wIThout Women: why are women no longer pursuing careers in IT?

“Information Technology (IT) is concerned with technology to treat information. The acquisition, processing, storage and dissemination of vocal, pictorial, textual and numerical information by a microelectronics-based combination of computing and telecommunications are its main fields”. The Dictionary of Information Technology (2012).

Technological development is moving an ever increasingly velocity, globally. In Australia, the NBN project is just one example of the huge investment Australia is making in the future of technology.

The industrial economy is now a bygone era; making way for the Creative Industries. The Creative Industries encompass fields such as:

• Music and Performing Arts
• Film, TV, Radio
• Advertising and marketing
• Software, Web and multimedia development
• Writing, publishing, print media
• Architecture, design and visual arts

With technology playing a vital role in each sector. A wealth of opportunity has been created, along with a diverse selection of options – why is it that more and more women are shying away from or out of technical careers?

Is it because women are being segregated due to subtle gender inequality cues across a broad spectrum of artifacts surrounding the information technology industry?

Women in business offer diversity, new perspectives and constitute more than half of the marketplace. They offer a different ‘code’ of conduct, and are fundamental in moving global organisations forward in the workforce. Given the increasing importance of technology for the future of the human race, it is essential that these imbalances are addressed sooner rather than later.

KEY ISSUES

Women generally face a number of obstacles when it comes to the workforce, according to Tharenou (1998), it was found that women have to consistently:

• Work harder
• Exceed performance expectations
• Have more experience
• Over-perform to counter negative assumptions
• Women in higher management superior to male counterparts

For women to succeed, they must:

• Exceed performance expectations
• Seek out difficult or visible job assignments in early career
• Develop a management style comfortable to male managers
• Get support from influential mentors and colleagues

The additional industry specific issues combined with more generalised issues as stated above, are all contributing to the declining numbers of women selecting in IT.

For the purpose of this project, only three key issues have been selected in order to review and recommend solutions. These are –

1. The image of the IT industry – deterring women from joining
2. Selection and Interview process: They don’t get in the door of IT firms, Self select out from job ad, Fail at interviews
3. Women are unsupported in the industry – weak networks and poor access to industry leaders

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS, STATISTICS 

Qualitative Research

The qualitative research was conducted within global IT Software Consultancy, ThoughtWorks. Further information regarding the company can be found here.

A brief session was conducted with female employees of ThoughtWorks Australia. Participants were asked to honestly approach and answer three segments, with the objective to gain an insight into three key area’s: what the company could uniquely offer them, what would deter them from joining, what would grab a participants’ attention (from the perspective of an IT company reaching out to them).

What can ThoughtWorks uniquely offer me?

Figure 1

• Easy to relocate (domestically, internationally)
• Paid maternity leave/maternity benefits – overall the women feel that just being a considerate company is a huge deal
• Work part-time on interesting projects – not just be ‘thrown’ on whatever project will accept them part-time
• Be able to set my career path, carve my own opportunities – this seemed to have been the main theme from this question

What would put me off joining ThoughtWorks?

Figure 2

• Not many women consultants with young kids. (maybe more of an observation than an actual deterrent?)
• Salary
• Not having the possibility to work part-time
• No females in senior (technical) group or leadership roles
• Overtime/working long hours/expectations
• Intense and unique culture (like a cult?)
• Project based work eg. “don’t always get to work on the technology I’m interested in”

Most of the points listed here are fairly common; the stand out comment however is around the ‘unique culture’ or ‘like a cult’, This comment truly highlights the importance of how an organisation presents itself via it’s culture, and how this is interpreted or ‘felt’ by women encountering the organisation. According to notable social psychologist Edgar Schein’s cultural theory (1999), artifacts include any tangible, overt or verbally identifiable elements in an organization. Architecture, furniture, dress code, office jokes, all exemplify organizational artifacts. The second tier in the theory relates to espoused values, or the strategies, goals or philosophies that shape the direction of the company. Finally, Basic Underlying Assumptions or the underlying feelings, thoughts, beliefs or  perceptions prevalent in an organisations culture.

What would make me sit up and listen?

Figure 3

• Industry leaders
• Cutting edge/innovative work
• Access to industry leaders (Martin Fowler etc)
• Variety – not put in a box
• Social Impact projects (UNICEF)
• Travel options
• The ThoughtWorks Story
• Employer of Choice for Women
• Global network
• Community (lunches, team get togethers, intranet forum, etc)
• The People
• The company culture

There were lots of ideas presented as to how a company could support women – and not all of them were women-specific. Many of them are evidently interested in what they set out to do – be technical, and enjoy easy access to their passion through the company (ie. access to industry leaders). There was also a strong theme around networking, socialising and opportunity to communicate – in line with Tannen’s Genderlect theory (1990) – women use communication to establish connections with others, whereas men use communication to establish or maintain power over others.

Industry Spokesperson Interview

Interview with Maggie Berry, Managing Director – Women in Technology, UK

Sarah Howe March 16, 2012

[SH] The declining number of women pursuing careers in IT isn’t a new thing. In your view, what do you believe is the biggest failings of companies at this point in time?

[MB] “One area we could really do with fixing is returners to work [mothers] – the only idea companies have in the diversity space is to hire graduates, and I think – why don’t they hire returners to work? These women are already skilled business people, they just need a ‘refresher’ back into the workforce. I really think companies could achieve a lot from these types of programs. The next step from that is perhaps hiring them back on a six month contract and keeping things open – have they flourished, or is coming back to work not really what they wanted? A technology firm that could crack that, would win hands down. The fact is – women have so much experience, and we just let that walk away. And then we worry that there’s not enough women in technology. Other contributors of women leaving is that companies don’t give them the flexibility they need – forcing women to either take a step back from the workforce, or work for themselves”.

[SH] Aside from returners to work, do you believe anything is a barrier to entry for women?

[MB] “Other factors – we self select out advertised jobs. If there are 10 bullet points on the job guys won’t think twice when applying, where as if there is one thing on there that women can’t do, they self select out. We also see a high number of women drop out of interview days – are they scared? Did they say yes and mean no? Are we not as confident?”

[SH] Some of my research on this topic has lead me to believe that a traditional selection and interview process may not always be appropriate for women, what do you make of that?

[MB] “Face to face networking events work really well for women, as they have the opportunity to build rapport and use body language cues to communicate their message. Interestingly, we typically have a higher number of women drop out of our interview days than men – perhaps you’re onto something”. 

[SH] What do you believe there are some of the external factors contributing to women leaving the IT industry?

[MB] “If you work in a really male dominated environment – it’s not often one big event, say an act of harassment – it is just that they women have been gradually worn down by little comments – like a constant finger poking at you. Deeply technical people sometimes don’t have the people skills to relate to their colleagues so well, and this especially effects women. 

[SH] What changes do you believe need to take place in order for women to consider IT again?

[MB] “You can’t magic more experience or women into the industry – you have to have a pipeline coming through from the next generation and encourage them into IT. There needs to be some sustained effort from IT companies as a whole. There is a piece around companies keeping the staff they’ve got – ask the women we’ve got, ‘why are you here'”?

Recruitment and Selection

Unfortunately, information on recruitment and selection that is purely Australia-focused is limited and inconclusive. Drawing from analysis conducted by the Women in Technology in the UK could potentially be a good start point, as we would typically see replication of these trends in the Australian market over time.

According to their research, 67% of women felt that would need to meet at least 75% of the advertised role requirements. This alarming statistic indicates that many women are self selecting out of position before they even submit their application. 

Advertisement Analysis

The following advertisement was selected at random from the ThoughtWorks website. This particular advert is in search of a software developer to join the Sydney office.

Figure 4

Key language that was identified as potentially gender biased has been highlighted in the image above, and below with brief annotations.

• “Our Geek nights” – example of a specific company culture, that may not appeal to women
• “Folks” – a typically ‘male’ word
• “Your idea of fun is probably to write an app in your spare time” – this could potentially have women self select out
• “Intelligent people” – could come across as slightly intimidating
• “Capable of developing software within complex.. environments” – again, risk of self selection out
• “Ability to work in a consulting environment” – as above
• “We like to do things differently here” – again, another strong representation of culture, without reinforcement of the exact message ie. what do you like to do differently? This is left in the unknown abyss.
• “Write code as part of your interview process” – when? Again, intimidating language / unknown
• “Element of travel” – risk of self selection out, particularly excluding those mothers with children

Industry Image

A pastiche of portrayals of people in IT (figure 5).

Quantitative Research

According to the Australian Government initiative, Employer of Choice for Women (EOCW) – women make up 45.6% of the total labour force in Australia. Furthermore, women constitute 70.2% of all part-time employees and  35.3% of all full-time employees.

The EOCW also conducted extensive research on the gender pay gap, reporting that on average, women working full-time earn 17.8% less than men working full-time. This research was conducted across all sectors in Australia, with no IT specific statistics.

In relation to existing women’s networks in Australia specific to IT, figure 6 is a list of the websites found or referred to women’s support or networks in the industry. Upon further investigation, it was found that of the 12 online groups – 8 were defunct.

Figure 6

The Australian Bureau of Statistics draws data from the Australian census. The information shown in figures 6 and 7 has been harvested from the 2010 reports. The information commences from 2000, or the dot com bubble. Despite Information Technology encompassing more than just internet services and extending far earlier than 2000, this time has been selected given the sharp increase of opportunity in the sector, and the richness of the data – enabling a clearer representation of the patterns in employment for men and women.

The graphs below represent statistics that were collated from the ABS, and cover the follow areas of the sector –

• Males – Full time employee – Industry Service Providers, Web Search Portals, Data Processing Services
• Males – Full time employee – Computer System Design and Related Services
• Females – Full time employee – Industry Service Providers, Web Search Portals, Data Processing Services
• Females – Full time employee – Computer System Design and Related Services

Figure 7

Figure 8

Whilst both sets of information portray a clear decline in internet services since 2008, there are two vastly differentiating factors in play –

Firstly – the vast gap in overall numbers: internet services sits at around 5,000 women, and 20,000 men,  and computer system design and related services 23,000 women and 90,000 men.

Secondly, the since 2008 the industry has seen a sharp decline in women in computer system design and related, whilst an increase in men in the same segment.

Internet services was effected severely in the global financial crisis, with no immediate signs of recovery back to peak levels at this point in time.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Drawing back to the key issues identified earlier in the report – industry image, selection and interview process and lack of support networks in the industry; the following are recommendations for improvement on these issues, and are based on the evidence found in the research.

Industry Image

• Removal of or even rebellion against negative images toward women
• Positive reinforcement and promotion of female role models in the industry
• Company assessment and policy creation addressing cultural and artifactual evidence of gender inequality
• Inclusive industry events, with different opportunities for women to access industry leaders

Selection and Interview Process

• Inclusive advertisements, partnering with Predictive Index to select gender neutral or language appealing to women
• Open House information evenings rather than interviews
• Returners to work program
• Interview alumni women to identify further issues

Women Networks in the Industry 

• Form alliances with the existing women’s networks
• Work with the groups on events, mentorship programs and informational collateral
• Initiative an amalgamation of all the existing sites to create one, official body for women in the IT industry for Australia

These here are only but a few recommendations – there is so much more that can be done.  A collaboration across the industry is needed to effect significant, centrally-routed change. These steps need to be taken without delay in order to address to increasing gender gap already prevalent in the industry.

REFERENCES

Dainton & Zelley (2011). Apply Communication Theory for Professional Life. Sage Publications

Employer of Choice for Women statistics, retrieved from:

http://www.eowa.gov.au/Information_Centres/Resource_Centre/Statistics/Stats_At_A_Glance_Jan_2012_PDF.pdf

Flew, T (2011) New Media. Oxford Publications, page 23 ‘The Creative Industries’

Industry statistics, retrieved from:

http://www.abs.gov.au

Information Technology, definition –

Longley, Dennis; Shain, Michael (2012), Dictionary of Information Technology (2 ed.), Macmillan Press, p. 164

Ting, S (2012) Lecture slides

The predictive index, retrieved from:

http://www.piworldwide.com/

Wood, J (2011) Gendered Lives – Communication, Gender & Culture. Wadsworth

WIT ‘Women’s Careers in Technology’ annual report 2011, retrieved from:

http://www.womenintechnology.co.uk/womens-careers-in-the-technology-industry-2011-report

Social / Disconnect: The Digital Divide

The Digital Divide relates to the perceived gaps of access and usage of the Internet. The concept is broken down broadly into three sections: the global divide, the social divide and the democratic divide (Castells 2004).

According to the World Bank, there are now over 4.5 billion Internet users globally, with the United States and China dominating usage.

The global divide, according to Norris (2001), is “the differential Internet access between nations based on access to networked ICT infrastructures, computers, information transmission capacity and local website hosts”

Often when we think of lack of access to the Internet at a global level, we may conjure up images of emerging countries – perhaps with limited infrastructure or resources to support technology. Initiatives to improve the global digital divide are underway; Nicholas Negroponte for example is aiming to close this gap in developing countries through his One Laptop Per Child program.

The social divide on the other hand, according to Rice (2002) is “the differential access to and use of the Internet according to gender, income, race and location”. The work of Norris (2000) highlights that the social divide has become more prevalent in the technologically advanced nations such as the United States, Canada and Australia. It affects people from varying levels of education and income, ethnicity, age demographic and also family situations.

Web 2.0 technologies have empowered users of the Internet, and enabled them to contribute and engage with technology in ways that weren’t previously possible, without a deep understanding of the technical aspects involved in generating content. This new power has seen a spike in user-generated content from around the world – advancing people towards a globalized online community. The way we interact and socialise has evolved, creating a new conundrum of trends and patterns in our communication patterns and styles.

The effects of the digital divide on society are underlined in the 2010 documentary film Catfish.

The documentary follows Nev Schulman – a New York based photographer who is contacted by eight-year-old ‘Abby’, a Michigan-based budding painter, who asks Nev if she can replicate his photographs in painting. Flattered, Nev obliges, and they engage in contact via social media network, Facebook. Over time, Nev is connected to Abby’s mother Angela, and her older half sister Megan – all of whom begin to form online relationships via regular communication.

Gradually, contact with Megan increases, and the two establish a relationship via Internet and telephone.

Nev begins to find fault in the information Megan is providing him, and starts to pressure her to meet in person. The documentary then sees Nev going to Michigan to meet Megan, only to find that entire story – including Megan – was a complete fabrication created by the mother, Angela. Megan was in fact Angela all along. Angela had created a complex network of online social activities and content for ‘Megan’, including creating a user profile, friends network and generated regular status updates for the profile.

On meeting Nev, Angela attempts to keep up the pretense that Megan exists (though Nev strongly suspects she does not at this point) – making excuses for her absence. Eventually though, the pressure causes Angela to break down and admit that it was her all along, and that Megan didn’t actually exist. As the story continues to unfold, it becomes apparent that Angela is a very unhappy person in her life – married to a divorcee who has two disabled children, seemingly very low income and low education, Angela was forced to give up her dreams and settle in the rural town of Ishpeming, Michigan without much hope or vision of a brighter future.

That was, until the introduction of Facebook. The social network gave the woman an outlet, a voice, and allowed her to vicariously explore the world outside of her existence.

Perhaps this may seem like an obscure way to view the digital social divide, however the continued progression of technology will likely see the rise of new patterns, issues and divides in society created by digital tech advancements – globally. Could this be the closing of the global digital divide, and the widening of the social digital divide?

References:

Castells, Manuel (1997, second edition, 2004). The Power of Identity, The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture Vol. II. Cambridge, MA; Oxford, UK: Blackwell

Graham, Mark. (2011). Time Machines and Virtual Portals: The Spatialities of the Digital Divide. Progress in Development Studies, Vol. 11, No. 3, 211-227. Retrieved from:http://pdj.sagepub.com/content/11/3/211

Flew, T (2008) New Media. Oxford University Press, Victoria

Country internet usage image retrieved from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_users_by_country_world_map.PNG

Readings on the social digital divide retrieved from:

http://ccit205.wikispaces.com/Social+Divide

The population of the United States, retrieved from:

https://www.google.com.au/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ix=seb&ie=UTF-8&ion=1#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&site=webhp&source=hp&q=population%20of%20the%20usa&oq=&aq=&aqi=&aql=&gs_l=&pbx=1&fp=f32958376908ba03&ix=seb&ion=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=972&bih=564

Do Not Enter: Community Under Construction

Community. The defining sense of the word has evolved drastically over the years. Traditionally, societies would form communities based around in-person social interaction: a town hall meet, or local school fete – perhaps community may have even meant to some a regular neighborhood get together. Jump to the naughties, and it seems a regular occurrence to find the word ‘online’ inserted before community.

Technology has fundamentally changed the way humans interact within communities, and this, coupled with the fact that time has become an increasingly rare and precious resource; has lead us to do whatever we can to save it. The advancements in technology have created vast communication networks across the world – aka globalization. Globalization is shrinking the communication barriers, and we are hearing from far off places we would only formerly have learned of its existence via a geography lesson.

Manuel Castells (cited in Flew, 2008) states that globalization of online social networks promote new forms of inclusion – and also exclusion from systems of power. He also gives mention to the generation of resistance identities – through which computer mediated communication has given them a voice and a platform.

With this new power to the people, governments can no longer hide behind a façade of media glamorisation or cover ups, or a worse yet – a complete lack of communication – the people can now clearly see their weaknesses, and well as speak out and be heard around the world in order to shape their future.

The affect of globalization on global online communities is immense. For example, the recent arrest of Tal al-Molouhi, a 19-year-old blogger from Syria highlights the clear truth that techniculture and online communities are moving and forming faster than governments or entire nations can keep up with.

This advancement in technology, and shift to globalization of online communities has had a tremendous impact on the working community. Information and knowledge are transferred in one quick click of a mouse, video conferencing has given a whole new dimension to global teams, and the need to give ‘face time’ in the office is no longer essential – all thanks to technology.

A great example of globalization in the working community is the Rapid FTR project. Across the world, UNICEF works in partnership with various organisations using mobile technology to reunite children who have been displaced during a crisis, and also throughout the recovery efforts. Rapid FTR is an open-source  mobile phone application and data storage system that speeds up the reunion process by aiding humanitarian workers with the collection and sharing of information about the unaccompanied children.

Through the Rapid FTR project, an online working community of technologists has formed; developers can simply commit code to the open source project (whenever they have the time to devote) from the comfort of their own homes; other Samaritans even coordinate regular ‘code jam’ evenings – an in person event where developers can write code, talk about tech and socialize with like-minded people. The marriage of the technology and social justice creates a wholesome working community.

In his book New Media, Flew discusses in detail how the internet has supported marketing-based activities – drawing on such examples as Al Queda and guerilla marketing tactics that utilize the web and networks to push a particular message. He also discussed blogs and their growing presence and impact on society. The book needs updating on how these tools are shaping and affecting today’s society.  Now reaching stages of maturity within the market are online networks such as Facebook and micro blogging tools such as Twitter. These two platforms for example, have had a profound impact on society and how we interact with one another. Interesting patterns of behavior has also emerged, as highlighted in the film Catfish, where a man is essentially lied to and tricked into a telephone relationship by a lonely middle aged woman. An ideal update would be how technology is now shaping and forming global online communities, as well as the tools we use (and feel most comfortable using) to enable this type of interaction.

References:

Flew, T (2008). New Media, an introduction. Oxford Press, VIC Australia

J Brand (2012), Lecture Slides 2012 – week 11

CMC definition, retrieved from –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication

Open Source definition, retrieved from –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source

Guerilla marketing definition, retrived from –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_marketing

Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux, Syrian Teenager jailed (2011), retrieved from

http://www.care2.com/causes/syrian-teenager-jailed-for-blogging.html

Image: http://www.how-matters.org/2011/02/03/revisiting-the-wheel/

Vimeo media: http://rapidftr.com/

Agile User Experience Conference 2012

There were a few triggers that prompted the organisers at UX Australia to create this conference. They noted, that over the past few years the prevalence and relevance of Agile methodologies amongst the UX community was on the increase – and it is high time we all start thinking about how to weave the two together.

 The Line Up

After a ridiculously delayed flight, followed by slow going Sydney traffic, I made it to the conference – only 30 minutes late – just in the nick of time to catch my colleague and UX mentor Ben Melbourne (ThoughtWorks) on the stage delivering the keynote presentation. Though I missed a portion of his talk, the key take aways were –

• Engaging stakeholders and the development team early using collaborative design
• Rapid production
• Conducting lightweight research
• Rapid iterations
• Asking for more time
• Communicating progress through regular showcases

Next up, Andrew Green (Cogent) followed the footsteps of Leonardo Da Vinci as a modern day UX’er; a humorous way to approach discussing how things can – and do – go wrong when attempting to work UX / Agile. The overarching theme of his presentation was around doing ‘just enough research’, making the point that every hour spent on research is lost in design; he then went on to speak about getting people interacting and talking, rather than spending hours with headphones on wire framing or prototyping – collaboration is key. Just as important is removing boredom from work – make the environment fun and engaging; around 66% of Cogent’s wall space is whiteboards. Same goes for eating, sleeping and going home on time – to give your best, you must first take care of yourself.

He recommended Steven Pressfield’s book – Do the Work http://www.stevenpressfield.com/do-the-work/

The next highlight of the day for me was Jay Rogers (Atlassian), who quoted (though didn’t claim to have coined!) that “Agile is a culture, not a process”, this really resonated with me: I feel the developers of ThoughtWorks really embrace and live this already – and as designers, this is probably a paradigm that needs to shift.

The final and most enlightening speaker of the day for me was Vanessa Kirby (SEEK). Last spot of the day is always a tough one – audience attention spans are usually severely waning at this point; however Vanessa’s charisma and energy was infectious. Her standout quote was “there’s more than one way to sketch a cat”, which relayed her message that UX and Agile can – and will – be done in ways that best suit the team, the company and most of the all – the users. Other stand out quotes were: “Guidelines are not straight jackets“, “You’re not alone – you don’t have to be good at everything“, and “enable foolishness – inhibition is a huge blocker“. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed her presentation – definitely ended my day on a high note!

 Vanessa Kirby, SEEK

ThoughtWorks received brilliant exposure – being the key sponsor of the event. Our brand was displayed prominently at the front of the stage, and the book and quiz competition throughout the day was a hit (as were the frisbees!). The tone of voice was spot on – not over bearing, but gave the subtle message that we are doing this Agile UX thing, and we’re growing this arm of the business. I love a good soft sell, and we executed this well in my (very biased!) opinion.

My musings: It seems it is possible for Agile and UX to cohabitate; however communication and collaboration are king when it comes to working with the teams – and both parties must ultimately have the users requirements at the centre of the project. Likely not much of a surprise to most, however for me, it was nice to have this discussed in a more formalised way.

 SWAG!

Bigger. Better. Faster. Stronger.

The ‘ER’ Obsession

MEDIA INFLUENCES ON GENDER

The effects of the media on women has been a widely discussed and researched topic – resulting in much action and supporting of women to help change the face of the media, forcing a more realistic portrayal of women (for the most part – there is still a long way to go). But what about the effect media has on men? Traditionally, there have been generalizations made that ‘real’ men don’t let things affect them or have influence over them. However, more recent times have lead to realization of the issue that men are in fact being influenced in ways women have been in the past.

According to Wood (2011), the way men interact with media is different to that of women. Men will typically use media to –

• Accomplish tasks
• Men are more likely to read papers and watch television to gather information
• Regard media as an entertainment source
• More likely to play video games that are more violent in nature
• Post more videos online than females

Over the years, the portrayal of men in the media has changed vastly; these changes are clearly apparent when looking at the evolution of the super hero:

Has this unrealistic portrayal of the male body influenced the occurance of hypermasculinity?The images show just how dramatically the superheroes have morphed over the years. They have become larger, more exaggerated and leaner beyond to realms of the ‘real’ human body.

Hypermasculinity is the emphasis on physical strength, aggression, body hair, body odor and virility. Studies of hypermasculinity were first conducted by Donald L. Mosher and Mark Sirkin in 1984, only roughly 20 years post the introduction of television into society.

Aside from hyper masculinity – particularly extreme muscle development and extreme leanness – the media is now also involved in ridiculing those who don’t’ conform with this set image.

This completely demoralizing image was aired on television ads during the US Superbowl game. The image depicts two thin, emaciated men with the slogan ‘I surrender’. According to news sources, the ad was aimed at men who were not watching the Superbowl.

McCombs & Shaw (1972) shed light on this phenomenon through their Agenda Setting theory. The theory suggests that the media don’t necessarily tell us what to think, they tell us what to think about… Are you being influenced by the media?

Collective Disruption

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. These names brandish celebrity status in the social networking world, and have fast become a household name to most in Western society and beyond. Wind back the clock 10 years, and the prolific impact these networks have had on society would be almost unimaginable.

Computer mediated communication (CMC) arguably now dominates over all other forms of human interaction – creating channels of communication across two or more individuals that transcends space and time like never before. Technological developments in CMC have advanced the world and communities by encouraging cross-pollination and dissemination of information and ideas. In his book The Artificial Ape, Timothy Taylor discusses ‘entailment’, relating to prehistoric artifacts having multiple meanings: mammoth ivory for a human limb or a lump of limestone to signify a woman for example (Taylor 2010, page 149) – Taylor suggests that some artifacts were used in place of or example to demonstrate a point or story. We see this translated to modern times; a semi colon and a bracket for a smile : ) Our communication is evolving to adapt to this new environment or TechniCulture.

In 1978 Boorstin theorized that “electronic communication would bind  nations in to a new form of community”. Without doubt, the Internet is the number one culprit we must hold responsible for the facilitation of electronic communication.

According to the Internet World Stats Online website, there are currently over 6.9 Billion internet users across the world – with Asia, Europe and America dominating the world share – equating to a 528.1% increase in usage since 2001. The world Internet penetration rates are lead by North America – with a 78.6% geographic penetration. Compare this with Africa, which is a mere 13.5% penetration.

In Australia, the importance and significance of the Internet is given perspective with the NBN project. The project is set to implement optic fiber, fixed wireless and satellite technologies to 93% of Australian homes, schools and businesses across the country in the next 10 years. The Australian Government is set to spend $35.9 Billion on this implementation, with the overarching goal of becoming one of the worlds leading digital economies.

The Internet has created a plethora of online networks. McLuhan (1964) suggested that as electronic communication evolved we would live in a boundless ‘global village’, this ‘village’ being the infinite series of connections across the world through networks. According to the ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, 2012), a network “is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information”. The value of a communications network to its users rises exponentially with the number of people connected to it (Brand, 2011).

Social Media Networks clearly dominate the stage with the global top three being Facebook, Blogger and Twitter. Social networks have changed human interaction forever, creating worldwide connections that span across cultures and societies. Over 65% of the worlds population have sent a message or uploaded photos to a profile (Smith, 2011).

From these networks comes great knowledge – and ergo we have Collective Intelligence. Collective Intelligence is a concept that pertains that more minds are better than the individual; a collaborative approach to information generation and creation is far better than singular efforts. In his book, Collective Intelligence, Pierre Levy argues for the development of collective intelligence. He states, “Collective intelligence will become the source and goal of other forms of wealth, open and incomplete, a paradoxical output that is internal, qualitative and subjective”.

What has this meant for businesses, specifically recruitment? With the advancement of technology, networking has become far easier – making the war for talent (a term coined by Stephen Hankin in 1997) even more gruesome.

Traditionally, recruiters would rely on candidates approaching them via advertising, referrals or word of mouth. Recruiters would build their network via a series of paper-based data files – a laborious and tedious system that if neglected, would soon become out of date. Search and recruitment process times could vary from anything from 30 days to longer… with some tales telling of +185 day recruitment processes.

Nowadays, the landscape has completely changed. Good recruiters no longer solely rely on traditional search methods – they have woven in new media strategies in order to attract, hunt and ultimately recruit the best talent – globally. It is not uncommon for a headhunter to be a ‘virtual recruiter’ with no set base or office to report to; they simply have their laptop, an internet connection, a Skype account and premium access on LinkedIn. They vet and develop relationships via Skype, and source their candidates from blogs, Facebook, Twitter and more. The average recruitment process for one candidate is anything as low as one day.

This has also significantly impacted the candidate landscape – particularly older, less tech-savvy generations. With the market now moving at ever increasing velocity, job seekers must adopt the latest and greatest in technology in order to stand out from the crowd – and secure their ideal job.

A great example of a candidate using digital media channels to his advantage is that of Alec Brownstein, a New York copywriter. Alec bought inexpensive ads on Google, to be triggered whenever the names of the five top agency creative directors were typed into the search engine. He was selected for interview by all of them, and was made jobs offer by two of the agencies.

This is just one example of many: people are developing innovative and creative ways to individualise themselves from the competition; so if you’re yet to land your dream job – GET DISRUPTIVE!

SMH.

References:

Flew, T (2008). New Media, an introduction. Oxford Press, VIC Australia

Internet world stats. Retrieved from:

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Taylor, T. (2010) The Artificial Ape. Palgrave MacMillan New York, NY

The national broadband network, retrieved from:

http://www.nbn.gov.au/about-the-nbn/what-is-the-nbn/

http://www.nbn.gov.au/about-the-nbn/

The Alliance of Telecommunications Industry Solutions. Retrieved from:

http://www.atis.org/index.asp

J Brand (2012), Lecture Slides 2012 – week 7

Smith, T (2011) Social Media Usage. Retrieved from:

http://wearesocial.net/blog/2011/06/world-map-global-social-media-usage/

Image: Buck, S. World Social Networks – infographic. Retrieved from

http://mashable.com/2011/09/23/world-social-networks-infographic/

Levy, P (1999). Collective Intelligence: Mankinds Emerging World in Cyberspace. Robert Bononno

The war for talent. Retrieved from:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_war_for_talent

Adventure Racing

Another 2012 mission: step into the intensely challenging world of Adventure Racing http://www.adventureraceaustralia.com.au/what-is-adventure-racing.php. I am yet to sign up for a challenge, however am aiming to do so very soon…

As a taster, I went for a trail run in the local reserve yesterday. Given the recent rain followed by a hot spell here in Queensland, the bushland was particularly dense and ‘alive’ with a wide variety of native wild life. I encountered a (dead) snake, several wallabies, birds, mountain bikers, spider webs – even a group of teenage guys taking their 4×4 for a spin on the rough trails.

I was going strong for the first hour, however found that at around the 1 hr 15 min my knees started aching slightly. I also found that I was lost! (note: must get a map and compass!). After running for around 20 minutes in what I thought was the right direction, I came across a dense swamp… I ran along it for another 2KM’s, only to decide that the best course of action would be to turn around. By this point, I had gone about 15 minutes out of the way – and back tracking cost another 15 minutes. A great learning and I’m grateful it was only training – and that I still had a few hours of sunlight to work with.

Eventually, I emerged from the bushland about 8KM’s from home. A quick phone call and dad came to my rescue. I am certainly feeling the pain today – lots of stretching and active recovery is on the cards for the next few days. Still, 2 hours 15 minutes and 17KM’s of trail running isn’t a bad first hack.

The bushland all looks the same...

7 Days

New year, new goals. I have grand plans for you, 2012. I have etched these plans of the pages of my little black (and gold) book – they are committed to the record, so there’s no chance of forgetting, failing or forgoing. Likely one of the most ambitious of the series is the “7 Days” goals. Devised collaboratively with my partner in crime is a list of 12 challenges – one for each month, lasting for a period of 7 days. Each challenge is designed to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones and hopefully, to learn more about ourselves – all the while breaking up the monotony of everyday life. Here they are:

• January: Alcohol free
• February: run challenge
• March: yoga challenge
• April: Live below the Line http://www.livebelowtheline.com.au/
• May: 8 hours sleep per night
• June: 7 Days of Love: write a note to someone you love, telling them why they are special
• July: cycling challenge
• August: 7 days of culture: ballet, opera, film, theatre, museums, galleries
• September: Refined sugar free
• October: Ocean swims – a daily dip in the ocean
• November: 7 strangers: must engage in a conversation each day with a stranger
• December: 7 days of learning: pick the top 7 toughest / most interesting challenges and write about what was learned

Of course, there are rules that accompany these and loop-hole seeking is strictly forbidden! Participants must blog about their 7 days on the Sunday of completion. As failure isn’t an option, there aren’t any excuses or exceptions.

The first challenge to kick off the year – Alcohol free 7 days – has been a nice ‘soft start’. Given all the cocktails consumed on a recent jaunt to Thailand, I’m quite sure my blood stream is still running gin and tonic. I may need to re-visit this challenge again later in the year to claim really conquering it…

The little Black & Gold Book of Goals

Of all the challenges, I must say I am fairly apprehensive about the Live Below the Line… being a material girl in this consumer world, I’m not quite sure how it is even possible to live for $2 per day – it will undoubtably be the toughest of the challenges for me. I am most looking forward to the Love and Strangers challenges.

So, stay tuned – daily updates throughout the 7 days of each month will be publicised via Twitter: @Ulterior_Woman.