The Angry Generation.....

Well, I’m back! After finishing panto on the 9^th of January I suffered a rather bad case of the flu and conjunctivitis! So I’ve only really just got over that after getting out of bed on Friday....

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and New Year! And hope you are looking forward to getting back to blogging and whatever is in store for us in Module 2 over the next couple of months of 2011!

Right, so where to begin............ the 17th of January is officially the most gloomy day of the year so I think this allows me to have a moan and get my "gloom" off my chest ?!

I found a very interesting article in Cosmopolitan this month and I thought I’d share it with you as we are all in the creative industry somehow and a lot of us in the performance business. So, here goes.... I’d appreciate to hear what you think of this.

The article is called ‘The Angry Generation’ and talks about the frustration of student debts, careers going on hold and how some just can’t seem to get jobs in the career of their choice or with their qualifications.

Not a cheery article to read on the most depressing day of the year I know?

A lot of my friends (in the industry) have taken jobs in offices, shops, supermarkets etc. just to pay rent, bills and basic living things but really they dream and search for a job of their chosen profession and like me discover there are lots of disappointments and constant rejection!

Due to the mad recession last year unemployment and redundancy have become most people’s hard reality and it always seems to hit the younger end of the scale more, particularly those in the age ranging between 19-24 – ie: graduate ages/students! The struggle to find work in your chosen industry and profession is getting harder and harder and in a recent survey taken figures showed that almost a quarter of unemployed under-24’s have given up searching for work altogether due to the lack of jobs and opportunities. Many are working in jobs that they hate and that can be as damaging to self esteem as having no job at all.

A lot of people have said that they feel that they’re not secure in the job they're currently working in and are scared of redundancy cuts – now in the entertainment industry this is constantly the case as we go from one job to the next and don’t know what will happen within the next few months. Our lives have to always be on standby to drop everything to jet off somewhere or disappear and with the current climate of government cuts to the arts, theatre’s are threatened with closure. Me included here – I’m on 2 cruise ship books and on Disney’s too and I have to be prepared to fly out somewhere in the world within 3 weeks but waiting around for that email is like waiting to be shot. But also we know that the job we’re working in won’t be around for that long, maybe the longest 12 months and it’s really scary when things are coming to an end and you have no idea what will happen next!

It says in the article that a quarter of people can’t even get their first foot on the career ladder of their choice!! I consider myself lucky as I was offered a job in pantomime over Christmas and it got me a lot of valuable experience and contacts and some good networking connections but some of my friends from college have not been so lucky and are working dead end jobs in places like Costa or Starbucks while still turning up and queuing for hours at auditions awaiting their number to be called. It really is quite scary and I think rather sad! I mean what happens if we never get there? What happens if that is it for me and I get no other work? How low does that make us feel?

It was interesting to read that a lot of students who have paid out lots of money and have a University degree are struggling to pay off debts and have taken any job possible just to try and pay back some of the outstanding debt! Isn’t that bad?

I turned up to an audition on Monday – it was for singer/dancer’s for a cruise company and we had to sing first so naturally the majority of auditionees were singers. [I tend to reagrd myself as a dancer/singer]. It was performed like a workshop so everyone got to listen and watch everyone else which is really quite daunting to the added pressure of an audition but also very interesting to see how others audition and so a very good learning process. You can guage the competition up close and personal.  So there I sat listening, waiting, finally performing myself and observing lots of interesting stuff  – what songs are the most popular and how others present themselves in an audition situation!

One girl got up to sing, having arrived late, and told the panel that she didn’t have a Musical Theatre song (this was a listed requirement in the advert) so she only had 2 pop songs to perform instead. She sang both songs looking at the floor and bobbed up and down unmusically,  no personality, no performance, she looked like she'd just got out of bed and turned up - Ugg Boots for a dance audition?. I could hear echoes of my Bird tutors lecturing me and my peers about audition technique and presentation!!

 Afterwards the casting director asked her why there was no CV with her application form (another requirement from the advert), she replied ‘I didn’t know I had to bring one but I did a 2 year course at college and got a ‘thingy’, you know one of those ‘thingy's’ (I think she meant a BTEC certificate) and I’m in a band’. I 'm thinking, "No  chance!"

Of course,you can guess what I'm going to say - she got recalled. 

So to my 3 years of hard work, dedication and training at a vocational college to get a professional qualification, which despite having a DADA for my tuition fees has cost my parents a hell of a lot of money to support me in living expenses for 3 years in London – was it really worth it?

My training taught me to prepare for an audition and to treat it as a job application and interview and to make sure I did my research beforehand - what is required etc and present myself professionally. When you witness first hand a mockery of all that it really makes you wonder why you actually bother!?

As the article discusses it seems many employer’s these days don’t ‘reward the efforts and talents of many’. Why set audition requirements and then reward the ones who ignore them? This may sound a little bit of sour grapes as I didn't get the job but if I could have honestly sat there and thought well she is  a marvellous singer and they would take her whatever on such an amazing voice then I could accept the injustice of it but she was no better than anyone else, in fact worse than many, who could be bothered to follow the requirements asked for, had the relevant training and could be bothered to turn up on time.

This wouldn't happen in a job outside this industry - you would be sifted out and not even get an interview. Even a basic requirement such as not following the instructions to fill a form in in black ink is rejected - fill it in in blue your application doesn't even get read no matter what qualifications or attributes, experience you have to bring to the job  - it is sifted out because the applicant did not take the time and care to read the form correctly. So why should this not apply in our industry? I think the same principle applies - if you cannot be bothered to follow the requirements then what does that say about you as a person? 

Almost two-thirds of graduates are stuck in a job that doesn’t interest them just for the sake of a regular pay cheque and 60% are unable to save any money which brings me onto another subject..............most people I know who live in London who are in the performance industry struggle to live in the capital due to a lack of money, but don’t we need to be in the capital to make ourselves available for auditions and castings? Not many companies and certainly not any directors casting for musicals/shows audition outside of London which means we either get into debt to live in close proximity to London or  get up at 4am and spend a small fortune on travelling or miss out! What about us Northerners? Or those who live even further down South or in Scotland, Wales etc?

I know I certainly can’t afford to live in London and pay my own rent – that means asking my parents to support me when they have just supported me through three years of college. Some parents cannot afford to pay so some are having to support themselves on benefits or very low income which is why most graduates move back in with their parents after graduation – such as me! I'm sure auditions could be held regularly in Manchester or Leeds as well as London ! At one audition last week I was chatting to some guys from Scotland who had travelled through the night to get to London on time for a 9am audition!!

I thought I would bring this to my fellow ‘BAPPers’ attentions and to ask what do you make of this? And what are your feelings?
I suppose if you have a good job onboard a cruise ship it won’t affect you at this moment but maybe in a few months time... you’ll be back to square one?! Or perhaps you may want to try to change direction, like going into the West End or on a tour but can’t afford to take the risk ? Or are unsuccessful in auditions to move away from a cruise ship?

Discussing this article with my mum she’d listened to an interview with Dame Judi Dench on the radio who discussed this very same issue, she said she felt sorry for young actors and actresses entering into the business with cuts to the arts because in her day there was rep theatre to learn your trade and make your mistakes and get valuable experience and now there is nowhere to do that – everyone wants a famous or well known person in their show just to put bums on seats and get an instant success to get a return on their investment !!! How can someone starting out even get an agent if even agents don’t want to know and don’t deliver opportunities because you’re 'unknown'?

She also said many in the industry are grossly underpaid and have to travel often 2-3 hours to work either end of their working day to be able to live as they can’t afford to live in London. All the theatre bar staff and box office staff at the Leicester Square Theatre where I was doing panto were ‘resting’ actors and actresses waiting for their next job trying to survive on very low wages until the next opportunity came their way.

In my latest Equity magazine an article showed a pie chart of earnings in the industry and 11% of people in the industry are working for no pay and another 19% work for national minimum wage which is the lowest you can be paid for any work. That's 30% of people working in the business! Quite depressing facts, I thought?

A dance agent friend of mine told me that it is the ones who stay determined and who keep going, working hard and persevering who finally get there but so many talented people give up.

I remember watching ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ series one and the eventual winner (Charlie) had trained for 3 years at Laine but had worked in a shoe shop for 12 months since graduation she said she was always over-looked at auditions and just couldn’t get work no matter how hard she tried. Obviously now she will always work ,she’s working on the West End in Dirty Dancing,  but if it wasn’t for a reality TV show maybe she would still be working in a shoe shop....?

I think it’s official this industry is one of the most stressful and demanding and sometimes it really takes its toll on our lives and, more importantly, our self esteem.

Sorry to be quite negative and depressive but it is officially the gloomiest day of the year after all!?

Did Facebook kill the Christmas Card ?

Read an interesting article in the Metro paper whilst travelling to panto on the tube which suggests  we are all receiving and sending less Christmas cards  and instead putting a post on Facebook without the bother of choosing cards, writing them and then sending them and of course the saving on the cost of the cards and postage.  

The Christmas tree is up and the presents bought and wrapped and the parties are in full swing but what about the traditional Christmas cards? Are our mantel pieces bare?

I think it is rather sad. Whilst Facebook, email and Twitter are fine for quick catch ups I don’t think they compare to the handwritten genuine article. I think it is much more personal and nice to choose something original and personal for the ones you love. According to Cosmopolitan your choice of Christmas card can say a lot about you as a person!

I have sent out cards to all my close friends back in Yorkshire as I am in London doing panto for the festive season and I haven’t had one card back just messages on Facebook saying thanks for the card and a Merry Christmas to you too!

Does anyone else feel we need some Christmas card love even in this technical age ?   

When I was a kid it was always assumed if someone who normally sent a card didn’t , they were either dead, or in jail and if someone committed something bad you’d say they were being “struck off the Christmas card list!”. You even got cards from the local butcher and the milkman. We got so many cards by Christmas Eve there were strings around every wall of the living room!

On Christmas Day I know my Blackberry will be filled with Happy Christmas messages but I think there’s more to Christmas than that.

 Anyway I wish  all you fellow BAPPers  a wonderful and peaceful Christmas and if like me you feel the need for some Christmas Card love you can print this out and stick it to your mantel piece !!!

The Networked Professional

Reading through lots of blog postings, like everyone else I agree my main source of information and tool I use to access information is the internet. I use it to look information up for auditions, performances etc and for any research it is always my first port of call, to go to the web and google or You Tube to watch performances.

For example I had to research Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” for panto so I watched her over and over on You Tube.

I do use Wikipedia a lot as I find the definitions and basic information is in an easy to read and easy to understand format and then you can go onto other links to check out the information is reliable and backed up on other sites and read about a subject in more depth.

It is so easy to find anything you need just by a few clicks of the mouse and all the information is just at your fingertips and you can even access the information via your mobile phone or on a train or a bus -  wherever you are. I think it’s important to investigate people you are going to meet, people who it would be good to know and learn more about them by checking out there on line presence. I also research companies before an audition to get to know a little about who I am auditioning for and the reputation and work of the company. If you get to chat to a producer or casting agent it’s always handy to have a little background information as a head’s up. Shows you’ve done your homework!

The most important communication tool I use is email.  I have weekly alerts from dance agencies, Spotlight and Star Now and The Stage so I can apply for auditions and jobs. With a PIN number I just press apply and the agency automatically sends my CV and headshot.
I also email dance companies to ask to attend company classes when I can as they get to see you work as a dancer.

 I also network through face to face contact at auditions and at promotional events and after show networking, at professional classes and workshops. I think this is as important as on line networking – both are of equal importance to increasing my web of contacts and by sharing experiences with others we learn and develop. I agree with Ross about connecting with other dancers at auditions and see my blog – “Schmoozing the night away” – where I discussed the importance of face to face networking and “Do we reap what we sow?” which continues with the ideas around what motivates us to help each other.   

http://emilyrose91.blogspot.com/2010/12/schmoozing-night-away.html

http://emilyrose91.blogspot.com/2010/12/do-we-reap-what-we-sow-i-have-been.html

I use Facebook primarily as a social networking site to stay in touch with friends and family but I realise its potential to promote my professional self as well and that I can have a separate professional page and I am going to look to develop this in the future. Like Mark has joined the Peter Pan Facebook page to promote his pantomime so have I the “Snow White” Facebook page. It’s all about exposure and getting yourself known to a wider audience, a wider network. You never know who may look the page up after reading the reviews, seeing a promo or a flyer or after seeing the show and this inevitably could lead to an employment opportunity.

One of my blog entries on dance science was followed by Ava Barron who is a professional dance scientist and I contacted her via email with some questions about how she viewed the idea of critical reflection and it’s use for the well being of the dancer from a psychological point of view (still awaiting a reply) - but here is a link to her web page as an example of how you can really use the power of the web to promote your professional self and I think my ideal would be to have my own web page eventually.

http://www.dancescientist.co.uk/

I also use “flyers” to advertise dance workshops at local schools and dance/theatre companies as you tend to get work by “word of mouth” and personal recommendation. So I send them out to all the local groups  in my area and any groups that use me I ask them to put my advert in their show programmes. I also leave adverts at local theatres where they have flyers on their counters. Alana seems to have had a similar success advertising her singing lessons in a similar way. I think I need to add this to my professional Facebook page and the clips from my workshop on Wizard of Oz that I show reeled – it shows me at work as a choreographer.

I also use books and have several I use on a regular basis for my professional work and contacts.

 One is “Contacts” published by Spotlight which is an essential handbook for anyone working in the entertainment industry  - it has very useful info pages and lists of contacts for everything in the business – agents, show reels, photographers for stage , television, film and radio.

I also use the Dance Companies Handbook which is a directory of all the dance and ballet companies around the world. It gives you contacts and how and when they audition and whether you can join company classes.

“Dance Anatomy and Kinesiology” by Karen Clippinger is my bible along with “How to walk in high heels” by Camilla Morton  which is the essential girls handbook of etiquette for everything, it so funny. (I haven’t mowed the lawn in high heels yet though!)

Another is my “Diet for Dancers” an essential book to have at one’s side + “the students guide to cooking for one” and I wouldn’t be without Bobby Brown’s Make up Manual.

I think reading others’  blogs  and sharing ideas on networking helps me consider all the possibilities that I may not have thought of on my own or maybe not realised I was already doing and gives me an awareness of others’ perspectives and views. I think Alana brought to my attention the use of Wiki in one of her blogs and that is something I intend to do some follow up on later in the New Year when I maybe have more time to play and experiment.

I also thought Amanda’s mind maps showed how we network very well as many of the methods we use work hand in hand alongside each other and our networks grow as we make more contacts.

Ross’ little picture from  google  demonstrates the idea well too I think –the more people you  meet and connect with the more you can network and the more information is gathered and shared.

I think considering all the possibilities through the various concepts and theories has helped me decide what really matters and what actions I need to take to improve my professional networking.

Prior to the module I didn’t realise there was so much I could do to improve my professional “self” and I have so much to do to improve my networking to market myself. I have a long list of “things to do” to start on the road to getting a much better professional profile of myself. I need to revisit my CV, get some new photographs and a show reel , create a professional Facebook page and then eventually move to my own web page.


References:
The Networked Professional - A Course Reader forMiddlesex University 2010

How many sheep ?

Interesting article in the news today about whether we can trust the information we access on the internet.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11985896

Made me wonder with my thoughts this week on image being to the fore again  how we can trust the information that is the on the internet about anything or anybody  and how do we decide in our daily lives  whether what we research can be trusted or not. We all access the internet for information, increasingly relying on that information to be correct. But when we have found that information, how do we decide its relevance and trustiness.

With searches for celebrities, are we measuring popularity, or just attention?

Does this have any impact on our attempt to develop our on line profiles and our image as a marketable product? Can we really trust what we see in someone’s on line profile? We have the capacity to become who we want to be and hide behind our real self. What do others think? Would potential employers be able to decide whether to trust what we put about ourselves? Is it as in Darwin’s theory always to be “the survival of the fittest”? Hmmmm?

Do we reap what we sow?

I have been looking back over earlier blogs and through my journal as I prepare to write my essay and I came across some notes I had made to post a comment re motivation. This was when my PC had it’s virus and I must have overlooked this particular blog when I was back on line and I didn’t post it at the time.

It followed a comment Alan Durrant made on Ross’ blog about critical reflection and considering the theories of Cooperation and Affiliation, what motivates us to help others………….. so a bit late but an interesting concept so I thought I’d post it now!!

Nicholas Norman had commented that people help each other “to give back and repeat the cycle of someone who once gave to them!” I think this is very true but I think it goes much deeper beyond the concept that individuals don’t share knowledge and experience because they fear the competition from others and only help those less experienced than themselves. I think most of us instinctively have a desire to help others as it makes us feel good about ourselves.

I researched further and found an interesting article, “Born to be good? What motivates us to be good, bad or indifferent towards others?” by Celia Kitzinger, who investigates the psychology of morality.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JQP/is_289/ai_30027760/

Kitzinger says that, “most of us, most of the time act to benefit others, ie small kindnesses of everyday life like holding a door open, sharing food or expressing compassion for others in distress. Things that are so ordinary we take them for granted.”

We all see evidence all the time of people helping and caring for sick relatives or they give money to famine relief, Children in Need etc, or they do voluntary work for charities or hospitals. A lot of this can be as Norman says “to give back” because they have been personally touched by a certain event, ie; a loved one who was cared for by a particular organisation may in return raise money for that cause.

Psychologists describe this as being “pro-social” animals. “Why do people spend time, money and effort on others when they could keep it for themselves?” Kitzinger argues that self interest lies at the root of all socially “moral” behaviour and we are biologically driven to improve the survival of our genes instinctively,  ie by caring for our families, such as a mother bird will put her own life at risk for her chicks.

She argues that helping people who are not genetically related to us can also be in the best interests of our genes as it sets up the expectation that we will be helped in return. Normally altruism is reciprocal and we do things for someone expecting we will get something back.

An old saying my Grandma often used rings true of this concept and puts it into layman’s terms, “We reap what we sow”. I think often this is true if you are a person who is prepared to share and help others, you are soon known as that type of person and people will share things with you. If you are selfish and don’t share then people won’t share with you and in the end you will lose out, both socially and professionally.

It is the rewards that we get from helping others which serve our self interest, eg; the praise of onlookers, gratitude from the person being helped, the feeling we experience when we know we have done something good and the benefit of avoiding guilt and shame. It is our moral development from childhood that motivates our behaviour and gives us the ability to imagine ourselves in the place of another and to feel their emotions and this then triggers our behaviour. I don’t know if there is a scoreboard in the sky keeping track but I strongly believe in returning favours for people who have helped you!

In the context of our professional practice I think it is important to establish relationships with others who share similar interests and develop contacts where you can share information and experiences with each other. There will always be a natural rivalry and competitiveness amongst professionals but there is also the human instinct where we group together as comrades to help one another and an instinct to feel that we belong. I think the holding back of information is futile in the end as it is always available from another source and if someone does have a selfish attitude then they will soon not have many contacts socially or as  a professional. If you are a good “networker” you will give favours and receive them in return.  Most people feel guilty and indebted to return a favour and this clears the way for a whole new round of give and take -   as my Grandma puts it, “you have to reap to sow !!!”

Hmmmm.......... maybe men are from Mars and women from Venus but sometimes they do say some interesting things??!!

As I’m working on a pantomime with primarily men – there’s only me and another girl in the show – and we’re all sharing one dressing room -   you do have some very interesting conversations and find out all sorts of diverse, random and rather strange things and opinions. We also have a cross section of gay and straight men in the cast so it is a very varied opinion.

Yesterday afternoon, as I whipped out my Cosmopolitan magazine in between shows, all the guys rolled their eyes and groaned!! I chirped up ‘What on earth? You can’t go wrong with Cosmo, it teaches a girl everything she needs to know!’  Their response was somewhat surprising, instead of them flipping through to find a ‘hot’ girl they just said ‘yeh, it teaches you a wrong image of what you’re supposed to look like!’
Following this we had a group discussion on women....  about how models are all airbrushed and quoted by one guy ‘look like aliens  – they might as well computer animate models into adverts as it looks nothing like them in real life’.

They went on to discuss how magazines give out a false image to young girls and women, making us believe that the way models and celebrities look in photographs is the way we should look.

Funny, as I’m hoping to book a photo shoot in the New Year to get myself some new photographs to promote myself in the performance industry, I have been turning down pages in magazines of poses and styles I like that I may copy.... maybe that’s not such a good idea now?! I mean I can have myself airbrushed but will I be recognised if I was to walk into an audition??

Another ‘dressing room’ conversation we had was discussing me dying my hair, I get easily bored with my hair, my make-up, my style and I’m constantly changing my look  and coming up with new ways to re-invent myself! I quite fancy for Christmas and Winter time dying it a rich brown but have quite a reddish tint to it. I think it would be very daring and different – a lot of my friends think it will be great and that I should go for it! But chatting to the boys they told me that I could lose employment because I will not look like my headshot and my CV will be wrong! But surely I can change these to match my current image? They said that casting directors and choreographers etc will expect me to look exactly like my headshot and I’ll get a ‘no’ as soon as I walk in the room because I’m not like my headshot! So does that mean I have to always look like my headshot?? That I can never change anything about myself? I’m not allowed to experiment and create different looks..... isn’t this industry mainly about the way that you look? Lots of questions that I need to ask and I need to find out the answers. What do any of you think!? We were constantly told at college to change our image and develop a unique look. It was always the girls who had that type of magazine “look” that were chosen for things not because they were the best dancer or singer or actress but because of the way they looked. Certainly our commercial jazz tutor said in the commercial dance world it is always about look and image.

Celebrities are always changing their style, their hair and getting tattoos, piercings and no one seems to question them or is that because they have a celebrity status and it no longer matters? Personally I don’t want to be dictated to by a headshot and make myself look like that every time I go out for an audition but I don’t want to lose out at an audition either because I have different coloured hair to my headshot or do I have different headshots for different looks which would be expensive . When I go to auditions I have noticed that most people don’t look like their headshot anyway and some still manage to go through to the next round and get the job! So what is the answer to this question? Has anyone got any opinions on the matter?  I thought with the art of make up in the industry today you can reinvent yourself overnight anyway – you can be blonde today, brunette tomorrow and a red head by Friday.

I’m sat right now with one of my new housemates watching Live from Studio Five and they’re going around the streets of London asking women what they think to Cheryl Cole and Danni Minogue’s dress sense over the course of the X-Factor! They’re comparing their dresses throughout the shows – does it really matter? I mean they’re both very, very wealthy and can afford to buy beautiful dresses from top designers and have the best make-up artists and stylists work on them and airbrush any “blips” .... normal people can’t!

So the conclusion according to the guys in my dressing room is ......

·         Men like girls who look real! But what is “real”?

·         Men like girls who have ‘a bit of meat on them’/’something to grab’

·         Models are aliens and don’t look human

·         Girls never look like their photographs – in the flesh they look different!

I thought it was an interesting debate really and surprising to find out their opinions. It is a pressurised industry for girls especially as we are expected to be “glamorous” and there is a lot of pressure put upon us to be a certain size and have a certain look. 

Connectivism……………….

I have just read Mark’s blog on Connectivism which made me think again about this way of learning. I agree with Mark it is quite a confusing and difficult concept especially all the technical bit about nodes but I found the definition on Wikipedia the easiest to understand;

“Connectivism is based on the premise that knowledge exists in the world rather than in the head of an individual.”

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_(learning_theory)

“It is learning for the digital age as learning methods have changed as technology has affected how we live and how we communicate.”

Therefore my understanding of this theory is that it is knowing where to find information and to maintain connections to learn. In simple terms we are learning by plugging into existing networks – ie; e mail, communities, conversations, web search, email lists, reading blogs etc.  I think most of us have been learning through this method for a long time but just haven’t analysed the theory as “Connectivism”. As I have read many blogs of other students we all have identified that  we use the internet to find information, we communicate via email and network through social websites such as Facebook  and through these main methods we set up networks of contacts.

I think this method of learning puts a lot of responsibility on the individual student as you have to think independently for yourself and assimilate and retain the knowledge and skills but I think on the plus side you can learn a lot more from the interests and experiences shared with other students as the theories are applied to practical experiences which I think you remember more than facts presented to you as a transfer of information in a traditional lecture scenario. They are linked to people’s everyday experiences of “real life” and you can empathise with them more than mere theories.

David Cohen (1989) said, “Teaching is telling, knowledge is facts and learning is recall.”

Students teach and learn from each other by telling their stories – this may be a very simplistic personal view of connectivism but that’s how I’ve put it into context and translated it to understand it if this helps anyone else understand it.

 I think the down side is you can feel quite isolated as you are reliant on tutors and students conversing with you and giving feedback which I touched on in my “Crisis? What crisis?” blog.

http://emilyrose91.blogspot.com/2010/11/crisis-what-crisis-technology-is.html#comments

I think you can be left feeling uneasy about the outcomes when spontaneous discussion doesn’t happen and a little sceptical as to whether there is a real interest in your comments or are people responding in kind, ie: going through the motions to complete “tasks”?.


References:

The Networked Professional Course Reader - Middlesex University