"For the message of any medium or technology is the change in scale or pace or pattern that it intrudes into human affairs." (McLuhan 8)
We as individual human beings are being shaped by the proliferation of digital technologies into our everyday lifestyles. The internet is the 21st century phenomenon that has changed the globe forever, but terms and conditions apply. It is now a network that the developed world is completely at mercy to. The media technologies spawned by the world wide web imbed society with an all encompassing reliance on computation. At any given time we will be staring at a screen or listening to an iPod, using GPS or even just holding our iPhone; - the device that combines all the above functions in an intuitive and responsive little pocket tool, almost permanently on our persons. And with this handy instrument on us at all times we are obligated to communication, entertainment and information. We are objectified into being 'users' not people. The user is immersed with choice and coerced into interaction. Our digital revolution runs our daily routines and when we rely so heavily on convenient media technologies we are no longer free agents . We have become hypermediated human beings, where these technical extensions of our physical selves, are as vital as a limb or organ.
Digital media will continue to shape us, independently and as a society, as it increasingly acts as a conduit to experience, invading our real space and time. How many of us have wasted hours idly surfing the internet, or aimlessly flicking through endless TV channels? We are bound to choice. But even with the multitude of options open to us in cyberspace we are still being herded in pre-ordained directions dictated by omniscient authors.
"We are asked to follow pre-programmed, objectively existing associations." (Manovich 61)
By following hyper-links on Wikipedia for example we are following someone else’s pre-meditated path through the information, jumping from one piece of subject matter to another. But all too often the user mistakes these connections as their own and so we continually follow externalised thought processes, gradually narrowing our own natural associations. Similarly, social networks such as MySpace and Facebook externalise relationships so that we don't have to, and this decentralisation has fragmented society into everyone's new portable plaything. The Blackberry smartphone means that no boss ever has to leave the office. Microblogging services such as Twitter means a project manager can text his entire team in one foul swoop. Escape is futile. As we move from an industrial civilisation into an information civilisation, we're online and locked in.
Monday, 20 April 2009
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Tweet Your Way Out of Unemployment?
It’s still making the headlines and we can’t help but add fuel to the 140 character fire.
When Twitter bought the search engine Summize back in July last year the Twitterverse was made infinitely more usable for everyone, but it still didn’t solve Twitters business model issue - the fact that they don’t have one.
Last week, this problem may have been solved when Workdigital piloted their Twitter JobSearch, a recruitment search engine that hunts for vacancies and job opportunities mentioned on the micro-blogging site, at Texas’s South by South West Interactive festival.
Of course this isn’t particularly new, recruitment sites such as Check4Jobs, RecruitmentBlogs.com and UKRecruiter, have been Tweeting for months now and the current trend is a direct product of the foreboding recession clouds that loom over us. Fortunately Workdigital’s search service successfully organises and contextualises the vast amount of vocation information that’s posted everyday.
And this can not only help the unemployed Tweeters, but Twitter itself - with its serious lack of revenue. Now it can easily implement ad-supported search engine results pages giving Twitter the money making prospects it’s been looking for, without charging its users for the service or forcing advertising onto peoples profile pages.
So, is Workdigital’s JobSearch set to save Twitter and all of us from the global economic meltdown?
When Twitter bought the search engine Summize back in July last year the Twitterverse was made infinitely more usable for everyone, but it still didn’t solve Twitters business model issue - the fact that they don’t have one.
Last week, this problem may have been solved when Workdigital piloted their Twitter JobSearch, a recruitment search engine that hunts for vacancies and job opportunities mentioned on the micro-blogging site, at Texas’s South by South West Interactive festival.
Of course this isn’t particularly new, recruitment sites such as Check4Jobs, RecruitmentBlogs.com and UKRecruiter, have been Tweeting for months now and the current trend is a direct product of the foreboding recession clouds that loom over us. Fortunately Workdigital’s search service successfully organises and contextualises the vast amount of vocation information that’s posted everyday.
And this can not only help the unemployed Tweeters, but Twitter itself - with its serious lack of revenue. Now it can easily implement ad-supported search engine results pages giving Twitter the money making prospects it’s been looking for, without charging its users for the service or forcing advertising onto peoples profile pages.
So, is Workdigital’s JobSearch set to save Twitter and all of us from the global economic meltdown?
Thursday, 19 March 2009
The Recruitment Conundrum During Recession.
As media fear mongers would have us believe 2009 is going to be a financially harsher year than 2008, and unfortunately this is probably true, but don’t let the terror tactics intimidate you out of trying for that dream job, as there are still some exciting industries set to be hiring.
One of the few sectors that will continue to expand this year is ecommerce. As the economic meltdown leaves many retailers in administration or liquidation, businesses and customers are going online. Not only is the physical highstreet too depressing to tackle but shopping over the internet often offers excellent discounts as well as convenience. And it would seem that the retail magnates are following suit, as Woolworths has been recently bought out by Shop Direct and will soon be relaunched as an online-only store.
And so companies are focussing their finances on digital marketing, specifically social media marketing and search engine optimisation. It is predicted that search marketing will grow by 14.4% to a hefty £68.4 billion this year. Search marketing and search engine optimisation are good areas on which to hedge your bets for employment because they are fairly cheap to implement yet integral to improving a company’s online revenue. In addition SEO is highly measurable which appropriates it into annual budgets especially at a time when advertisers need safe and effective methods to oppose the “play-it-safe” attitude of many companies during our recession.
Consumers are likely to do a lot of their shopping online in 2009 in order to avoid the empty shelves and floor spaces. Companies recognise this trend and are encouraging it with online only deals for large virtual shopping baskets as well as free delivery service and other discounts.
It is undeniable that the recession has negatively affected all commerce but with some research and insight it is evident that there are still job opportunities in the virtual world. The majority of, if not all, individuals and institutions in the developed world rely heavily on computing and the internet to run their business and therefore this is one trade that must continue to expand, albeit slowly.
One of the few sectors that will continue to expand this year is ecommerce. As the economic meltdown leaves many retailers in administration or liquidation, businesses and customers are going online. Not only is the physical highstreet too depressing to tackle but shopping over the internet often offers excellent discounts as well as convenience. And it would seem that the retail magnates are following suit, as Woolworths has been recently bought out by Shop Direct and will soon be relaunched as an online-only store.
And so companies are focussing their finances on digital marketing, specifically social media marketing and search engine optimisation. It is predicted that search marketing will grow by 14.4% to a hefty £68.4 billion this year. Search marketing and search engine optimisation are good areas on which to hedge your bets for employment because they are fairly cheap to implement yet integral to improving a company’s online revenue. In addition SEO is highly measurable which appropriates it into annual budgets especially at a time when advertisers need safe and effective methods to oppose the “play-it-safe” attitude of many companies during our recession.
Consumers are likely to do a lot of their shopping online in 2009 in order to avoid the empty shelves and floor spaces. Companies recognise this trend and are encouraging it with online only deals for large virtual shopping baskets as well as free delivery service and other discounts.
It is undeniable that the recession has negatively affected all commerce but with some research and insight it is evident that there are still job opportunities in the virtual world. The majority of, if not all, individuals and institutions in the developed world rely heavily on computing and the internet to run their business and therefore this is one trade that must continue to expand, albeit slowly.
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