Blogging in the workplace

Blogs are in the public sphere, they are intended for people to read, essentially the reason people blog is to say whatever is on their mind in a forum that anyone can access. The fact that anyone can access the blog is not always a positive aspect of blogging though, especially if what is on your mind is not a positive thing about an individual or your workplace. “Blogging platforms have become forums for employees to either individually or collectively vent frustrations at corporate culture initiatives” (Richards and Kosmala 2013 pg. 67). These blog posts are out in the open, all someone has to do is Google your name to find your blog. Imagine a potential employer checking the internet for some background information on you and find blog posts of you slagging off your workplace, it wouldn’t look all that flash going in for an interview, if you get one that is. 

Ellis and Richards (2009) (cited in Richards and Kosmala 2013 pg. 69) “found employees to be attracted to blogging about work because these online forums offers a form of voice other than that provided by trade unions.” In a place in which people can vent about their work frustrations, employees can also gain support from others. Ellis and Richards (2009) (cited in Richards and Kosmala 2013 pg. 69) “found evidence of support networks being formed between work bloggers and the use of such forums to reflect on their work experiences over time.” 

                                              source: http://www.poormojo.org/hate/I%20hate%20my%20job.jpg

There is a website that goes by the name of workrant.com in which it’s tagline is, “Stressed at work, thinking ‘I hate my job’, ‘I hate my boss,’ or ‘I hate my co-workers,’ You need a work rant! Rant away all your work rage, anonymously, and ease the frustration.” (Workrant.com.) A word of warning, there is some explicit language on this website but quite a good read. It just highlights how people use blogs and forums to express their frustration at their workplace. It is obviously a big issue that many people deal with.



Reference:
Richards, J., and Kosmala, K., 2013 ‘In the end, you can only slag people off for so long’: employee cynicism through work blogging’, New Technology, Work and Employment, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 68 – 77.

www.workrant.com

Innovators or Pirates

Deciding whether someone who remixes a song is an innovator or pirate is a difficult one, in my opinion they are both. I am a fan of that sort of music, taking the essence of one song and changing it slightly or adding a dance beat to it is something that I would describe as innovation. When dj’s play older rock songs with a dance beat to it, the crowd for the most part, enjoy it, remixes of songs such us ‘Smells like teen spirit’ or ‘Seven Nation Army’ to name a couple are popular songs that have been changed slightly to fit into the club scene. These are clever innovations but in a sense, they have stolen the essence of a song and changed it ever so slightly. Unless the artist who did the remix has paid for the sample or has been given permission to use it, they have pirated the song. I don’t think the artists these days would mind so much considering how easy it is to obtain free music off the Internet these days. Although I do think that it should be in the remix artist’s best interest to legally obtain the music sample from the original artist. Having said that, I am yet to see mash-up artists or dj’s put these remixes up for sale, these artists do not claim that these songs are theirs, they simply just play the music. If one was to take a well known song, change it ever so slightly and then attempt to re-sell it, then there is a big issue. But the way that it is currently being done, I see it as an acceptable practice, yes there is piracy involved, but artists these days make their money from tours and promotions rather than a bulk of it coming from a sale of their music. If anything the innovation of a remix could publicise their songs again.

Influential Artwork

Street art is more than just some spray paint on an empty wall, for many of those who do it, it is an expression of themselves or of something they believe in. When I was younger I was taught that vandalism is frowned upon and there can be consequences for the action of vandalism. Having this thought in the back of my mind every time I saw an amazing piece of artwork on a brick wall I immediately thought that it was vandalism. As I got older I started to take notice of the works, sitting on a train travelling into the city staring out the window exposes you to a lot of street work. A lot of the stuff you see on the train is just ‘tags’ or people writing their names, which can be viewed as vandalism or graffiti, it isn’t really as spectacular as some other works. I remember travelling into the city and seeing a massive image of an older mans face spray painted against a wall and every time I rode past I looked closer. It was the face of a man who had passed away and this was someone’s father, the enormous piece of artwork on this empty wall facing the train line was in remembrance of someone’s father. At this moment I realized that street art is an expression and is not just paint on an empty wall. At school we looked into works by well-known street artists such as Banksy whose work is priceless. It is an industry that has galleries dedicated to the works of those street artists. There have also been walls erected for the purpose of legal street work. People such as Banksy and the person who painted their late father’s face have made me view the sub-culture of street art differently and I now see it as an expression of ones self rather than an act of vandalism.

Global Flows

Globalisation has many aspects all of which boil down to a similar meaning or definition, an intrinsic part of that definition is ‘interconnectedness’. Interconnectedness highlights the ways that different things such as people, money and products can all be connected or shared throughout the world. Global flows is apart of this interconnectedness and in one way or another an individual will be affected by a form of global flow, whether it be physical, cultural or through capital, not to mention media flows and information flows as well. In today’s society migration is such a big issue and it occurs a lot. My mother’s side of the family has experienced physical flows. They hailed from Denmark, at one point many, many years ago one of my relatives decided that Australia was the place to be and ventured on a boat across to the other side of the world to live permanently. They had to adapt to the lifestyle of Australia, which at the time was farming and digging for gold. To fit in further their surname was changed to become more Anglo-Saxon. Changing their lifestyle would have been a massive shock but it highlights the cultural flows of globalization. The move made by my ancestors also shows an example of information flows, this element of globalisation was prevalent in the 19^th century, word had spread throughout Europe that Australia, which hadn’t experienced Federation at this point, was the place to go to start a new life. It seems as though things have not changed. The curiosity of my family meant that some members flew to Denmark to visit the town where my family originated, again, another example of physical flows. Global flows allow for people to move in search of a better life and it shows how globalisation has been in existence in some form for centuries. 

I am a prosumer

A prosumer is a combination of being a producer and a consumer, producer being what makes a product or provides a service and consumer being those that purchase and use the products. Toffler (cited in Ritzer and Jurgenson 2010) believes that “contemporary society is moving away from the aberrant separation of production and consumption” and is moving towards the ‘rise of the prosumer’. 

An excellent way to witness how prosumption works first hand is to go to a fast food restaurant such as McDonalds. After ordering your meal and receiving it, it is then your job to carry your food that you paid for to your table. Once your done eating, it is also expected that you clear your table by putting the rubbish in the bins provided. It’s funny how most of the time you don’t even think about doing this it just gets done. Even though you have paid for the food, the service is then up to you. Ritzer and Jurgenson (2010 pg. 18) outline other ways in which individuals can be a prosumer. They include filling up your car at a petrol station, working as a bank teller at an ATM and being a caller on a radio show. 

There are several things I do in my everyday life that includes me as a prosumer. As mentioned by Ritzer and Jurgenson ( 2010 pg. 18) I use the self checkout at supermarkets, mainly because I think I can do it faster than a 16 year old and that way I don’t have to stand awkwardly whilst someone judges my purchases.

                    source: memebase.cheezburger.com

In a way I am also a promsumer at my workplace, I get paid to sell Nike products to people and advertise the stock we sell, yet I have to pay for the products that I wear in store. In todays society it is clear that prosumption is evident and occurs more than we think, yet by now we are so used to how things are run that individuals may not realize that they are prosumers.

Reference:

Ritzer, G Jurgenson, N, 2010,  Production, Consumption, Prosumption: The Nature of Capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’, Journal of Consumer Culture.