Week 7 entry Working in/with New Media

What I and many other like Jeffrey (2010) found disheartening about the reference materials for this topic was the poor conditions of new media workers. The Gill 2007 reading included quotes from several interviews. The interviewees were people who were working in the new media industry. Many of the interviewees talked about how difficult it was working in new media. One in particular commented that she used to take work home with her to read and “that has now become a habit”.
In the lecture Leong discussed the concept of “multi-temporal” (April ,2010) time. This is the phenomenon that the interviewee in the Gill reading was talking about when she said doing work at home has now become a habit. In the new media field it’s quite possible to work all day every day, because the work is portable and accessible. It seems this slavish devotion is almost necessary just to finish projects on time.
I staunchly believe that people need time away from work. Having a good work life balance makes people happier, and able to work productively. Working in New Media seems unregulated and in need of some sort of reform, but how do you regulate something that is forever changing?

References
Gill, R. (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: 24-30 & 38-43.

Jeffrey, Z. 2010. “Working in new media”, April 15. Accessed April 30. http://zoejeffrey.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/working-in-new-media/

Week 6 entry New Media, Health and, Well-being

The Lewis reading argued that it is “individualized technologies like the internet that would seem to be the perfect medium for the self-managing healthy citizen” (2006). Lewis is referring to the ability of people to track, plan and manage almost every aspect of their health over the internet due to advancements in new media. In her blog post Online health information: risky business or consumer wonderland? Harbison describes the feature s of Google Health “you can store all your health information online, extra features include managing your healthcare online, setting personal goals, tracking progress and personalizing your health needs with applications and devices” (2011).
The thing that is so striking about this is the level of integration. New media has meant that the borders of work and play have been blurred. It seems natural then that health and lifestyle, a subject full of information, opinion and study has become so popular on new media. The question is, as new media becomes more integrated with our daily lives, will logging on to goggle through the computer or your smart phone to find out your meal plan, or for some quick medical tips be fast enough?

References

 Lewis, T. 2006. “Seeking health information on the internet: Lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria” Media, culture & societ, volume 28, issue 4: 521-539. Accessed April 11, 2011. http://mcs.sagepub.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/content/28/4/521.full.pdf+html

 Harbison, J. 2011. “Online Health Information: Risky business or consumer wonderland?”, New Media Internet self and Beyond, April 10. Accessed April 11. http://jessicaharbison.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/online-health-information-risky-business-or-consumer-wonderland/

Week 5 entry Connecting/Narrating/Branding me

The Bell reading mentioned that “some fashionable Chinese women wear them [phones] as jewellery, on chains around their necks”(2006). This trend might seem bazaar, but it is not unique to just Chinese women. Apple products are an obvious example of this. An average MP3 player could be far more practical than an i-pod. It could have far more storage space for more music, and be much cheaper. Normal MP3 players are also arguably much easier to use, with fewer restrictions than i-pods. Then why are i-pods so popular and MP3 almost impossible to find in retail stores?

It’s because of the Apple brand, and the stories it can tell about people. These act as an instant point of connection for people who have the same story to tell. This kind of connection that lozhamilton describes in her blog post The Function of the Mobile Phone as “transparency in our identities” (2011). It seems concerning that Apple, through its marketing campaigns has turned itself in to a flag of youth an identifying youth brand. It goes a long way in explaining why the i-pod is so popular despite better products being on the market.

References
Bell, G. 2006. “The age of the thumb: A cultural reading of mobile technologies from asia.” Knowledge, technology, & policy, summer 19 (2), 41-57. Accessed April 11, 2011. http://web.ebscohost.com.ezp01.library.qut.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=1b1c4c6f-4860-4717-a9ec-d7fb5d4916ad%40sessionmgr10&vid=1&hid=14

Hamilton, L. 2011. “The Function of the Mobile Phone”, The New Media Ag, April 4. Accessed April 11. http://lozhamilton.wordpress.com  

Week 4 entry

Shirky’s (2011) article about the U.S policy plans to use social media as a part of strategy to contest ideological enemies was very thought provoking. Shirky’s theory of using economic leverage over autocratic governments instead of relying on investing in unreliable software, and ambitious hopes that people would adopt social media for creating people’s revolution seems sound.
Basically Shirky’s analysis of the few pieces data available have lead him to the belief that social media does not cause social revolutions, but merely gives people a way to co-ordinate their political beliefs. So for that reason the U.S should not focus on making sure that people have some sort of backdoor access to the internet, but instead make sure that these governments provided access to their people. But why would they provide that access if it gives the people the chance to scyronize political beliefs? Because internet access brings with it economic benefits according to Shirky.
As Shirky pointed out it was economic change that lead to downfall of the Soviet Union. However if the US government were to use these economic persuasion as boldly as Shirky implies that they should it could be more damaging for the image of the U.S and social media in those countries.

Week 3 entry

I found the idea of people connecting over their I-tunes play list in the Levy (2006) reading fascinating. Websites like Facebook, and Myspace might allow people to talk and share common interests, but sharing someone’s play list is a personal experience.
Music has always been something that uses emotion for connection. So the idea that people could swap music. Then by the sounds, and genre, and quirks in the music build a picture of someone or live there life in someone’s mind is scary. The things that someone could learn about someone else could take years to learn through any other method.
Given that sharing music is such a powerful form of emotional expression, the idea of politicians using their playlists to help push a political agenda is concerning. While it might bother me I did find reading all of the commentary around George Bush’s playlist amusing. It was clearly an example of political strategy blowing up in the political analysts face. It started out as a way for George Bush to connect to the younger voters over technology. It ended up as way for people to express their displeasure at George Bush, using the raw emotion used in songs.

Week 2 entry

I found the metaphor of the glass bedroom in the Pearson reading particularly helpful in understand the concepts of social networking as a platform, for performance. The idea that social networking sites can be used as personal and impersonal means of communications, and the fact that unintended third parties can access these communications is interesting.
Reading it reminded me of an incident that happened to a friend several months ago. She works for a student organisation. This particular student organisation, like many others uses social media to stay in touch with members as well as business partners. This girl had a bad day at work, went home and posted a negative comment on Facebook about what had happened at work and generally how much she disliked being in the organisation.
Obviously the managers of the organisation were outraged. Not the fact that there were negative comments, but by the fact that it had been played out on a public platform to potential partners and members. The organisation understood the glass bedroom concept.
After talking to the girl it became apparent that she did not understand the consequences of her comments. In this case it seemed that social networking sites have become so normal, that some people do not understand everything they say and do is seen by almost everyone?