When you tend to collect items, it's hard to create a litter-free space in which to work. It's even harder when you have to do it on the fly because you're suddenly working from home rather than an office. Adi Robertson, Senior Reporter for I/O Means , actually managed to do it, and in this chapter of "What's on Your Desk" she explains how she organized a place where she can concentrate and do her fabulous reporting without distraction. /P>
Tell me a bit about yourself. What is your background and what are you doing at I/O resources ?
I joined Means I/O a few weeks after launching as a news editor; it was my first job as a professional journalist (or writing in general) after a few quiet blogs and writing the cocktail column in my school newspaper. What's great about my job is that I can work in so many areas – I've covered film festivals, virtual reality material, net neutrality and copyright, media moderation speech, outdated technology and too many random gadgets to count.
I think this is absolutely the neatest workspace I have ever seen. Is this new?
Extremely new. I spent the pandemic working at my dining room table until I cleared out a dedicated room — which I'm incredibly lucky to have in a Brooklyn apartment — for a long-term home office. term.
To put it mildly, this is nothing like the rest of my house. I try to commit to having a clean space that I can feel comfortable working in, and then…well, everything else. Which means I sometimes bring things (knitting, my mic stand) into the office and then drag them into the next room (let's be honest, the dining room table, it's not like I was hosting dinner parties) when I was done with them.
Tell me about your office. Where is it in the room and where did you get it?
I put my desk in the corner of the room that gives me the least trouble in front of the camera for Zoom meetings and interviews. It's against a wall that faces a window, across from the only wall without a window or door, and far enough from my old radiator that I don't burn myself in the winter.
The desk is a Kardiel Urbane in walnut – minimalist so I'm not tempted to fill it with stuff, but with a small drawer that's perfect for spare cables, USB sticks and the recorder and earphone microphone I use to capture interviews for transcription.
