Interview (via email) with Bodil Jönsson, professor in rehabilitation-technique and tutor for doctoral students at Certec. She is since 2005 leading the 3-year project “Design for the human sector” and started in 2002 the continuing research-program “Pacemaking” aiming at stress-related unhealth, the cause, effect and contra-measures. She also lead the work of constructing the research-program “Elderly and design” and is still working there. She also contributed in the book “Design side by side” published 2006. As well author to the books “Tio tankar om tid” -Ten thoughts about time, “I tid och otid” -In time and no-time, “Vunnet och försvunnet” -Won and vanished, amongst many other.


-What do you see in the future in terms of peoples relations to their work? Is there a clear future for the mobile work in the western world? What trends to you see on how we are going to relate to products in the future?
-The human being is in essence mobile and that is why the mobile technique has had such a great impact - we do want the technique to come along with us in the same way as you go with yourself, learn something in one enviroment and bring that with you somewhere else.. Its not the spatial that is the problem but the time. Man is not equipped with very good tools for orienting in the world -the ones we have does not work properly when we add technical things. For example: We can tell light and darkness apart, that helped us to keep night and day apart, in the old days. Before the time of electric light and the computers 24h functions..

-You have mentioned that we need to invent “stress-relieving technique”, could you give me an example of such a thing?
-All kinds of technique that helps us keeping the RYTHM and notice how we experience things.

-How do you look at stress-problems within creative professions. They are more or less always based on “vocation” and you are almost expected to be working for the fun even without pay. I can’t even see that there was ever a line between work and leisure, how do you see that?
-The line between work and leisure is a line that came late -in the farming society it did not exist at all but it came with the industrialism. With the industrialism also the thought was separated from the work -others could sort the thinking out, “I” could work. First think and then work. I’m not very critical that work and leisure merges again -as long as the merging does not conceal that the sum of the two can become too high.
Everything is translated from swedish (including titles of works), I apologize if something is not correct.