The ‘desktop’ in computer lingo refers to two separate ideas: the fact that a desktop computer isn’t portable (it sits on your desktop) and visual metaphor of the interface (the opening screen with your files sitting on it is your metaphorical desktop.)
The laptop computer doesn’t have the same relationship – sure, you can use it on your lap – but it still uses the desktop metaphor for the computer interface. You can’t lay out all your real-life files on your lap as you can on your desk.
In this respect, I think the move away from multitasking on the iPad represents a genuine ‘laptop’ computer. Singular focus, relaxed usage, in line with how you would actually work when you’re on the couch.
Craig Thomler has a great analysis of a social media job up at the moment, unpacking the somewhat ridiculous requirements of this particular position:
a strong understanding of how the web and social media operate, the ability to contextualise that within the Government’s needs and find creative solutions; and have the technical skills to transform those solutions into product within tight deadlines!You will need excellent communication skills, and experience in website design and development and in project and database management. You will be proficient in using a range of web design applications including Adobe Photoshop, have a sound knowledge of HTML, and a strong understanding of web publishing principles and techniques.? Knowledge of relevant web standards and guidelines and community engagement practices are essential! Experience in multimedia authoring and video production would be a strong advantage.
While he does have some valid critiques, it’s not impossible to find people to fill these roles. I’ve had positions like this over the last couple of years, and they’re not always bad, if the person in the position isn’t expected to do everything. Without getting into the everlasting debate around whether social media experts exist, it’s possible to have substantial experience in social media research, analytics and execution, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that in an online media position.
However there are a couple of major issues that I’ve been finding working on these kinds of roles. The first is that when you have such a broad range of experience / skills, you end up being the go-to person for technical support. I had this problem working at university, where I was known as someone who could edit video, fix a CMS, get a printer working, etc. I ended up coming into my office at 4pm and working till 2am just to get my own research done.
The second is managing expectations. Editing video and multimedia takes a long time, and doing it well takes even longer. When you couple that with the million-and-one things you have to do daily to keep the CMS up to date, maintain running social media conversations, monitor for feedback, run SERPS and so on, you end up pushing the longer, focussed tasks to the back of the queue. Time management becomes a huge pain, because you often can’t block out time for focus – and this impacts both your state of mind (constant split focus) and your professional development. There’s no time to learn how to do anything particularly well, because you don’t have the time to allocate to deliberative practice. You might get better at multitasking and responding quickly, but professional development ends up happening when you do it on your own time.
That feeds into the other major issue with these roles – you end up getting spread sideways instead of moving upwards. There’s no established career trajectory for this kind of role, and you often simply end up getting weighed down with more and more duties. It’s no coincidence that these roles are almost always 6-12 month contracts.
So the video editing continues apace. The story is still coming together – though the structure kind of makes sense now. I’m trying to convey the clash of frameworks that the COP15 represented – self regulation vs UN, green capitalism vs anti-capitalism, insider dealing vs direct action protest. I keep coming back to an interview with a Burmese activist who wanted to know how we could come up with a fair agreement when his representatives were his oppressors. And I can’t help but think that he’s right, but the alternative is to… do what?
Sydney Park at sunset. IPhone and camerabag, cross colour filter, double processed.
I’m hiding out in the edit suite, working on a documentary for EngageMedia about the COP15 process. Hopefully it’ll be screening next month as part of the Time For Reel Action compilation (which is the other thing I’ve been spending most of my time on!)
It’s not an easy process – I’ve got about 2 weeks worth of footage, to start with – but honing in on the story I want to tell is difficult. I’m still undecided as to whether I think the failure was inevitable.
I’ve never been a huge fan of summit-hopping, and I’m pretty dubious of the Cokenhagen approach as well, but I’m just sure of where I stand. Still, working on the documentary is helping me clarify some of it….
