Apologies to readers of my blog! No sooner had I posted my recent blogging r.e Web 2.0 etc, did I realise I still have more to say!
With the rise in the use of the internet
seeing many more people becoming the ‘creator’ of information, it is more important
than ever to consider the ethical implications of such use and especially for
me as a working professional. As a self-employed performer, you become
essentially your own management but must also promote yourself and actively
advertise your skills and assets at all times. Therefore, it should be
considered possible and indeed probable that anything that is said or discussed
online could be seen by potential employers and could therefore impact on any
jobs that might be of interest to me. It is often discussed in the media that
more and more employers are using Facebook as a search engine tool to allow
access to photos of potential candidates and more often than not, leads to dismissal
or not reaching further stages of application due to incriminating photos of a
recent Saturday night out, or a status update detailing how a sick day was ‘actually’
spent. As a self-employed individual, I believe that it is harder to distinguish
the lines between business and pleasure and that the lines could, without
caution, become blurred. However, it is imperative that this is not allowed to
happen as it could impact on future career opportunities.
The copyright and authenticity of ideas is an ethical
consideration that many may not consider when using social networking sites.
Photos and audio-visual media such as You Tube clips, although on the internet
for millions to view, still have rights of ownership and as such, cannot be
used or submitted as work of your own - Photographs, YouTube choreography for
example. The internet in this sense may make it more difficult to find the true
authenticity of ideas/inspiration. Perhaps most importantly for me however, is
the issue of confidentiality. I am very eager to continue to further my career
in teaching, a profession that is described as the most ‘vulnerable’ in terms
of boundaries crossed and as such, extreme caution should be exercised, in the
protection of children’s safety and my own personal information remaining as
such, personal.
For myself, Web 2.0 is a series of tools that allows myself
as a professional to engage with others in my field on forums, in the exchanging
of thoughts ideas and theories. Each Web 2.0 app has a set of principles that
allows its users to partake, contribute and engage in creativity in an easy but
‘democratic’ way. The rapid evolution of Web 2.0 tools suggests that collective intelligence of many individuals outweighs the thoughts
and observations of a select few. This is certainly evident in terms of growth;
from 1500 users initially, Facebook now has a massive 1 billion users
worldwide. Now that people have been given the power to create their own
material and comment on that of others, there most certainly isn't any going
back.
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