Thursday 23 February 2017

Continuation of 1b - Exploring Ethical Considerations

Today and yesterday I was working at The Business Travel Show, Olympia Kensington. As I was hostessing - it was a pleasure to be able to sit in and hear the talks / conferences going on throughout the day.
The Skype on 21.02.17 with Paula and the other BAPP students discussing Professional Communication Technologies was still fresh in my mind - therefore a lot of what the group discussed last night I found I was relating to the Business Travel Talk subjects.
In particular - ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS overlapped. In my previous blog, I mentioned for Task 1b I wanted to develop more ideas and opinions on ethical issues in regards to Web 2.0. We touched on the topic of how accessibility to a computer is just expected nowadays. Train tickets, boarding passes, banking and even oyster are all done online / via mobile apps.
One talk was called "If The App Fits" - discussing businesses using apps to develop. They discussed this problem in a slightly different light - that if all businesses are forced to do everything via mobile apps - some will not benefit as much due to the specific needs / nature of their businesses. They touched on the ethical consideration of "When do we switch off?" If everything is done via a mobile app - then how can one make that decision to "pack in a day at the office" in the evening - if the office is, in fact, in their pocket? How do we separate work from rest? At what time do we decide are our "after work hours"? More and more the typical 9am-5pm (or, in an actor's world, 5am-9pm...) previously conceived as 'normal' working hours are transforming into 24/7. How often have we retired for the night to do some recreational reading or something for our own well-being - and we hear an email ping... And how often do we give in and check this email? Regardless of whether we are in the business world or professional performing world - that tantalising email tone taunts us to stop what we are doing for ourselves and defy "out of work" hours. We are constantly in work. Personally, as an employee of many promotional companies, I fear of missing out on a good shift which would possibly be the make or break to afford my rent that month. On top of that, on the professional side, I submit to checking my emails after 5pm in case there is anything urgently career, agent or professional job related which otherwise I might miss. An entire evening of being ignorant about a self tape due in two days time because of lack of email check could make all the difference timing wise to the quality of the tape. Fitting filming around work is tight enough on time without missing out on an entire evening when I could've gotten the script down. The solution: be a slave to your devices. Succumb to message alerts. For your sheer survival in the professional and work world - you need to do this.
This is a major issue I know I face, and I hope I am not a lone soldier with crazy FOMO* habits in this regard.
A guest at this talk made an interesting comment that France (and other EU countries) are in talks about putting in place a new scheme in order to reduce usage of devices "after-hours" in regards to work. This was something that sparked my interest and I want to research more about...

I believe in making the most of every situation / opportunity we find ourselves in. I relate a lot of scenarios to my studies - but more importantly - to my professional practice and my life.
Another communication technology issue which arose in one of the talks was: Using one device for all work e.g. Phone. For me, I know this is impossible. I do not have the money for an iPod or the latest iPhone so instead I have a mismatch of Apple, Google Chrome and HP devices. These guys are not always pals (i.e. compatible) when it comes to transferring data. However, I have a roundabout system that works and I get by. To have one device wouldn't work for me - as there are some tasks which require me to use my laptop i.e. footage editing.
Some of the guests at the talk voiced their protests to transferring all of their work and tasks to one device - many had different reasons but it all boiled down to the same thing - as much as things look as if they are going this way - there will be many technological problems if everybody is pressured to use just one device.
A practical issue is the size of the iPhone's small screen which would render some practical tasks difficult. From my experience, Kortex isn't compatible with my tablet device therefore I use my laptop to read Reflective Practice. If I was forced to use one device - it would sacrifice my chance to develop intellectually / professionally.
The Protect Traveller's Data talk discussed a mirrored topic which we began to explore during our Skype session - when websites seemingly 'know' your interests. Useful or scary? This was a subject I literally touched on whilst beginning to analyse Reader 1. Since that brief acknowledgement of this ethical consideration - it has cropped up in discussions twice. There must be a reason and I'm guessing it is due to an increasing concern about this topic. There is an ongoing debate as to whether this computer intelligence is useful & clever or scary? When websites know our interests - I can confirm from both the business industry & the performing industry - many people find this unnerving.
Whilst observing talks at The Business Travel Show - it summed up for me that our industries are linked by professional communication technologies. Although our objectives may be different; our actions and processes are the same. They were having similar discussions even though they are a different industry to ours'. It brought to light that my professional practice is my business and it was through this mentality that I began to make the talks relevant to me.
In particular, the "If The App Fits" talk sparked an insight into my usage of professional communication technologies for my practice.
I use the app: 1Tap (Receipts) app. It helps the self-employed keep track of their receipts and expenses by taking and storing photographic evidence. It also sorts out and estimates our HMRC tax, and tax return. You can organise the expenses into sections so you can see clearly which expenses' sector the majority of your money is going on. As a poverty-stricken actor who doesn't have the luxury of an accountant - this (FREE!!) app is a great sidekick to help me begin to get my head around the confusing maze that is the 'tax return' and 'self-assessment'.
*FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out





4 comments:

  1. Sounds like an interesting show. Do you not think it is strange how things seem to become more apparent or relatable after you look at them? do you think this a conscious decision or coincidence? would you have noticed them before or related them to yourself had you not been studying about them..

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    1. I think maybe more so than being a conscious decision - it may be that my studies are at the forefront of my mind at the minute so therefore I am more aware of similarities when hearing about other subjects. I think it is an excellent point to say I probably would not have related them to myself had I not been studying about it! This is pretty interesting because it just goes to show we are now more aware of our surroundings and bringing our studies into our everyday lives is the beginnings of reflective practice.

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  2. I put the link up on the M1 site for this - ethics and aps - yes good consideration of the relationships communication has to your work - I was just looking at wiper - which is being used by those in usa to 'leak' information - it does not keep - so silent political insurrection through an ap - shades of Arab spring - maybe we need to take these issues seriously ?

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    1. I will definitely look further into this via the link on the M1 site. I think as a whole we are too lax and don't expect the worst - when maybe we should be more cautious

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