Task 3d Critical Questions and Issues that emerge

I decided that rather than just posting comments on other people's blogs I would write a quick overview of what I have been finding out about everyone!
What has interested me the most is how similar all of our Sources are, obviously some differences have arisen between those students who are more performance based and those who are dedicated to teaching however one source nearly all of us have written about is our invaluable web 2.0. I wonder if there are other students who remember the days of 'snail mail' as the only way to send out your CV?  I always used to dread writing the covering letter as one paragraph on a blank page looked awful, however when we email out our CV and photograph a simple paragraph for an email is more than acceptable, rather than a ramble on about unimportant information to fill a page of A4!
+georgie bird states,

Over time, the top five sources obviously adapt and change due to trend and reliability'
 

I find this statement to be a brilliant example of this.  Imagine if I was still using 'snail mail' to send out my CV and photograph because that's what I had always done and been told to do.  At college I was taught that email was an impersonal way of contacting people.  Moving with the times and Keeping up to date is critical in this industry, not only in the way we connect with people but also in keeping ahead of the trends.  Music, videos, events and trends change almost daily which is why I listed the media as such a valuable source of information to me. 

Another source of information I listed was our Bapp blogs, learning from each other and at times critiquing each other is so valuable to this course.  A perfect example of this is +ANASTASIA Hadjigeorgiou who has listed LinkdIn as one of her most valuable sources of information, she only learnt about LinkdIn from a fellow pupils blog and yet it has become invaluable to her.  How brilliant that our student Network is providing such invaluable information to each other.

One source that I hadn't given a huge amount of thought to was my Mobile Phone, however many students have listed the trusty mobile as a valuable source to them.  This has made me think somewhat as I would be completely lost without mine, not only can I access the Internet remotely but I have direct access to Youtube, Facebook, my email account, my phone book, 'The Stage' and of course the trusty Googlemaps.  +Bobbie Pingram lists 'Apple' as one of his most valuable sources of information.  Although I am not a dedicated brand ambassador to any company it is interesting to see that Bobbie gains so much from one brand it has become completely invaluable to him. 

It is probably not worthy of my top five most valuable sources however the Blogger spellcheck has proven itself to be invaluable to my Bapp learning!

Task 3c Sources of information

The Internet
As we have previously discussed the importance of web 2.0 I have to list the Internet as possibly my most important source.  I use the Internet to promote, connect, search, research, purchase, share and learn.  When I think about how much I use the Internet I wonder how I managed to find auditions when I first graduated and the Internet was not used so much and definitely couldn't be used on my phone! Now if my trusty A-Z of London is failing me, whilst I look for the unusual audition location, I can always use the Internet from my phone to find my way!
Promote; I use websites such as Dance cast and Spotlight, to promote myself as a dancer.  With these websites I have a personal on line profile that employers can view.  When I receive a casting through one of these websites I know my information has already been viewed so the employer should know more about you than with some open auditions.  Whilst using these websites it is important to ensure your profile is always up to date and professional.
Connect; It is important to remain connected with employers, colleagues and friends.  I don't like to view these connections as contrived in anyway, I stay in contact with people I get on with and my friendship is never built from a thought that this person might be able help me.  Websites such a Facebook are ideal for staying in contact with people.  When working abroad and on Cruise ships Facebook has allowed me to maintain my connections.  The other benefit of a website like Facebook is that when working all over the world I have managed to stay connected with friends from different countries.
Search; Search engines such a google are of paramount importance when looking for information.  Many times I have been in the infamous audition queue and overheard or been told about companies.  Being able to search for these companies to gain information is very important to me.
Research; The Internet is brilliant for researching information.  As professionals we are constantly searching for that nugget of wisdom that will set us apart from the rest.  As a performer I like to research companies I am auditioning for or might audition for, character breakdowns for castings, story lines, songs, monologues and shows.  As a student I research subjects and topics we cover on the course.  Of Course websites such as wikipedia and youtube are probably most valuable for my research, but as always we must remain 'Net Savy' when researching and remember not everything we read may have true value or substantial evidence behind it.
Purchase; This may seem an unusual statement but when preparing for an audition or show I often use the Internet to purchase things I will require.  For example backing tracks, sheet music, appropriate clothing and dance shoes.  Preparation is key to success and even if an audition has been sprung on you last minute sheet music can be bought and downloaded immediately from the Internet.
Share; As a dancers I use the Internet to share my profile's, videos, pictures and vocal clips.  Sharing is an important part of promoting yourself as a performer.  As students posting are blogs we are also ahring our views and opinions on the topics we cover.
Learn; I use the Internet in many ways, the result of researching and searching is often learning.  The Internet can and does enrich my learning experiences.  I think this is most easily demonstrated with the way we Bapp students have chosen to study.

Face to Face
I feel often face to face connections can be forgotten but are often more valuable than any other form of networking.  When we speak to people face to face we are often more open and free to give honest opinions.  I tell my friends face to face things I would never post on the Internet, for example if a friend asks me how I enjoyed working with a company I had not had the best experience with, I would not want to share that on the Internet for fear of recrimination, however face to face I could give my honest opinion.  Face to face connections are also important as a greater percentage of our communications are non-verbal.  I believe when speaking to an employer they only get a true sense of who you are when they meet you face to face.  In the same way that a sales person would show a customer what they are selling I think it's important a potential employer gets to meet me.

Literature
Although a greater amount of my research is done on line there are some publications I would not do with out.  Each week I receive 'The Stage' Newspaper, I know many of my friends have saved the annual £100 and opted for the one off payment of £1.99 for the audition app, but I believe the newspaper holds more information.  I still check the website, but each week when I receive the newspaper I am kept up to date with the latest reviews, shows, auditions and general 'goings on' of the industry.  Another publication I could not do without is my annual 'Contacts' book.  Contacts is a book that lists contact information for many companies, casting directors, photographers, colleges, teachers, agencies and agents.  Contacts is released annually and has become my industry version of the bible.  I could not do without Contacts it is a truely valuable resource.

The Media
Keeping up to date with the goings on of the world is absolutely critical to the entertainments industry.  Everytime a big event happens it influences choreographers, directors and writers to create new works.  When we look at the big events from the last year it is easy to see that the world around us changes what people want to see at the theatre. 
For example;

12th February 2012, Whitney Houston dies, 5th December 2012 The Bodyguard opens on London's Westend.

3rd July 2012; Chariots Of Fire opens in the Westend, 27th July 2012, London 2012 Olympic Opening ceremony takes place.

I think keeping up to date with The Media is critical when keeping up to date with the entertainments industry.

Bapp Blogs
As a student studying as a distance learners I would be lost without the Bapp blogs.  With a course like this it is easy to feel you have grabbed the wrong end of the stick and it is so easy to pop online and see that you are approaching things the same way as others.  I use the Bapp blogs to reassure myself but also to discuss the issues and topics that are covered in the course in the same way that students studying directly at a university may discuss their work over a coffee.  It is also a great way of sharing information that others may find useful, many students have added videos or pieces of literature and news articles which have been of interest or opened a new angle of looking at our topics.

Task 3b Theories Relating to Networking

I found reader three, 'The networked professional' quite difficult to understand initially.  Ideas surrounding Networking are not something I have ever thought about previously.  Through the reader I have found that networking is an important part of any professional practise, however I have never given it any serious thought.  I do not believe I use or participate in my Professional Networks fully, in gaining an understanding of how others use them I am beginning to see where I can improve and learn from more established practitioners.

The reader looks at five concepts of Professional Networking, understanding and finding the ways I use these concepts has been both engaging and eye opening.

Cooperation

Cooperation can be defined as the process of working or acting together for a mutually beneficial outcome.  We see cooperation all around us, organisms form food chains and Eco systems, people form families, tribes, cities and nations.  What do we gain from being involved with these cooperative formations?  I believe as human beings we tend to naturally cooperate.  The need to be involved and help others seems part of our genetic make up.  Looking through history humans have always formed communities, these communities make us stronger and able to help each other.  Cooperating and sharing information for the good of the group is part of our daily lives.

Mathematicians have developed a set of ideas known as Game theory (the will and way to win) as a means to tackle problems including, sociology, economics, international relations and biology.  Robert Axelrod was a particularly influential researcher in this field.  Axelrod looked at the patterns that emerged  from playing the computer game, 'prisoners dilema'.  Axelrod suggests through his research that the most successful strategy during the game was a simple 'Tit for Tat' approach (Axelrod, R 1984).  The 'Tit for Tat'  strategy starts with the players cooperating with each other and then simply doing what the other players do to you in return.  This 'Tit for Tat' theory interests me as it seems slightly contrived, surely to get the most from our networks we should be a positive contributing member and not constantly looking over our shoulder waiting for someone to stab us in the back?   However there have been times within the entertainments industry when I wish I hadn't been so open as people have happily used my contacts and assistance and then never returned the favour. 

From a dance perspective I can most easily explain cooperation by looking at pas de deux.  During any pas de deux or partner work two bodies must work together to form the choreography.  The male dancer may be lifting the female dancer, but the female dancer must hold her muscles and use her elevation to assist the male lifting her.  Both partners must have the same understanding of the music so their timing is completely unison.  When a lift does not work well, who's fault is it? Does either partner blame the other or do they work together to perfect the lift?  In cooperating the dancers both mutually benefit from dancing and performing together. 

Personally I believe there are times when I cooperate and times when I go my own way.  When working I am an active member of the team, cooperating and working together to create great performances for each and every person involved.  However when in times of seeking work i think I take more of a 'Tit for Tat' approach, I will always help my friends and colleagues where I can, however having been burnt in the past I do not share information and contacts with people that I feel will abuse my kindness.  The entertainments Industry is a small world and sometimes recommending the wrong person can reflect badly on you.

Affiliation
The field of Social phsycology has developed the concept of affiliation to explain how people enjoy and benefit from close relationships with other humans.  The main principle of affiliation is homoeostasis (O'Connor and Rosenblood, 1996).  Homoeostasis suggests that our need for affiliation differs from person to person, some people require high levels of social interaction and others require much lower levels.  Individuals may need to maintain their own privacy levels, Hofstede (1980) suggests that this balance of affiliation and personal privacy levels may differ between cultures. It seems that our need to affiliate alters at different stages of our lives.  This is most easily explained in the reader from the following extract;

Extract from Crisp, J and Turner, R (2007), pages 266-268

'The tendency to affiliate is something people have from early on in their lives.  Larson, Csikszentmihalyi and Grief (1982) found that adolescents spent about 75 percent of their waking time with other people.  Such sociability appears to yield benefits.  Teenagers were happier, more alert, and more excited when in the company of others than when alone.  In contrast, a lack of affiliation may have a lasting negative impact.  In research among children raised in orphanages a lack of social and physical contact adversely affected the ability of the brain and of the hormonal system to cope with stress (Gunnar, 200)'
 

I believe that humans have a natural need to affiliate and form strong bonds with others.  Many of my friends and colleagues require differing levels of affiliation.  Personally I enjoy company but also enjoy being by myself, this has never been an issue for me, however when working on one particular cruise ship contract other members of my team did not understand my need for time by myself as they enjoyed spending their free time together as a group.  I am by no means a loner and very much enjoy time with my friends and colleagues but I do have to balance that with my personal 'time out'.

Relating affiliation to professional networking now seems like a natural development.  Our colleagues have the same interests as us as they are working in the same field.  This mutual ground and a natural, innate need for affiliation helps us to expand our current networks.  Having this common ground with other practitioners allows us to share and develop our understanding and learning. 

Social Constructionism
Social Constructionism is an interesting set of ideas that look to explain how meanings about the world are made.  Social Constructionism suggests that humans construct understanding of the world through their experiences of it.  This is an interesting concept as a performer because we constantly look to understand the industry we work in.  Many performers have gone to college and been trained by practitioners who are more experienced, however it is only as you experience auditions and employment that you begin to form a personal understanding.  When we engage in networks with fellow performers we try and understand our 'world', the 'world' of the entertainments industry.  This may be as simple as understanding an audition.  Many dancers and singers will head to a coffee shop after an audition and talk through with friends and colleagues what has happened.  Either a successful audition or unsuccessful, there seems to be a need to gain understanding of what the company were looking for and how and why they structured the audition in the way they did.  With our professional Networks it seems the more we put in the more we can get out.  Putting your opinion or thoughts across to other members of your Network may seem daunting initially but it contributing we may also gain from other people's knowledge as they may gain from yours.

Connectivism
Connectivism is the theory that seems to most relate to me as a student on the Bapp course.  The theory of Connectivism is about, 'learning influenced ideas about the organisation of learning and information' (Reader three)  In professional Networks Connectivism shows how the network can both learn and provide the means for learning. 

During the Bapp course all participants are expected to blog their ideas on each topic.  Each pupil posts their response to the theories set out in the course and also read and comment on other pupils blogs.  The Course leaders are providing us with the means to learn, but our personal level of engagement with our student network allows us to contribute to others learning and also learn from our fellow pupils.  I feel this is a modern way of learning compared to the way I was taught at school.  During my time at secondary school I feel I was given information and made to 'learn' it parrot fashion.  I may have had the information to pass my exams but I would question if I had a true understanding of the topics.  Personally when I started this course I was very worried about my ability to learn.  Having not continuously studied since leaving college I felt that my ability to 'learn' would have deteriorated.  I have since discovered that learning never ceases as we constantly learn from others around us as they learn from us. As it states in Reader three, Extract form Siemens, G (2009)

'Learning is a continual process, lasting for a lifetime.  Learning and work related activities are no longer separate.  In many situations they are the same.'
 

 Another quote from the reader that relates to my personal learning experience is ;

'Many learners will move into a variety of different, possibly unrelated fields over the course of their lifetime.'
 

I never could have believed that I would enrol on a course of education at twenty seven years old.  I thought my studies at Stella Mann college were the end of my learning experiences.  Now I see that my time at Stella Mann was just the beginning of my education, Bapp won't be the end for me either as I hope to go on to many new learning experiences.

Communities of Practise
Social Science has developed the idea of Communities of Practise as a means to explain the learning process as a process of engagement in social relationships.  This suggests that often our greater learning comes from informal situations rather than more formal teacher/pupil situations.  Communities of Practise are formed in many professional and social situations however they may vary greatly and change over time.  Sustained engagement with our communities of practise allows social learning to be developed within and between the members.  Personally I think that my greatest Community of practise is with my fellow performers who are also my close friends.  In this professional network our interactions are far more relaxed and informal than other networks I engage with.  I can trust my friends as they can trust me and the information shared is genuine and whole hearted.  Information such as how members are finding different companies they work for is shared socially without fear of recrimination. 

Looking at the course reader I have been drawn to look at these ideas personally and what they mean to me.  Anyone reading this blog may not agree with my thinking but until gaining an understanding of Networking it has not been a tool I have been conscious of.  As I develop as a practitioner I am sure my ideas will change and advance however I do feel my initial feelings will still have value.  Looking at other people's blogs I see that often as performers we share the same frustrations, gaining a fuller understanding of the tools available mean we can maximise our personal learning experiences and also learn from each other.