appears no different in human terms with each person. Some of my office mates have laid their roots close to the bottomless coffee pot and the nearby refrigerator. These frequent trips for coffee are supplemented by equally frequent trips to the bathroom. Another variety of office life, however, brings large thermoses to work and food packed in cute little bentos. These people I've noticed seem to lounge closer to the large windows and the sunlight that pours in. Yet other denizens of the office, like some of my subterranean friends back home, seal themselves off as completely as possible from any fresh air or light and live almost exclusively in little rooms dedicated to editing, computer programming and smoking.
The variety of life on these little islands is huge, but each little island is its own natural self-sustaining environment. Each island has its own ecosystem and the creatures who live on it all are a part of making their home communally livable. It seems to work out fine. Just as long as that coffee pot never runs out.
