Task 1b required me to read the Course Reader on Professional Communication Technologies. It was designed to stimulate ideas and whet my appetite for further work. I found it gave me a lot of information and a clearer picture as to what web 2.0 is all about. I feel that this has allowed me to look deeper into my thoughts on web 2.0. I can now confidently start to form an opinion on its place in professional practice and how and if I should use it to develop my own career.
I agree that over recent years society has chosen to change, adapt and alter the way in which we communicate. I wanted to consider all the pros and cons of this new age of social interaction and question whether I personally had used this new technique to its full potential where my own career is concerned.
My 1st thoughts are on Facebook. As like 400 million other active users, I regularly log on and engage in seemingly harmless web 2.0 social interaction with family and friends. Although I rarely consciously use this form of communication for networking, it suddenly dawned on me that by being a member of such groups as Debbie O'Brien Auditions and Dance Cast I was openly giving personal and private information to potential employers. Innocent pictures, messages and status updates could quite easily be misinterpreted and influence the opinion of a complete stranger. Already I had discovered that if you do not understand and respect the power of web 2.0 you could quite easily and unknowingly destroy your own career just by joining the rest of the world in social interaction online.
With this new found knowledge and understanding the reader had given me, I next wanted to explore how I could change the way I used Web 2.0 to help elevate my business and connect with more potential clients. Although I now realise it has a damaging aspect that I should always keep in the forefront of my mind when delving further.
At present I am mainly using Web 1.0 to promote myself and Manic Stage Productions. My thoughts on this are that I still believe this is an appropriate and effective way of giving the client all the relevant and correct information in a professional, clear manner.
To move forward and join both web 1.0 and 2.0 together I am exploring how to use forms of web 2.0 within my website to give the reader a deeper insight into what they can gain from Manic Stage Productions and myself. I am considering adding links to You tube and Flicker to showcase my work as a choreographer and teacher. Clients have always relied on visuals to form opinions on skill and creativity. Web 2.0 seems the perfect way to swiftly get this information to them right there and then, rather than sending a DVD of your work through the post. On the surface this suddenly seems like the perfect networking tool, but once again if you delve deeper you begin to realise along side every pro are 10 cons. The main aspect being, on these popular sites the reader is able to become the writer giving them free reign to comment and critique your work. Worryingly, once again you are possibly letting potential employers become influenced by strangers who can post comments freely on these sites.
Web 2.0 certainly has its advantages in allowing strangers to come together as equals to generate ideas and opinions. We would hope that most interaction was positive and constructive, but we can never be too sure as to whom and what comments will be made. It is a risk you as a web 2.0 user have to take and I’m sure for the most part Professional Communication Technologies are a success and a great alternative to conventional methods of networking.
In conclusion I understand that the reader cannot interact publicly through a web 1.0 website and for this reason alone, I at present am swaying towards web 1.0 being my preferred method of professional communication. I am excited to review this module over the coming year to see if my opinion changes once I have more experience within web 2.0
You say 'I next wanted to explore how I could change the way I used Web 2.0 to help elevate my business and connect with more potential clients'
ReplyDeleteMy initial thoughts are on exploring how others do this? How do well-established practitioners do it? Or do they not need to? How are people in your position use WEb2.0? Could we do worse than look at the best examples of practitioner on BAPP?
Also, I agree to some extent with your conclusions. Do we really know enough about Web2.0? Can we trust it, or other people's use of it? The counter argument is that its a technology like any other ... and the question for me is precisely, 'how can you use it to your best advantage?
Many thanks Alan,
ReplyDeleteYour points are very thought provoking and have left me with many more questions and arguments to consider. Should i now go on to write a follow up?
Even though I concluded I preferred Web 1.0 i have actively started looking into and using the many forms of Web2.0 to elevate my business as I certainly don't want to get left behind when it would seem the rest of the world has embraced this new technology!
it is an interesting debate you opened up here. The dichotomous relationship between the 'versions' of the web impacts on the our perceptions of how best to use the web for our professional practice.
ReplyDeleteWhat challenges me is the notion of 'if a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear?' One of the disadvantages for me of using the web as a digital billboard rather than as an interaction tool is that we as users find it difficult to feed back to you as the producer. Is there a way you would be able to replicate that ability in a static web environment? I am interested in your thoughts