I've been reading a lot of other peoples blogs lately and becoming more inclined to comment on what they've got to say. This has led me to reflect on this blog which has been ticking a long for the last couple of years with occasional spurts of activity and then longer periods of inactivity. I've been beginning to think what's it all for? Who exactly am I writing this for? who benefits and is any of it of any interest or value to me or to anyone else? Perhaps the fact that I am questioning this in the first place is a sign.
So this posting is based on that reflection and for me to consider and re-state (for my own benefit) the purpose and scope of this blog. I think originally it was to accompany my research, get some comments and feedback from other folks working in the field. I guess also to help me reflect on all the stuff I 'take in' through reading, interviewing people and generally absorbing through my work and life. The benefit to me is that it is a non-academic environment to write freely.
Perhaps I am in a state of flux? I am a little unfocussed, I work on a number of research projects, usually related to gender or enterprise or the creative industries and if I am lucky they collide and in so doing have relevance to my PhD stuff. When reflecting with colleagues about another project (wellbeing and work/life balance stuff) I realised that my own work/life balance is shot. Ah you see - I am way off topic! Or perhaps there is a link here. The point really is that I am currently so overwhelmed with all the various projects I am working on that I am struggling to focus on the big one. This blog was intended to help me focus on my personal research and right now it is not working. So what to do? Give up? (Anyone who knows me knows I am pretty crummy at giving things up - although a blog is hardly a vice - unless I suppose if it is coming from some sort of narcissistic position - will have to ask psychologist friends).
One of the benefits of this blog is that it has introduced me to a bunch of people and opportunities I wouldn’t have had previously, and which relate to my research. On that basis it would be worth continuing. It has also offered me the opportunity to try out some ideas or describe them at least. However whether I have anything interesting/of value to say right now is an issue. I am interested - why do other people blog? What do they get out of it? How often do you doubt your blogs purpose? And why do we need to share? i.e. why am I going to click the publish button right about now?!?
For now I am done.
Incidentally I lasted three days when I gave up coffee last week - so expect a posting by the end of the week.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Blog doubt and lack of focus
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Might be of interest
There is some stuff about La traviata and other shows I've been to in the last week on my personal blog it is a little off topic for here but might be of interest.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Last Friday= Michael Wolf talk + Plus party
Friday night I went along to the very chilly Wild Building in Digbeth (Birmingham UK). Here a large and drafty warehouse with all original fixtures and fittings housed the Plus design festival. I was heading along to the Michael Wolf talk and energy permitting (and I knew it would) the end of show party and launch of Blink magazine.
The contrast between the large drafty environment and the slick (and by this mean tight, professional often beautiful) design stands was powerful. It was one of those moments when you feel like you could really be in any uber cool, urban, down-town art/design thing, anywhere in the world. Although I did have a few encounters with some Nathan Barley types.
Michael Wolf was also pretty cool - I'm not sure what I was expecting - but as I perched, rather recklessly on a bean bag with my legs buckled under a tiny coffee table in - did I mention it was drafty - in a cold spot, I didn't even notice the hour or so of the talk pass. For me it was reminiscent (the talk not the environment) of sitting at my uncle Charlie's (an artist) kitchen table listening to him and my dad (a graphic designer) disseminate pearls of wisdom about art and design and what's good, bad, the history and future of and all sorts of anecdotes.
However enough of that the format took the form of local designer Stef Lewandowski chairing a panel who directed questions to Michael (apparently he prefers this format as it requires less preparation).
Here are some points and thoughts that struck me:
- He spoke about the need for designers to be taught (I guess as students - so listen out HE ) about how to articulate the value of their contribution. 'What is your contribution worth to the client?' This is something I recall from my own distant freelancing days. Getting your head round the idea that a piece of design might be the making of a product success - so what is its value in that context?
- Recognising that new designers struggle sometimes to have the confidence to say how much they 'cost', he suggested role-play and the sort of experiential learning that I have advocated many times. He was suggested young designers (or old for that matter) role play amongst their colleagues and rehearse.
- He also spoke of being 'real' - this was a bit spooky for me after various 'authenticity' rants I've had in the last few weeks.
- Interestingly when I asked about how the UK were fairing in the context of increased competition from 'emerging economies' he spoke of the only real competition being with oneself - you're only as good as your last piece of work etc.
- When I pursued this with questioning this further and in the context of 10 years of governmental policy aiming to support and grow our creative industries he suggested that things were a little bleak. But that ultimately the issue was that companies (and by this I understood clients) were 'rather boring now' and the 'need for creativity to throughout a company'. This was an interesting perspective in the work that I am involved in as it sort of suggests a much more holistic approach is needed.
There was much much more however..
After the talk I loitered for the party. It was like being at an animated version of Facebook - I am always struck by how generally, people are much more attractive in the flesh - not just to look at but much more friendly somehow. The atmosphere was upbeat with free beers and cocktails and some delicious food from the patisserie in Kings heath (Chorizo sausage roll! I know I never even thought of it before but it really works). There was also a band of very cute/cool teenage girls who looked vaguely familiar I think they may live round my way. I really liked them and felt like there was something very cool and sort of constructive/creative and professional about their whole vibe - especially as they were pretty young and the place was packed full of the great and good of Birmingham's arts mafia. I missed the last few hours as sought refuge in the pub.
The contrast between the large drafty environment and the slick (and by this mean tight, professional often beautiful) design stands was powerful. It was one of those moments when you feel like you could really be in any uber cool, urban, down-town art/design thing, anywhere in the world. Although I did have a few encounters with some Nathan Barley types.
Michael Wolf was also pretty cool - I'm not sure what I was expecting - but as I perched, rather recklessly on a bean bag with my legs buckled under a tiny coffee table in - did I mention it was drafty - in a cold spot, I didn't even notice the hour or so of the talk pass. For me it was reminiscent (the talk not the environment) of sitting at my uncle Charlie's (an artist) kitchen table listening to him and my dad (a graphic designer) disseminate pearls of wisdom about art and design and what's good, bad, the history and future of and all sorts of anecdotes.
However enough of that the format took the form of local designer Stef Lewandowski chairing a panel who directed questions to Michael (apparently he prefers this format as it requires less preparation).
Here are some points and thoughts that struck me:
- He spoke about the need for designers to be taught (I guess as students - so listen out HE ) about how to articulate the value of their contribution. 'What is your contribution worth to the client?' This is something I recall from my own distant freelancing days. Getting your head round the idea that a piece of design might be the making of a product success - so what is its value in that context?
- Recognising that new designers struggle sometimes to have the confidence to say how much they 'cost', he suggested role-play and the sort of experiential learning that I have advocated many times. He was suggested young designers (or old for that matter) role play amongst their colleagues and rehearse.
- He also spoke of being 'real' - this was a bit spooky for me after various 'authenticity' rants I've had in the last few weeks.
- Interestingly when I asked about how the UK were fairing in the context of increased competition from 'emerging economies' he spoke of the only real competition being with oneself - you're only as good as your last piece of work etc.
- When I pursued this with questioning this further and in the context of 10 years of governmental policy aiming to support and grow our creative industries he suggested that things were a little bleak. But that ultimately the issue was that companies (and by this I understood clients) were 'rather boring now' and the 'need for creativity to throughout a company'. This was an interesting perspective in the work that I am involved in as it sort of suggests a much more holistic approach is needed.
There was much much more however..
After the talk I loitered for the party. It was like being at an animated version of Facebook - I am always struck by how generally, people are much more attractive in the flesh - not just to look at but much more friendly somehow. The atmosphere was upbeat with free beers and cocktails and some delicious food from the patisserie in Kings heath (Chorizo sausage roll! I know I never even thought of it before but it really works). There was also a band of very cute/cool teenage girls who looked vaguely familiar I think they may live round my way. I really liked them and felt like there was something very cool and sort of constructive/creative and professional about their whole vibe - especially as they were pretty young and the place was packed full of the great and good of Birmingham's arts mafia. I missed the last few hours as sought refuge in the pub.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Authenticity and influence
I have been struggling recently to write this blog, sort of have half arsed ideas that I write about but lack cohesion. So I have a bunch of postings in draft of the rambling variety. But there are some observations and things I have been thinking about related to my research (I can almost hear the yawns -I know I find myself tedious don't worry about it) that I'd like to share.
Here's the thing: there is a word I have heard used in a couple of different scenarios. I have subsequently used it in order to influence an individuals perception of the validity of a piece of work I have been involved in. The word is authenticity. I will no doubt find myself writing about this more formally as my methodology chapter takes shape. As someone who is heavily immersed in the world of storytelling and capturing stories I am always aware of the power of the authenticity of a story told, I perhaps have just not articulated this much yet. As I say this is pretty early days thinking and I have recently discovered colleagues in my own institution who know a great deal more about this stuff. I guess it is similar to what the press experience in terms of 'human interest' type stories.
The second time this word was used was yesterday when attending a 'Influencing and negotiating' training day - it was okay as these things go, 8 hours of pop psychology in 8 easy to do group work activities. It was fun, no it was funny, belly laughs, mirroring each others body language etc etc learning the tools of influence and possible manipulation. But again what came up was this: if you pretend to be someone other than yourself you will probably not be trusted - this was not, incidentally, what the facilitator told us to be true, more our collective realisation of the value of authenticity. Strange it is pretty hard to figure out your authentic self - but that is a whole other topic.
Okay. As is often the case in this blog I am not exactly sure where I am going with this stream of consciousness. But what I find is often the case is when you start to see patterns in what people are saying around you then you are on the verge of discovering or at least making sense of or understanding something, However as a researcher of the qualitative variety recognising the value of the real-lived and authentic experience in terms of research data is important.
Here's the thing: there is a word I have heard used in a couple of different scenarios. I have subsequently used it in order to influence an individuals perception of the validity of a piece of work I have been involved in. The word is authenticity. I will no doubt find myself writing about this more formally as my methodology chapter takes shape. As someone who is heavily immersed in the world of storytelling and capturing stories I am always aware of the power of the authenticity of a story told, I perhaps have just not articulated this much yet. As I say this is pretty early days thinking and I have recently discovered colleagues in my own institution who know a great deal more about this stuff. I guess it is similar to what the press experience in terms of 'human interest' type stories.
The second time this word was used was yesterday when attending a 'Influencing and negotiating' training day - it was okay as these things go, 8 hours of pop psychology in 8 easy to do group work activities. It was fun, no it was funny, belly laughs, mirroring each others body language etc etc learning the tools of influence and possible manipulation. But again what came up was this: if you pretend to be someone other than yourself you will probably not be trusted - this was not, incidentally, what the facilitator told us to be true, more our collective realisation of the value of authenticity. Strange it is pretty hard to figure out your authentic self - but that is a whole other topic.
Okay. As is often the case in this blog I am not exactly sure where I am going with this stream of consciousness. But what I find is often the case is when you start to see patterns in what people are saying around you then you are on the verge of discovering or at least making sense of or understanding something, However as a researcher of the qualitative variety recognising the value of the real-lived and authentic experience in terms of research data is important.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Private views
I took my daughter (who at 6 was not the youngest!) to a private view this evening. It was at VIVID and called Binary Oppositions. It was an interesting-ish exhibition, a mix of music and images.
Here I want to briefly highlight a conversation I had with an artist (not the show's artist) we were discussing thoughts around employability within the creative industries. Something I have been aware of and have previously referred to as 'tacit knowledge' came up. This is the idea of some people knowing what the sector is like prior to graduating for example both my parents went to art school, my dad a graphic designer, my mum an artist and illustrator. When I did a degree in Fine Art I had a pretty good idea of what was in store for me when I graduated. I knew on graduating I might have to a. work for free b. be self-employed, c. be un-employed for a while d. all 3 (answer for me 'd' + some waitressing).
A lot of my work has been about social inclusion in the creative industries within this work I've come across a lot of individuals who are the first person in their family to go to university, they get a degree in a creative discipline, they graduate, have a degree but here's the thing there are no jobs!! In this sector a degree really doesn't equal a job but it might equal a bunch of opportunities.
Anyhow obviously universities, people like me and many others are increasingly trying to figure this all out and how better to equip students and graduates for a career in the sector.
Incidentally while out bumped into a number of Birmingham bloggers it was a veritable convention will try to remember to post pics to flickr or facebook.
Here I want to briefly highlight a conversation I had with an artist (not the show's artist) we were discussing thoughts around employability within the creative industries. Something I have been aware of and have previously referred to as 'tacit knowledge' came up. This is the idea of some people knowing what the sector is like prior to graduating for example both my parents went to art school, my dad a graphic designer, my mum an artist and illustrator. When I did a degree in Fine Art I had a pretty good idea of what was in store for me when I graduated. I knew on graduating I might have to a. work for free b. be self-employed, c. be un-employed for a while d. all 3 (answer for me 'd' + some waitressing).
A lot of my work has been about social inclusion in the creative industries within this work I've come across a lot of individuals who are the first person in their family to go to university, they get a degree in a creative discipline, they graduate, have a degree but here's the thing there are no jobs!! In this sector a degree really doesn't equal a job but it might equal a bunch of opportunities.
Anyhow obviously universities, people like me and many others are increasingly trying to figure this all out and how better to equip students and graduates for a career in the sector.
Incidentally while out bumped into a number of Birmingham bloggers it was a veritable convention will try to remember to post pics to flickr or facebook.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Coming up
A couple of regularish events are coming up. In November I am due to present a couple of papers at this years ISBE conference in Glasgow. These papers are based on two areas I have been working on over the last year.
The first is a literature review relating to my own area of research around gender and entrepreneurship within the creative industries. This will be in the women's track. The other is around how to deliver enterprise education outside of business schools and reflects on the evaluation of the TE3 (Technoogy Enhanced Enterprise Education)project. These papers are both co-authored with my some of my esteemed colleagues and as it gets nearer the time I'll see about making them available.
Another event coming up is the 'Social Footprints' symposium at Birmingham's ICC on the 11th Dec. Here colleagues and I from four HE providers from the West Midlands will be running a workshop on capturing and developing 'Soft indicators'. This is how within a piece of evaluation you capture the harder to quantify outcomes of an intervention (apologies for Euro speak).
I'll find more details out on both of these and keep you posted.
The first is a literature review relating to my own area of research around gender and entrepreneurship within the creative industries. This will be in the women's track. The other is around how to deliver enterprise education outside of business schools and reflects on the evaluation of the TE3 (Technoogy Enhanced Enterprise Education)project. These papers are both co-authored with my some of my esteemed colleagues and as it gets nearer the time I'll see about making them available.
Another event coming up is the 'Social Footprints' symposium at Birmingham's ICC on the 11th Dec. Here colleagues and I from four HE providers from the West Midlands will be running a workshop on capturing and developing 'Soft indicators'. This is how within a piece of evaluation you capture the harder to quantify outcomes of an intervention (apologies for Euro speak).
I'll find more details out on both of these and keep you posted.
Tuesday
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a meeting at the LCC (London College of Communication). Things in this part of South London have changed a lot since I was there.
I stayed overnight with a friend in East Dulwich and this morning took the number 12 bus through my old stomping ground, Peckham past my uncle Charlie’s place, on past Camberwell art school where I took life drawing classes on a Saturday mornings (after I grew out of Ballet I guess), down the Wolworth Road, past what was and maybe still is Southwark college where instead of staying at school and doing A level’s I did my first diploma in general art and design and practised being a real mini art student and upto Elephant and Castle where the talented ended up at what was LCP (London college of printing). Following this burst of nostalgia I went into the meeting at what is now LCC.
I was invited me to attend a meeting that was a tentative look at developing a research group looking at teaching enterprise across creative disciplines. For those familiar with this blog this is an area I’ve been researching in one form or another for the last four years. The meeting turned out to be bigger than I’d expected (approx 15) from various research, teaching and other backgrounds and some really interesting issues and opportunities were uncovered.
This will be, no doubt, something that those chairing the session will disseminate and report on fully but I thought I would, without going into too much detailpick out some of the highlights from the meeting for me:
The need to integrate theory and practice – as a researcher, especially one of the ostensibly applied variety, this is something I would always advocate and within my own institution I am always hoping to achieve.
The need to unpick a little of what already happens within an art and design education that might already be contributing to entrepreneurial intent of students – I have been bleeting about this for a while and currently have a paper out for review which fingers crossed will be published in the not too distant future (I’ll keep you posted as and when).
There was a bunch more stuff around international context, developing pedagogies, training needs of staff and a variety of conferences and publishing opportunities that will help this fledgling group have a voice.
When I’ve heard back from the organisers I’ll let you know who to contact if you’re interested. In the meantime feel free to email and I can pass on your contact details.
I stayed overnight with a friend in East Dulwich and this morning took the number 12 bus through my old stomping ground, Peckham past my uncle Charlie’s place, on past Camberwell art school where I took life drawing classes on a Saturday mornings (after I grew out of Ballet I guess), down the Wolworth Road, past what was and maybe still is Southwark college where instead of staying at school and doing A level’s I did my first diploma in general art and design and practised being a real mini art student and upto Elephant and Castle where the talented ended up at what was LCP (London college of printing). Following this burst of nostalgia I went into the meeting at what is now LCC.
I was invited me to attend a meeting that was a tentative look at developing a research group looking at teaching enterprise across creative disciplines. For those familiar with this blog this is an area I’ve been researching in one form or another for the last four years. The meeting turned out to be bigger than I’d expected (approx 15) from various research, teaching and other backgrounds and some really interesting issues and opportunities were uncovered.
This will be, no doubt, something that those chairing the session will disseminate and report on fully but I thought I would, without going into too much detailpick out some of the highlights from the meeting for me:
The need to integrate theory and practice – as a researcher, especially one of the ostensibly applied variety, this is something I would always advocate and within my own institution I am always hoping to achieve.
The need to unpick a little of what already happens within an art and design education that might already be contributing to entrepreneurial intent of students – I have been bleeting about this for a while and currently have a paper out for review which fingers crossed will be published in the not too distant future (I’ll keep you posted as and when).
There was a bunch more stuff around international context, developing pedagogies, training needs of staff and a variety of conferences and publishing opportunities that will help this fledgling group have a voice.
When I’ve heard back from the organisers I’ll let you know who to contact if you’re interested. In the meantime feel free to email and I can pass on your contact details.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Creative Entrerprise Facebook Group!
Since Monday I have become the proud administrator/creator of Creative Enterprise Facebook group!
The idea is to have a more interactive environment for me to disseminate some of my ideas and research, connect with other folks working in this area and hopefully help facilitate the general community of practice which is developing around enterprise and entrepreneurship in the creative industries.
I am always keen to here from others working around some of these ideas and it's always good to see what others have written etc. So please go along, join, contribute your ideas and thoughts while hooking up with others from around the UK and beyond working in this field.
Charlotte
The idea is to have a more interactive environment for me to disseminate some of my ideas and research, connect with other folks working in this area and hopefully help facilitate the general community of practice which is developing around enterprise and entrepreneurship in the creative industries.
I am always keen to here from others working around some of these ideas and it's always good to see what others have written etc. So please go along, join, contribute your ideas and thoughts while hooking up with others from around the UK and beyond working in this field.
Charlotte
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Procrastination, distraction or creativity fuel
Sometimes when I get stuck, usually about a month before a deadline (I find I get really unstuck a week before and can write literally thousands of words a day). When that happens I find myself not doing the task in hand and filling my time (which is very easy to do) with all the other bits and bobs I kind of should do but are not exactly high priority (like say writing my blog).
Actually thinking about it it could be that these phases follow the meeting of a deadline.
As I guess most folks in the world of work have, and certainly in my line of work there seem to be, a constant stream of deadlines. For me these are conference papers, final reports and if lucky a journal article - they (the deadlines) seem to come thick and fast and sometimes it can feel a little relentless - (oh did I mention the self-inflicted personal research targets). More on this in a bit.
Anyway as you might have guessed I'm going through one of these phases right now and I have spent the last two days at an altogether relevant conference. The conference was the final showcase of projects funded through EQUAL (I am carrying out a piece of research looking at 'Soft indicators of distance travelled' on one of these projects which has been aiming to 'Challenge gender stereotypes in the workplace’). Anyway this proved to be a fascinating look into how a whole bunch of projects sort to do this. One of particular interest to me was a project that was looking at women returners (i.e. women who return to work having taken a career break following maternity leave/or extended childcare giving).
It specifically looked at women in SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) and there were some terrifying statistics. Something like (and please don't quote me) only 20% of female SET graduates return to a career in these sectors following childbirth! I know this is an issue within the creative industries also where the fast change of pace in certain sub-sectors can have a damaging effect on an individual’s confidence in their ability to perform or keep up with the changes in technology if they've had a significant break. I missed the URL so will have a look and see if I can find a link to the project in question. Again I don’t as yet have the evidence for this being entirely the case in the creative industries or know what impact there might be on a woman who is self-employed in one of these sectors. But my personal experience and my own research into this is beginning to suggest a link.
As for me was I procrastinating by going to the conference? after all I could have been sitting typing away, was I deliberately distracting myself from the task in hand or (and I like this one more) was I feeding my brain, listening, making new connections and hey fueling my own creativity?
Damn that's another 448 words that could have been in my report/chapter/paper agghh!
Actually thinking about it it could be that these phases follow the meeting of a deadline.
As I guess most folks in the world of work have, and certainly in my line of work there seem to be, a constant stream of deadlines. For me these are conference papers, final reports and if lucky a journal article - they (the deadlines) seem to come thick and fast and sometimes it can feel a little relentless - (oh did I mention the self-inflicted personal research targets). More on this in a bit.
Anyway as you might have guessed I'm going through one of these phases right now and I have spent the last two days at an altogether relevant conference. The conference was the final showcase of projects funded through EQUAL (I am carrying out a piece of research looking at 'Soft indicators of distance travelled' on one of these projects which has been aiming to 'Challenge gender stereotypes in the workplace’). Anyway this proved to be a fascinating look into how a whole bunch of projects sort to do this. One of particular interest to me was a project that was looking at women returners (i.e. women who return to work having taken a career break following maternity leave/or extended childcare giving).
It specifically looked at women in SET (Science, Engineering and Technology) and there were some terrifying statistics. Something like (and please don't quote me) only 20% of female SET graduates return to a career in these sectors following childbirth! I know this is an issue within the creative industries also where the fast change of pace in certain sub-sectors can have a damaging effect on an individual’s confidence in their ability to perform or keep up with the changes in technology if they've had a significant break. I missed the URL so will have a look and see if I can find a link to the project in question. Again I don’t as yet have the evidence for this being entirely the case in the creative industries or know what impact there might be on a woman who is self-employed in one of these sectors. But my personal experience and my own research into this is beginning to suggest a link.
As for me was I procrastinating by going to the conference? after all I could have been sitting typing away, was I deliberately distracting myself from the task in hand or (and I like this one more) was I feeding my brain, listening, making new connections and hey fueling my own creativity?
Damn that's another 448 words that could have been in my report/chapter/paper agghh!
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Reflections on online presence
I've been thinking about a bunch of stuff. Although I have been pretty busy here (universities are lovely and quiet over the summer months although full of builders instead of students) I have been reflecting a lot and also observing those around me (albeit from a virtual position i.e. their online activity and presence).
With Facebook having seemingly swept the 30 something generation (UK west midlands at least) this summer into an online frenzy of virtual activity I am reminded of some of the stuff I/We used to say.
(NB: for those who don't know in a previous life I was heavily immersed in the online and Internet industry/sector/fledgling local scene as was)
Anyway what we said was something like this: your online presence goes beyond just your website (of course a no-brainer right we all know that now) it is every email you send, every posting you make to newsgroup (those were the days)etc etc.. Of course fast forward a few years and this is your Flickr, Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, Youtube what ever other social networking, photo/music or other repository you happen to use.
What is interesting to me is how we present and manage ourselves in this heavily published environment and how do we advise our students to make absolute best use of the opportunities that these networks offer.
So here I'll briefly give a couple of examples of what I am on about (and I am sure this is something written about/studied in much more detail etc.. I am just thinking aloud/atype? but I'll get to my point in a bit).
Example one: Me
I am reasonably internet savvy have been using it for a long long time. I feel comfortable and confident with most of the stuff I come across, I feel aware of the public nature and the 'wild fire' that can sometimes be initiated when one says something kind of provocative. By the same token when I use Facebook I like to have some fun with it, be myself, be open etc.. but I also find it a fantastically good tool for meeting folks working in the same area as me. This blog has also proved a really good mechanism for making contacts with people working in my area. But I am kind of careful too (a whole bunch of my 'friends' are colleagues or potential colleagues) so I try not to get too drawn into all the other stuff on say facebook (pirates, vampires etc).
Example two: my friend (there is nothing scientific here)
A recently qualified psychologist using Facebook and just realising how little information about her self she really wants out there. Does she really want clients to know she is say single? does she really want employers to know whether or not she recovered from her hangover (thanks to concerned friends wall postings)? probably not.
What is my point here with all of this? Well once again and as ever I'm thinking about the creative industries. Last year I presented a paper about the characteristics of the creative industries. As anyone who has ever worked in this sector will I'm sure testify there is a pretty heavy duty night time element to it - private views, launches, after show parties etc etc.. The boundaries between friendship and work and social life and work are often blurred (and quite different from some other sectors) but ultimately need to be managed or at least considered (whether you know you're doing it or not) because professionalism and presentation are also a major characteristics.
I sense here that I am waffling and not reaching any sort of conclusion. I guess there are a few things here - do the creative industries lend themselves well to these types of online networks and social groups? (of course yes) How careful does one need to be about what one publishes? (and opinions one gives) and as educators how can we encourage students to make the best use of these environments (actually the better question might be what can we learn from students about managing ones online presence?) and with so much scope for things being archived (see this posting) how much of what we say now will come back to haunt us? On that note I’ll stop.
With Facebook having seemingly swept the 30 something generation (UK west midlands at least) this summer into an online frenzy of virtual activity I am reminded of some of the stuff I/We used to say.
(NB: for those who don't know in a previous life I was heavily immersed in the online and Internet industry/sector/fledgling local scene as was)
Anyway what we said was something like this: your online presence goes beyond just your website (of course a no-brainer right we all know that now) it is every email you send, every posting you make to newsgroup (those were the days)etc etc.. Of course fast forward a few years and this is your Flickr, Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, Youtube what ever other social networking, photo/music or other repository you happen to use.
What is interesting to me is how we present and manage ourselves in this heavily published environment and how do we advise our students to make absolute best use of the opportunities that these networks offer.
So here I'll briefly give a couple of examples of what I am on about (and I am sure this is something written about/studied in much more detail etc.. I am just thinking aloud/atype? but I'll get to my point in a bit).
Example one: Me
I am reasonably internet savvy have been using it for a long long time. I feel comfortable and confident with most of the stuff I come across, I feel aware of the public nature and the 'wild fire' that can sometimes be initiated when one says something kind of provocative. By the same token when I use Facebook I like to have some fun with it, be myself, be open etc.. but I also find it a fantastically good tool for meeting folks working in the same area as me. This blog has also proved a really good mechanism for making contacts with people working in my area. But I am kind of careful too (a whole bunch of my 'friends' are colleagues or potential colleagues) so I try not to get too drawn into all the other stuff on say facebook (pirates, vampires etc).
Example two: my friend (there is nothing scientific here)
A recently qualified psychologist using Facebook and just realising how little information about her self she really wants out there. Does she really want clients to know she is say single? does she really want employers to know whether or not she recovered from her hangover (thanks to concerned friends wall postings)? probably not.
What is my point here with all of this? Well once again and as ever I'm thinking about the creative industries. Last year I presented a paper about the characteristics of the creative industries. As anyone who has ever worked in this sector will I'm sure testify there is a pretty heavy duty night time element to it - private views, launches, after show parties etc etc.. The boundaries between friendship and work and social life and work are often blurred (and quite different from some other sectors) but ultimately need to be managed or at least considered (whether you know you're doing it or not) because professionalism and presentation are also a major characteristics.
I sense here that I am waffling and not reaching any sort of conclusion. I guess there are a few things here - do the creative industries lend themselves well to these types of online networks and social groups? (of course yes) How careful does one need to be about what one publishes? (and opinions one gives) and as educators how can we encourage students to make the best use of these environments (actually the better question might be what can we learn from students about managing ones online presence?) and with so much scope for things being archived (see this posting) how much of what we say now will come back to haunt us? On that note I’ll stop.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Tony Wilson
A little bit belatedly I wanted to mention Tony Wilson and how shocked I was when I heard of his death. While driving back to Birmingham from the country on Monday morning (where I had had a bit of a news fast) Jo Wiley gave a moving tribute and played some classic tracks from the 80's. I didn't know Tony Wilson but saw him speak a couple of times below is an extract from a posting I made late 2005 responding to a talk he gave in Manchester:
It was great to hear Anthony H Wilson tell the story of the Manchester music scene. As someone who did their growing up, teen age and student years through this time, I loved hearing his story and felt aware of the strangeness of part of my own experience and a time I felt I really lived through being consigned to history. Not to mention being a Londoner and the whole Manchester music thing being a rather bitter pill to swallow. I remember going to clubs in London who were trying to introduce house music and everyone desperate to have their rare groove and funky beats back on ... we just didn't get it like Manchester did.
I should also say that throughout that time I and many of my friends made regular trips to Manchester just to go to the Hacienda - so Tony thanks for the memories.
(Wednesday, October 26, 2005)
It was great to hear Anthony H Wilson tell the story of the Manchester music scene. As someone who did their growing up, teen age and student years through this time, I loved hearing his story and felt aware of the strangeness of part of my own experience and a time I felt I really lived through being consigned to history. Not to mention being a Londoner and the whole Manchester music thing being a rather bitter pill to swallow. I remember going to clubs in London who were trying to introduce house music and everyone desperate to have their rare groove and funky beats back on ... we just didn't get it like Manchester did.
I should also say that throughout that time I and many of my friends made regular trips to Manchester just to go to the Hacienda - so Tony thanks for the memories.
(Wednesday, October 26, 2005)
easy to digest
Dave Harte of Digital Central has been doing a sterling job of putting together some rather irreverent digests of the gigantic strategic type reports that come his way and although it's kind of funny he does manage to pull out some of the salient points as well as highlighting some useful documents. As some one who generates some pretty hefty reports myself I am wondering what scope there is for a 'digesting service' or perhaps that is the challenge for the author - try to do a txt message version maybe! Certainly that might increase the audience size.
It was reminding me of a service that I would like or something I would like to encourage and that is a sort of literature alert service. Wishful thinking on behalf of the researcher I know. But trying to stay on top of all that is published both academic and other is a permanent job. So here is a request readers these are my key words phrases:
- Gender and entrepreneurship in the creative industries
- Widening participation in the creative industries
- Entrepreneurship in the creative industries
- Enterprise and entrepreneurship curriculum for creative industries
If you come across anything that you feel relates to these topics then please let me know - send me the link or title or synopsis - I'd like to think I was kind of on top of things having just completed a literature review for a paper to be delivered at this years ISBE - but low and behold within a week of submitting I come across more!! Now not everything is relevant I need to be selective but some key works just can't be missed out.
It was reminding me of a service that I would like or something I would like to encourage and that is a sort of literature alert service. Wishful thinking on behalf of the researcher I know. But trying to stay on top of all that is published both academic and other is a permanent job. So here is a request readers these are my key words phrases:
- Gender and entrepreneurship in the creative industries
- Widening participation in the creative industries
- Entrepreneurship in the creative industries
- Enterprise and entrepreneurship curriculum for creative industries
If you come across anything that you feel relates to these topics then please let me know - send me the link or title or synopsis - I'd like to think I was kind of on top of things having just completed a literature review for a paper to be delivered at this years ISBE - but low and behold within a week of submitting I come across more!! Now not everything is relevant I need to be selective but some key works just can't be missed out.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Me me me
I have a new blog - not sure if another one is really necessary but feel like I need to go off topic and this new one is for more general ranting and not so related to work or my research.
Feel free to take a look
Charlotte
Feel free to take a look
Charlotte
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Birmingham power 50?
The Birmingham Posts Top 50 most powerful people list was published today, I've had a quick look through and some interesting statistics:
45 of Birmingham's top 50 are male
4 are female
Encouragingly 14 of the list are involved in the Creative Industries from the following sectors/roles (by my reckoning).
- Arts council Chair and Arts centre Director * - Marketing - Dance - Music - Software designer - Architect - Music maker - Publishing - Radio presenter - TV maker - Artist - Curator Gallery Director - Music administrator * - Journalism
(*2 of the 4 women listed are involved in the Creative Industries (neither are on the list as practitioners)
I do not wish to belittle any of the contributions those on the list have made to the city, region and beyond, but the list as it stands begs some quite obvious questions namely: where are the women on the list? Does this mean there are only 4 influential women in Birmingham? this is not my experience? where are the creative women in Birmingham, why aren't they listed here? and finally what can one do to redress the balance, to highlight and similarly celebrate their contribution?
It would be good to have a look at the criteria and try to develop an alternative listing and I do not mean a women only list. Any suggestions for whom should be considered?
45 of Birmingham's top 50 are male
4 are female
Encouragingly 14 of the list are involved in the Creative Industries from the following sectors/roles (by my reckoning).
- Arts council Chair and Arts centre Director * - Marketing - Dance - Music - Software designer - Architect - Music maker - Publishing - Radio presenter - TV maker - Artist - Curator Gallery Director - Music administrator * - Journalism
(*2 of the 4 women listed are involved in the Creative Industries (neither are on the list as practitioners)
I do not wish to belittle any of the contributions those on the list have made to the city, region and beyond, but the list as it stands begs some quite obvious questions namely: where are the women on the list? Does this mean there are only 4 influential women in Birmingham? this is not my experience? where are the creative women in Birmingham, why aren't they listed here? and finally what can one do to redress the balance, to highlight and similarly celebrate their contribution?
It would be good to have a look at the criteria and try to develop an alternative listing and I do not mean a women only list. Any suggestions for whom should be considered?
Friday, July 06, 2007
Busy busy busy
What a week? I have done a whirl wind tour of the Midlands (exciting honest).
First my week started with a bunch of interviews with students on our school of art and designs MA in Media Enterprise - it is fascinating seeing how these students are responding to the curricula, their own perceptions of enterprise and how enterprising they feel they are. More on this later an interim report is due (from me) sometime over the Summer. So will try to make something available online.
Tuesday saw me over at Staffs university for the TE3 open day - TE3 being the Technology Enhanced Enterprise Education project which held I believe their third 'open day' and this time supported by UKSEC. Here I was presenting the findings of the evaluation which I have been carrying out recently - it was a pretty intimidating experience Staffs have a state of the art fully functional TV studio so the 80+ audience (of quite serious and senior looking academics) sat behind the much scarier cameras and the whole thing was filmed and web streamed. Anyway having said that it was a great opportunity to see what some of the partners have produced in terms of pod-casts and electronic portfolios and I didn't get camera shy after all.
For me one of the interesting aspects of this project has been the lessons learnt from the efforts to develop teaching materials across disciplines i.e. teaching enterprise outside of a business school. These have been lessons from sports management to the creative industries and it's interesting to see how issues vary across these different disciplines and how each benefit from their own 'flavour' of enterprise ed. Kelly Smith and I will be presenting a paper on this at this years ISBE conference - more on that another time.
The week continued a pace with various trips around a day in beautiful Warwickshire countryside - being trained at Wroxall manor I am amongst other things and 'innovation mentor' and will shortly be providing service design consultancy on behalf of my institution. Thursday some different training at Harbourne Hall (which has the most ornate Victorian interior) here I am learning how to be a teacher - strange really I did 4 or 5 years of lecturing prior to my current role with no training now I do very little lecturing but at least have a better idea how to .
Finally today more interviews for the MA.
First my week started with a bunch of interviews with students on our school of art and designs MA in Media Enterprise - it is fascinating seeing how these students are responding to the curricula, their own perceptions of enterprise and how enterprising they feel they are. More on this later an interim report is due (from me) sometime over the Summer. So will try to make something available online.
Tuesday saw me over at Staffs university for the TE3 open day - TE3 being the Technology Enhanced Enterprise Education project which held I believe their third 'open day' and this time supported by UKSEC. Here I was presenting the findings of the evaluation which I have been carrying out recently - it was a pretty intimidating experience Staffs have a state of the art fully functional TV studio so the 80+ audience (of quite serious and senior looking academics) sat behind the much scarier cameras and the whole thing was filmed and web streamed. Anyway having said that it was a great opportunity to see what some of the partners have produced in terms of pod-casts and electronic portfolios and I didn't get camera shy after all.
For me one of the interesting aspects of this project has been the lessons learnt from the efforts to develop teaching materials across disciplines i.e. teaching enterprise outside of a business school. These have been lessons from sports management to the creative industries and it's interesting to see how issues vary across these different disciplines and how each benefit from their own 'flavour' of enterprise ed. Kelly Smith and I will be presenting a paper on this at this years ISBE conference - more on that another time.
The week continued a pace with various trips around a day in beautiful Warwickshire countryside - being trained at Wroxall manor I am amongst other things and 'innovation mentor' and will shortly be providing service design consultancy on behalf of my institution. Thursday some different training at Harbourne Hall (which has the most ornate Victorian interior) here I am learning how to be a teacher - strange really I did 4 or 5 years of lecturing prior to my current role with no training now I do very little lecturing but at least have a better idea how to .
Finally today more interviews for the MA.
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