“Money was not cited as a key attraction of new media.” (Gill 2007, pg 5)
Definition of a perfect job: doing what you love, good working conditions and the ability to set your own hours while (possibly) receiving relatively high paychecks. We all dream of that, don’t we?
Well you don’t have to dream much longer because ‘perfect jobs’ do exist – thanks to New Media. Just like the shift from hard physical labour to machines during the Industrial Revolution, society is evolving in the same fashion through this medium. It has opened up opportunities to easily choose when/how to work and who to work with. Some tools that are used by ‘flexi-workers’ (Castells 1999, pg 401) include Screen sharers, Skype, DropBox, Windows Live Messenger, etc.
However, there are downsides to freelancing which should be noted. A few of these include: unreliable flows of income, working unusual hours, hassle of looking for projects, and constantly shifting employers (Gill 2007, pg 5-6).
Still deciding on whether to join the Freelance revolution? Want more info? Get more from my fellow bloggers:
The Network Society – Because of New Media enabling us to seamlessly connect with each other, Lee discusses the concept of “timeless time.”
Working in a New Media World – Explains how our society needs New Media to enhance the way work is done.
References:
Castells, M. (1999). ‘An Introduction to the Information Age’ in The Media Reader: Continuity & Transformation. Hugh Mackay & Tim O’Sullivan (eds), London: Sage: 401.
Gill, R. (2007). Informality is the New Black. In Technobohemians or the new Cybertariat? New Media work in Amsterdam a decade after the web. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures: 24-30 & 38-43.
Lee, F. (2011). The Network Society << Faithchantal’s Blog. Accessed April 17, 2011. http://faithchantal.wordpress.com/2011/04/17/the-network-society/
New Media: Internet, Self and Beyond (2011). Working in a New Media World. Accessed April 17, 2011. http://amccann2011.tumblr.com/
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[...] Martin (2011), states in her blog that “‘perfect jobs’ do exist – thanks to New Media.” [...]
[...] addition to issues of ownership, portability, and work-life balance (Gill 2007). Bloggers such as Martin (2011) note however, that the flexibility afforded to those working in new media, for example, by having [...]
[...] Martin (2011) states in her blog that “’perfect jobs’ do exist – thanks to New Media.” However, for many people the increasingly pervasive nature of media presents difficulty to balance work and life, and constant change prompts them to feel unstable knowing that “the skills and qualities that were valuable yesterday might not be valuable tomorrow” (Gill, 2007, p 40). [...]