Working In/With New Media
(Ultimation 2011)
Welcome to the informational age! A self-expanding network of new media, characterised by networked, digital information and communications technologies, that pervades and transforms all domains of social, cultural, political and economic life. Castells (1999, 399) describes this current landscape as ‘The Network Society’.
The Network Society introduces a new form of time and space: ‘timeless time’ and the ‘space of flows’ (Castells 1999, 405-406). The new media characteristics of transcending time and place lead to the eradication of traditional categories of time and space (clock-time and proximity) by the transmission of information. As a result, we now live and work in a ‘global economy’ where “activities have the potential of working as a unit in real time, but on a planetary scale” (Castells 1999, 400).
(CSL Cartoon Stock 2011)
These changes have brought about a shift in the way people work. ‘Flexi-workers’ are now commonplace as modes of work are changing from stable, permanent jobs to informal, short-term, subcontracted and free-lance (Castells 1999, 401).
As things are happening instantaneously and linearity is broken, careers are becoming multi-sited and multi-temporal (Leong 2012) and consequently blurring lines between work and relaxation. This has fostered a sense of ‘compulsory sociality’ (Gill 2007, 26) where you can never really turn off as your talents are constantly on display in the new media landscape.
The current work landscape is now fast-moving, unpredictable and often unstable due to the informality of new media. While traditional work landscapes are not in extinction, it is important to see the value of working in and with new media and how it has changed and is changing the work landscape.
In her blogpost, Sierra Roan discusses how this more informal landscape can be used as an alternative method to seek employment and outlines how her own experience in our ‘global economy’.
REFERENCE LIST:
Castells, M. 1999. “An Introduction to the Information Age”. In The Media Reader: Continuity & Transformation, edited by Hugh Mackay & Tim O'Sullivan, 398-410. London: Sage. Accessed April 11, 2012.
CSL Cartoon Stock. 2011. "Outsourcing." Accessed April 23, 2012.
Gill, R. 2007. Techonobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New Media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures. Accessed April 12, 2012.
Leong, S. 2012. “KCB206 New Media: Week 7 Lecture Notes.” Accessed April 20, 2012.
Roan, S. 2012. “The Virtual Office, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loveing the Web.” New Media Worlds Blog, April 22. Accessed April 23, 2012.
Ultimation. 2011. "Clipsal Home Networking." Accessed April 23, 2012.