The Difficulties in Finding Employment

Employment is an important factor that sustains the needs of individuals. It offers financial compensation in return for hard work and time dedication. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (1), unemployment has decreased 0.3% in August 2014, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy to find work.

In modern society – almost everything needs prerequisite qualifications, experience and/or education. Speaking with a fellow university student (who is currently completing a science degree), he exasperatedly told me that, upon council with his tutor, if he only completes his degree without finishing Honors and Masters, his degree would be equivalent to getting a job at Target.

This is what my User Generated Story (UGS) aims to explores; the difficulty in finding employment. The Guardian (2) projects that one of the main reasons it’s harder to find work is due to competitive applicants in the job market; there are just too many people applying for the same job. The article suggests that those unemployed have been jobless for longer periods of time compared to a decade ago.

Whether or not it is due to lack of experience, injury or even age, without a job, it is challenging to financially support both yourself and/or your family. My UGS looks at other means of support including;
*financial assistance – Centrelink
*compensation for the injured – insurance claims (Cunningham Lindsey)
*career counsellor advice – what can be done/who you could go to for help

Following the case studies of;
*Bridney Fa’auli, a 21yr old finding it difficult to seek work after retrenchment and
*Mark Luafeleal who has been out of work for the past 3 months due to a shoulder injury (and is expected to be unfit for work till January 2015).

It’s a common dilemma that lots of people come across. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), unemployment can lead to symptoms of depression, anxiety, low well-being and poor self-esteem (3). It can potentially elicit these concerns not only on the individual, but upon their families and spouse, therefore a serious and important issue within society.

REFERENCES

1) Australian Bureau of Statistics 2014, ‘Australia’s unemployment rate decreased 0.3 percentage points to 6.1 per cent in August 2014’, ABS, retrieved 01/10/2014, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats%5Cabs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/46DFE12FCDB783D9CA256B740082AA6C?Opendocument

2) Jericho, G 2014, ‘Unemployment rate same as 10 years ago, but what lies ahead is a worry’, Gregonomics, The Guardian, retrieved 01/10/2014, http://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2014/feb/17/unemployment-rate-same-10-years-ago-but-what-ahead-worry

3) American Psychological Association 2014, Psychological Effects of Unemployment and Underemployment, APA, Washington, retrieved 01/10/2014, http://www.apa.org/about/gr/issues/socioeconomic/unemployment.aspx

 

 

WEEK 6 – What is citizen journalism?

To USG or not to USG…

How are the various ideals of journalism impacted by the business of journalism?

How does convergence impact journalism?

Image

Week 1: How common or widespread is the use of multimedia journalism in the media?

ALJ301 Multimedia Journalism
The emergence of multimedia journalism is conveyed upon the ever-changing interface in which the news is presented. It exists within the articles we read, sometimes upon the news we often watch and even the places where we may work. The linear format of multimedia journalism can often be regarded as citizen journalism where mobile phones play a large role in capturing an event live from the perceptions of those present.

It can be established as a growing trend within our society. Multimedia tools, especially social networking, plays a big role in what we may classify as news. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and so forth are often referred to when discussing news stories. For instance, ‘outcries of condolences were poured in the victim’s Facebook page,’ or even, ‘he confirmed via twitter his innocence in the matter.’

This is the newer, smarter and more applicable way to convey the message of the media into society. Through implementing the convenience that comes with technology, news can be delivered faster and through broader perspectives. These strategies are not only just used, but are relied upon through competing media outlets to present breaking stories. It visually stimulates the audience and changes our way of absorbing the news into one that is more relatable to our lives and easier to comprehend.

Image Reference
T, Tiffini 2013, Multimedia Journalism, Retrieved 21/07/2014, https://www.google.com.au/search?q=multimedia+journalism&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=05PMU8SrOpaD8gXXwoKACg&sqi=2&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=667#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=BZ0YyZQ8ZjzuVM%253A%3BvstXy7Anrl72eM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ftiffinitheisen.com%252Fwp-content%252Fuploads%252F2011%252F09%252Fmmjournalism1_28001.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ftiffinitheisen.com%252Fmultimedia-journalism%252F%3B2800%3B2172.

 

What Identity?

In the era of the continual growth of the digital media age, it is difficult to sway away from the lure of following the footsteps of society. Though I am in the process of still trying to identify and understand who I truly am or want to be as a person, my digital identity speaks otherwise. Through sites such as Facebook, WordPress, About Me and Instagram (some of the main pages in which you’ll find me lurking on) I can portray myself as a more confident or smart and even a more fun version of who I really am.
My online identity is almost like an escape. It is where I can go to be whoever I yearn to be and only revealing what I want others to see.

The Virtual Self is to take on the form of an individual’s interpretation of how they desire others to perceive them. This is particularly evident in the items we post. The biggest framework of shaping our online identity, as postmodernist theorist Angela Thomas denotes, is the ways in which we perform aspects of our body (Thomas, 2007, pg 9). This includes the photos we post; how are we depicted? Are we happy, sad, angry or frustrated? We exaggerate our best features and we hide our insecurities. For all anyone could know who haven’t met me in person, I could have a prosthetic leg or be extremely short. The way in which we establish and display our relationship with others through those we allow into our friendship circle or the people in which we follow ourselves, also plays as clues to who we are. Every little detail and characteristic, matters.

Thomas denotes, with reference to Lewis (1992), that we all yearn for a sense of prominence (2007, pg.31). We want to be idolized; we want fans and followers and what better way to inaugurate this than to create a strong online identity. This does, however, counteract with my real life. A part of me doesn’t want to shape my world around the person I am online. I want it all to be real and I often find myself avoiding any display of false depictions of who I am. My online identity must also coincide with a somewhat professional manner, causing me to hesitate before I post a status or comment or even upload a photo. The ramifications of how the world would see me and one day down the track with future employment concerns, it is vital to be who I want to be but also in a sense that is somewhat restricted.

Addressing the concepts of Kollock and Smith (1999) that communities in cyberspace are advantageous in the sense that one who participates could easily enter and leave as they wish, shows that there are no boundaries or restrictions that insinuate a commitment (1999, pg.15). However, though society is under the impression that once you erase something on the internet, it would seem as though it never existed; it was never there, but that notion is dubious. During exam time, I had temporarily erased my Facebook account and shortly after, had been bombarded with texts and calls asking why or what happened. Though it may be portrayed as though nothing was ever there, people within the online community know.

REFERENCES
Thomas, A 2007, ‘Identity and Literacy in the Digital Age’, Youth Online, Peter Lang Publishing, New York.

Kollock, P, Smith, M.A 1999, ‘Communities in Cyberspace’, Routledge, London. 

In the eyes of a celebrity

With the whole world watching your every move, would you be willing to portray every aspect of who you are for everyone to speculate and criticise? I believe not just celebrities, but everyone has different sides to them. We all play a different role to mould the environment we’re in and the people we’re around.

I know that the person I am with my best friend is the complete opposite with the person I am with my mother or sisters, teachers and boyfriend. I am a different person with different people. I certainly wouldn’t kiss my mother the way I kiss my boyfriend or talk to my teacher the way I talk to my best friend. We all subject a range of personas to depict an imagery of ourselves in which the direction we want others to view. I’d like my teacher to think I’m sweet and innocent but my best friend knows I’m a crazy b*tch.

And of course celebrities would generate a different identity on camera and in public as opposed to if they were at home with their family. They must keep up an image and reputation of how they want to be perceived. As P. David Marshall illustrates in his article, ‘The Specular Economy,’ the public self is through a two way mirror and what you see isn’t always what you get. He exemplifies the ‘specular’ nation where we are displayed to project many facets of ourselves in a way in which we want to be seen.

References:

Marshall, P.D 2008, The Specular Economy, Society. Vol. 47

How do we interpret culture?

At first glance at the film, ‘Sita Sings the Blues,’ I earnestly thought, ‘Wtf is this?’ Yes, I had watched the trailer first to see if I could decipher the contents of the movie but that did not help. At. All. So I decided to watch the actual movie. Surprisingly and unconsciously, this cartoon had illustrated the cultural values and differences of the Indian culture and what I believe to be culture myself.

In the opening sequence, you see the body of a voluptuous lady in a somewhat revealing and provocative attire. Later on, she is subordinate to a male God whom she massages. The screen then zooms in on her chest before flashes of all kinds of hearts appear. I find this very strange compared to my Christian faith. Women should be modest; however they should love and bow down to God which is both similar and different to what was displayed. I interpret the scene of the hearts suggesting that though we’re all different on the outside; we’re the same on the inside.

It wasn’t just the imagery. It was the music and voices and contrast of colours. The accent behind the words of the characters; the Westerners with an ordinary English accent and the foreigners voicing theirs. The music was merely beats and musical instruments with a very distinctive difference of what I normally hear and the singing was usually absent or beautiful foreign wails. The colours were vibrant and bright but the scenes reverting back to the westerners were plain and bare. I found it to be very interesting and thought provoking as I watched this film. It made me question how I interpret culture and how others may.

References:

Paley, N 2008, Sita Sings the Blues, SitaSingstheBlues.com (available: http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/watch.html) accessed August 22, 2012.

Where do you call home?

The point Russell Peters was making in the video demonstrates that people are diasporic and don’t even realise. There are people out there who see their culture as their identity, despite not even speaking that particular language or visiting that country and so forth.

Cultural identity in the making is something that will conflict each and every person at least once in their life. Who am I and where do I belong? I love my culture. I love my family. Being East Timorese, Indonesian and Chinese has given me a good range of cultures to choose from. Though the Indonesian in me is more dominant in terms of my appearance, I don’t speak a word of it. I have grown up to speak Timorese and English and was raised in Australia. So where do I call home?

Wanning Sun had mentioned in his article, ‘Fantasizing the homeland, the internet, memory and exilic longings,’ that we will eventually question our diasporic selves in order to seek identification. I had found this to be true as though I speak East Timorese, eat Timorese food; I would never go to East Timor despite my mother’s nagging each year as she departs to visit friends and family. It’s not because I don’t like the culture itself, I am just uncomfortable in the insanely humid conditions, mosquito bites, dirt roads and so forth. Call me picky but I happen to enjoy having clean water and hot showers. I call Australia home because it was where I was brought up in where I see East Timor, Indonesia and China to be a foreign land.

Where do you call home?

References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySxAXk5z-0c&feature=related

Week Six: Sun, W 2002, ‘Fantasizing the homeland, the internet, memory and exilic longings’, Leaving China: media, migration, and transnational imagination, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., pp. 113–36.