Professional Communication Technologies………1b!

When I first heard the term “Web 2.0” I FREAKED out!!!! The questions that entered my head were:

            What on Earth does this word mean??

How am I going to use/understand this new technology??

What have I got myself into??

The definition of Web 2.0, as stated in Reader 1 that "It provides the opportunity for the reader and creator to interact and more importantly, for reader to become the creator.”

Little did I know that I use Web 2.0 without out even realising it. Since being in school I have used Wikipedia for research, YouTube has always been helpful and inspirational, Google I have also used from a very young age. And however much I hate to admit it I am one of the many people throughout the world that contributes to the very large statistics of Facebook! Even though I may not use it (at the moment to it’s full potential) in a professional light, I am using it! The pressure was off slightly I was already operating what I now know as Web 2.0 yet apart from Facebook I have always been the reader and never the creator, until now!

On my first glance at Reader 1 again I panicked. It had lots of long words and phrases that I found were made more complicated than necessary. I had to read it a few times for it to get into my head and to simplify what it was actually saying. I also researched for a simpler explanation and found this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pe79kPh3hw&feature=related

I have only just discovered Web 2.0 and they are already moving into Web 3.0!!!!

Once understanding Reader 1 my head went from question to question, from one subject to another. My questions didn’t necessarily link to the subject at hand directly but I thought were all important.

Are these social network’s a help or a hindrance?

Is YouTube helping people share their thoughts and feeling or helping people to copy?

Is moving on with technology really helping the social skills of the new generation?

How many companies are finally going to go out of business?

Are people exposing themselves too much or in the right way?

Will Professional Communication Technologies prevent/help us getting jobs in our professional careers?

Are employees seeing things they would rather not?

Is it helping with communication or just giving people away to create what they would like to be but on a screen?

Is it making people less confident, social or able to communicate?

Are you able to advertise for free?

Is it affecting human social skills?

Are we in control of 2.0?

My developments with Web 2.0 to date……………………

The first social network I joined was Facebook. Initially I joined the network as a social basis, while studying I met a lot of people from all over England and I wanted to keep in touch with them. Facebook is an easy way to keep in contact and up to date with what people are doing. I only accepted people I knew and that I want seeing my profile.

When I then joined Bodywork my views on Facebook dramatically changed. Each week we would have a different guest teacher for a master class. The guest would already be in the industry. They were always willing to help with questions about the business and share where and what they had done professionally. We had teachers mention about classes they held and to add them on Facebook as they advertise and mention the classes on there. This was the moment that I realized that Facebook could be an amazing way of networking. My Facebook profile has developed over time to a means of my professional network.

Another thing that evolved from this for me was twitter. I created a twitter account and added Choreographers, Dance groups, Dance studios, Casting Directors and groups such and Dance cast. I find twitter extremely useful for finding out about auditions and classes.

Networking via Facebook is extremely different to communicating face to face. I have two contrasting thoughts; it is the easy way out to contact people and gives you a false confidence then on the contrary it gives the less confident people some help.

Are these social network’s a help or a hindrance?

It is easy to email someone and tell them that you enjoyed their class and if they have any auditions approaching to let you know, however doing this in the flesh is totally different. Emails can be miss read and there is no tone in the voice which determines how you are saying things. One thing that I like to have and I think you can tell a lot from is eye contact. This is lost through social networking sites.

Is it making people less confident, social or able to communicate?

I know a lot of people approach a panel after an audition for feedback, a lot of people would find it easier to email later. In this circumstance a lot of time the panel request that they don’t get approached and an email is sent instead.

Is moving on with technology really helping the social skills of the new generation?

You have the choice and control of what appears, who sees it and the information you give. Do employees check your name in Google? What appears? A drunken profile picture on Facebook!

Are these social network’s a help or a hindrance?

This is why it’s so important to be professional and aware of what the consequences could be. A friend of mine has once had to report a picture she found on Facebook. A friend of hers had been tagged in a picture of a night out, she was able to flick through the whole album. In this album she could see herself in the background of a few of the pictures, after flicking through a few she found a picture that had been taken up someone’s dress, once looking closely she saw that the picture was up her dress. She was not a friend of this particular person, the album was open for everyone to see. Does this push the limits? If she hadn’t have looked through the album she would have never known. How do we control what other people exhibit. After this happened I deleted my Facebook account, I felt so strongly that I did not want things like this happening to me. After removing my profile for a month I realized that whether or not I have a profile I am still not able to control what other people put on their profiles of me.

Are you able to advertise for free?

I was also missing out on information about class, auditions etc. Web 2.0 is evolving quick and is there any real way of controlling it? With Facebook we are not really the initial creator, we can’t control everything on there, we have options but we are unable to change the options we have. Maybe there should be a hierarchy i.e. Oringinal Creator (creator of facebook), Additional creator/reader (people with a profile who contribute to the site, Reader (people who have no profile and just like to look). Bruns (2007) argues that in fact there isn’t a step by step transition from reading and consuming materials to making and sharing them online, more that each of us as we participate are both producer and consumer (similar to the idea of prosumer suggested above). He calls the process produsage (which it a portmanteau of production and usage)

Are people exposing themselves too much or in the right way?

A lot of people I know have uploaded their show reels onto YouTube and this has contributed to them gained a job. When reading through other peoples blogs I noticed a guy who has gained a job overseas by sending the link of his show reel on YouTube.

Will Professional Communication Technologies prevent/help us getting jobs in our professional careers?

As you can see a lot of positive and negative issues raced through my head, which I have put down in words with a few quotes to back up my beliefs however everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I have also looked up what other people think about Web 2.0.

Quote from Internet (Anon 2012):

“Web 2.0 is transforming our society. Online tools that support collaborative communities are redefining how firms do business, how retailers engage customers, how politicians energize voters, how journalists inform readers, how teachers educate students, how friends maintain relationships, and how individuals shape their own identity.”

Quote from a Friend:

“Young people say they are really social but to actually hold a conversion with them is difficult. Having a Facebook profile with lots of friends doesn’t mean your social, I think it should be called cyber social!”

Freeman Dyson, physicist and principal architect of the theory of quantum electrodynamics

"More than 90 per cent of the technology that will affect our daily lives at the beginning of the 21st century has not been invented. This means that more innovations will be introduced in the next ten years than were produced throughout previous human history."

Shirley Malcom, Head, Directorate for Education and Human Resource Programs,

American Association for the Advancement of Science

"Technology is about connections--connecting people to each other, to ideas, and to possibilities. Imagine being able to sample the atmosphere of a planet millions of miles away and go hands-on with the universe--this is the stuff that gets kids excited about science! What's there not to love?!"

I admit Web 2.0 can be extremely beneficial and effective however if you use it carefully and with professional conduct. As Reader 1 says you have a choice, A choice of who you look at, follow, download and share. Make the right choice!

Even though Hamilton says that not everyone can either afford, have the time or the skills to use Web 2.0 I think that nowadays it is extremely accessible, affordable and basic. It only becomes as complicated as you make it.

“If people do not have the instruments by which they can participate then they will be unable or unwilling to participate in something (Hamilton 2000).”

From now on I will definitely look at what I am creating, saying, sharing and following online a lot more seriously. It does concern me what the evolvement on the Web will bring and what my children and grandchildren will be doing online in the future. For my career I think it can be a very useful tool.