SEEK...and you shall not find

Video killed the radio star, Ipods superseded the walkman and now new media technologies are even  changing the way we work, and how we find it... 

 As Gill (2007, 25) explored in Informality is the New Black,  only a marginal percent of  new media workers found jobs by "traditional" means of searching – i.e via an advertised position. Job search sites are OUT, and networking is IN. It seems it's no longer a question of what you know, but WHO, in this competitive new media world. 

Image retrieved from Cartoon Stock

Tess Cameron's New Media Employment story is a true example of this.  She was offered an exclusive blogging opportunity through industry connections she had made through a mutual friend. The job was never advertised. 

Case in point, today on Seek, there are only three opportunities in Brisbane that vaguely match my goal to work as a freelance copywriter. However, in advertising agencies across town, there are positions waiting to be filled by people that come with personal recommendations. 

If anything, this course has opened my eyes to the realities of the media market. I have started to attend industry events, make connections, and hopefully create a job rather than search for it...

References: 

Cameron, Tess. 2011. "New media employment". Accessed April 28, 2011. http://newmedia-tesscameron.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-media-employment.html. 

Gill, Rosalind. 2007.  "Informality is the New Black". In Technobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New Media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. 


Seek. 2011. "Job search: Brisbane + Advertising + Copywriting". Accessed April 28, 2011. http://www.seek.com.au/JobSearchDateRange=31&Keywords=Copywriting&location=1004&industry=6304&SearchFrom=quickupper&SearchType=search+again

Diagnosis: Google-itis

Image from Symptom Checker

Oh my! One small pain in my knee, and a trip to WebDoctor later, and I could in fact have 9 potential illnesses! What on earth is chondromalacia patella? As discussed in Megan's blog, online symptom searching can be a dangerous phenomena, as what starts out as harmless curiosity can develop into a serious case of Cyberchondria...

Lewis (2006) explores this concept, analysing both positive and negative sides of the lay man having access to medical information online.  While she acknowledges that people may self-diagnose with all kinds of irrational illnesses, she also explores potential benefits of accessing lifestyle/health information. 

In today's MX [a newspaper, how ironic I know!] I read about an online course  to educate participants about anxiety disorders. This resource is fully accredited by the Australian Government Department of Health, and provides a safe platform for users to anonymously seek information about a particularly stigmatising issue.  

And I'd have to say, on this point I agree with Lewis.  Online health advice can be empowering for the user, particularly if the individual would otherwise not seek any advice for  fear or embarrassment of a face-to-face consultation. But, this online approach only works if mediated by accredited medical professionals... 

References:

Australian Government Department of Health. 2011. "Anxiety Online". Accessed April 11, 2011. http://www.anxietyonline.org.au/


Lewis, Tanya. 2006. "Seeking health information on the internet: lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria?" Media, Culture & Society.  28 ( 4):  521-539.  


Urban Dictionary. 2011. "Cyberchondriac". Accessed April 11, 2011.  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cyberchondriac

YOU inc.

Google Images [mash-up by Author]. 

Managing your professional and personal “worlds” online can be a challenge, with the digital environment influencing user’s work and play by "unsettling and liquefying boundaries between the two" (Deuze 2011, 143).

Facebook is a prime example of this, with users typically friending ol’mate drinking buddy and work colleagues alike.  But as Lucy further asks in her blog, is our Facebook self an honest representation of our real self, or do we take liberties to make ourselves appeal to different audiences? Site creator Mark Zuckerberg once quipped: “having two identities of yourself is an example of a lack of integrity”, but I believe this ideology goes against basic Darwinian survival instincts.

Like different languages, we learn different cultural norms and idioms to correspond with different professional and social situations. I believe we need to speak many different "dialects" i.e the "family" dialect or the "party" dialect, to communicate effectively.

Facebook, however,  invites everyone to the party, creating a unified environment with no room for adaptation of tone. While it can be argued that friend acceptance remains at the discretion of the user, lax privacy policies [see Zuckerberg’s own “party” self revealed] means your boss is probably going to see you shot-gun that beer.

And as demonstrated in the clip below, when world’s unintentionally collide, identities are compromised…

(C) NBC

References 


Deuze, Mark. 2011. "Media Life". Media, Culture & Society 33(1): 137-148.

Gawker. 2009. "Facebook CEO’s Private Photos Exposed by the New ‘Open’ Facebook". Accessed April 01, 2011.  http://gawker.com/#!5423914/facebook-ceos-private-photos-exposed-by-the-new-open-facebook/gallery/1

NBC. 1995. "The Pool Guy". Accessed April 01, 2011.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxuYdzs4SS8

Wikipedia. 2011. "Mark Zuckerberg". Accessed April 01, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Zuckerberg