Task 1b: Professional Communication Technologies

Before starting this course I really had no idea that sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google and many more were put in to a collective group called Web 2.0. Therefore after reading up on what Web 2.0 existed of I found myself thinking about how much I actually rely on this form of communication.

I had to reread the 'reader 1' several times to grasp the idea of Web 2.0, but I was still struggling to get the idea into my head so I you tubed 'what is web 2.0' and found this very helpful video, it looks at web 2.0 from a buisness perspective.

http://youtu.be/iStkxcK6_vY

After watching this video I thought about all the things that I used Web 2.0 for.

1. tripadvisor: people post their views on hotels, restaurants, tourist sites and many other things. I use tripadvisor on a weekly basis, usually to help me find a decent restaurant in my area.

2. Facebook: I am obsessed! And I honestly do not know what I would do without it.
Since graduating from College I moved back to my home town in Bournemouth, everyone says in the performing arts industry you need to be in London, however I never feel like I have missed out on auditions or job oppurtunities thanks to Facebook. There is a group called 'The Hustle' which has thousands of performers, agents, casting directors, photographers and videographers who all comment about upcoming auditions or agencies to avoid working with. People post about great physios they have been to see or about the best person to go and get your headshots from. Any non-performers could learn masses about the industry just by joining this group.

3.Google: Again a huge favourite of mine, any time I need anything I type it into google and within seconds I am flooded with amazing amounts of information.

I have also found that Web 2.0 has got to be the best marketing tool for performers and also for teachers. A friend of mine has just set up a class called hot heels, he videos every class and posts it in the hustle, on his facebook page and also on twitter. Since marketing his class this way he has drawn in loads of students and has been running these classes successfully for the past 3months. 

However, as much as I love the way web 2.0 can enhance my career and can aid in keeping contact with friends half way across the world there are down sides which I feel need to be discussed. Mostly the downsides of Web 2.0 are down to the way us as humans like to be percieved, nowadays we have our online self (who can be as wild and as vivacious as we'd like) and we have the way we are in every day life. Due to social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook we also find it very easy to compare our lives with other peoples and also our relationships with other people. Web 2.0 has also aided in cyber bullying, only a few weeks back there was a video that came up on my newfeed that showed a group of girls physically abusing another, underneath the video were hundreds of comments initially about how this particular girl was 'scum' and 'deserved it'. Fortunately the video was removed from facebook. 

I cant help but think that although the perks of Web 2.0 are amazing and significantly aid in the growth of buisnesses and careers, it has also enabled us as humans to desensitize and now it seems many people hide behind a computer, our human relationships are not what they used to be. Do we really need social networking sites to build relationships with other people? Are relationships that are built over the internet real? 

I hope to look into web 2.0 further, as I know it is an exceedingly important tool within todays society and within the performance industry. 

Feel free to critique and comment :D 

Task 1a

I remember being asked to write my first curriculum vitae at just sixteen years old. I sat with my mum and discussed my strengths and weaknesses and how my cv had to reflect my personality as well as my skills and experience within the work place. Since then my work cv and my professional dance cv seem worlds apart. I would never submit my dance cv when applying for an events or promotion job, I might mention that I trained at musical theatre college as this can be beneficial within the promotional industry, but the dance jobs I have done are not relevant in the field of events/promotions. Therefore I adapt my cv on a regular basis to ensure work from different promotional agencies. In terms of my dance cv that I take to auditions it is very straight forward consisting of my headshot, my training, past performances and my statistics. 

Online cv's are becoming increasingly popular with sites like stuck for staff, reed and evermore job sites there is a lesser need for a hard copy cv. The same is to be said within the musical theatre world, Spotlight is a site which has a vast amount of performers, agents and casting directors on it. When signing up to spotlight your agent will submit a cv for you and pictures.Spotlight is very black and white, you cannot show any kind of personality on there it is simply statistics. However if a job is posted on spotlight you can email the casting director and sell yourself with a 'cover letter' type email. Cover letters, for me, have to be short and sweet, always 'leave them wanting more'. Here is a link to my spotlight cv. 

http://www.spotlight.com/interactive/cv/2450-4535-9338

The task is to rewrite your cv as my blog profile, A blog to me is something more personal than a cv which is why I have decided to include information on my family life and why I made the decisions I made. I think it is hard to express your true character just using the web so I hope I have given you enough detail to give you a true representation on myself and my story so far. 

I welcome all criticism so let me have it! 

Here I go!

Finally, I am pursuing with my first ever post in my blog! The past two weeks have been spent trawling my way through masses of blogs, handbooks, readers and emails regarding the BAPP arts course I am about to embark on. 

Being a performer I left school at sixteen and pursued my dream, unfortunately reality struck pretty hard when I stumbled into my first audition, lines and lines of girls shoved into a tiny studio at Pineapple London. It was then I knew I needed some back up qualifications, so here I am, much more nervous about starting a course that involves using my laptop (which mainly gets used for itunes and the odd facebook post!).

After reading through the handbook and talking on the phone with the programme adminstrator I am suprisingly excited about further developing my understanding of professional practice. Curiosity is part of human nature and I am excited to be learning about different ideas within the professional practice. 

Lets get started!