Video Diary

After watching Mark's video diaries i have been inspired to make a video journal consisting of my developing thoughts throughout this course in relation to my professional practice. I find it far easier to talk or demonstrate how i am feeling rather than write in down!
Mark's videos were a fantastic insight into his world at the moment.
Here goes....

New Presenting Photos

I've recently had new photos taken and then played about with Windows Movie Maker to create a little stream...Let me know what you think...They are supposed to show my personality!

Portfolio 1

Hey People..
I'm sure everyone is busy writing their assignments...If your anything like me expressing everything i've learnt in 750 words is a challenge..
Anyway i found this website really helpful when writing my conclusion, so i thought i'd share it.
All the best!!

http://www.englishessays.org.uk/how-to-write-conclusion-essay.php

Sources of information

These are my five most used sources of information in my current professional practice.

Internet

The internet, although a vast category, is my primary source of information. It’s very rare that I’ll go to the internet to find some information and be unsuccessful. But as Hayley Jayne Bence said in her blog there are so many Web 2.0 technologies, so I could probably break these down into sub categories...

I choose this picture as, for me it puts the internet in perspective

Google – an excellent research tool

Emailing- (just the other day I dropped a presenter friend a line via email to see if he would be willing to cast his professional eye over my show reel, he responded within 48hrs!)

YouTube- Again another fantastic tool for researching. Over the past few months I have spent hours on end looking at other people’s show reel to try and learn from what they have done and develop unique ideas for mine.

IMDB- I constantly check IMDB to research directors, casting directors, producers and other actors. This gives you some insight into other shows directors have worked on and I’ve often just wanted to get a feel for their style of work before going to an audition.

Spotlight

Spotlight, although still an internet tool is another great source of information. Being between agents at the moment as I move my career from acting to presenting, Spotlight has become the number one way I here about auditions. Although it’s very different from having an agent (because I get sent through every kind of breakdown) Its highly beneficial for me to see what is currently being cast and the type of people that they are looking for!

The Spotlight team are great too, always happy to help with inquiries either over the phone or via email!

Agent/Talking to people

Up until a month ago my agent was another great source of information. As Ross said in his blog

Because my agent is better connected than myself and has a professional network that allows her to talk with people I wouldn’t be able to, this enable her to get me auditions that otherwise I wouldn’t be able to find (Ross Dunning, Sources of information blog, 2010)

Agents are invaluable in having access to information that you would otherwise miss.

Although I am looking for new representation in my new field of work, I still keep in contact with my previous agent and he still sends me through things he comes across that he feels I would be right for.

I have coupled this source of information, because in my current situation ‘talking to people’ has taken the place of my agent. By putting myself out there a bit I have been able to make some contacts that are great sources of information. In regards to what is ‘out there’ and how to go about developing myself as a presenter.

Contacts Book

The Contacts book is a great way of ‘finding’ people. This could be Agents, Casting Directors, photographers or theatres. I often use this is a starting point and then take it to the internet do dig deeper. For example, as I prepare to approach Presenting agents I will look up the agents in Contacts and then look up their website online to get a feel for who I am about to approach.

Watching TV

Ross made a really interesting point in his Soucres of information blog about staying in the loop of what’s happening in and around the performing Arts world.  I think that it’s extremely important to know what is going on, who is working and who your ‘competition’ is. There are many times when I have been to an audition and been asked ‘who is your competition?’ or ‘what was the last film you watched?’ There is nothing worse than pausing for 20 seconds and then answering with ‘Err....I don’t know’

Watching Television, although it’s not something I do a great deal of is a great way of staying in the loop of what’s current on TV. Who is casting and directing the shows I admire or aspire to be in? who are the presenters?, where are the holes in the market? After raising these questions I’d take it to IMDB or do some further research online.

Although I tried to keep these sources of information in order or importance, I have realised that much like my professional network of people, my network of information frequently crosses over. There are only a few sources of information that I use without joining them with another source to get the very best out it.

A Critical Reflection On Professional Networking Theories.

Having delved into the world of professional networking I am beginning to think that networks are as diverse, complex and unique as the human beings who use them. It's almost impossible to try and recreate your network to look like someone else's as it consists of different people, relationships and experiences. However it is beneficial to observe learn from other peoples networks and their networking theories.

In this blog I will critically reflect on the theories explored in the

course reader.

Cooperation

is closely linked with the Game Theory. Its origins lie in the desire to model games where one player succeeds at another's expense (The Networked Professional Course Reader, 2010. pg. 2) After reading this opening statement defining Cooperation and exploring Axelrod's TIT FOR TAT theory, at a first glance I couldn't help but think it was a little selfish. However i looked further into this and played an online game of Prisoner's Dilemma. I can see how this tactic of mirroring your opponents move, was successful in playing a game but am not convinced it would work effectively in my professional network.

For example if one party was going through a dry patch and had nothing to give the response would be to give nothing back in return! Thus becoming stuck in a rut...

However looking more closely at Axelrod's theory I came across altruism...
 An especially interesting form of cooperative behaviour is called "altruism" where it costs the individual performing the behaviour and benefits the recipient. Such "charitable" behaviour appears to go against Darwinian notions of evolution by natural selection on individual success, since cooperation should only evolve if the individual gets more out of it than they put in (http://bio150.chass.utoronto.ca/)
Reading about Altruism and reciprocal altruism, which is defined by http://www.everythingbio.com/ as 'an apparently altruistic behavior performed with the understanding that the recipient will reciprocate at some future date' (which sounds like Tit for Tat) helped me to understand a little bit more about cooperation however I'm still unsure about how or whether I'd like to build this into my Professional Network.
Affiliation
Affiliation is a concept that 'seeks to explain why humans for close relationships' (Crisp & Turner, 2007 pg 266) I guess this goes back to the very beginning... Adam had a perfect relationship with God but then God
said 'it's not good for man to be alone' and created Eve, his helper. Could this be the start of a social network?!
The question is raised in the course reader 'If experienced and influential individuals are likely to be at their preferred level of affiliation, why is it common for them to still assist younger, less experienced individuals?'
I think that our natural desire to be in relationship means that we value, on some level all the relationships we have. I personally delight in being able to pass on knowledge to a younger person or up and coming performer. I questioned why this is such a satisfying feeling and concluded that it could be for many reasons.. Possibly because I value the people who passed their knowledge and experience on to me and want to keep the cycle going. I also enjoy seeing others progress in advance in an industry I'm passionate about after all if they are learning or gaining from something I've already experienced then it takes nothing away from me! If i was the CEO of a large company it would probably be in my best interest to invest in a young intern as they may be the one to keep the business going long after I've left...of course this is just speculation. The other question raised was 'how do we attract those individuals into our professional networks that we wish to benefit from?'. I don't have a structured answer for this, but i could only draw on my experience as someone being drawn into others professional networks and to question why i would be willing to be part of a particular network or on the other hand the times when i would decline. For me it all boils down to the strength of the relationship i have with that person. This may only have been a brief encounter but the impressions they left of them self has quite a significant effect on my willingness to get involved in their network.

Connectivism
Connectivism is taking more and more president in our society with social media on the increase.

'Social media sites are a critical component in professional networking, career success, and career development going forward. Social media sites will play an increasing role in networking, career advancement, and professional success.' http://humanresources.about.com/od/careernetworking/a/social_media.htm (accessed 23.11.10) 

Connectivism provides an explanation about how networks provide the means for individuals to connect and learn from and within the network. (Course reader,2010, pg 8).
I have found that connnectivism plays a significant role throughout this course. Rather than being taught via text books and having to memorize facts and figures as some of us may have done in the past. The BAPP course very much allows us to see our tutors and the readers as nodes. As we interact with one another on our blogs, posting and commenting and developing our own lines of inquiry we create our own experience and are learning in quite a unique way. As Stephen Downes states

    "to teach is to model and demonstrate, to learn is to practice and reflect."
(Wikipedia, accessed 23.11.10)

For me learning in this way helps me to engage my brain and question what I am learning thus gaining a deeper level of understanding rather than just being fed information and regurgitating it at the right time.
Community of Practice
Learning as a process of engagement in social relationships. (course reader, 2010, pg15)
At a first glance I highly value the idea of communities of practice. Learning from others within a community can be as valuable as learning from your own experience.
Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. since we cannot experience everything, other people's experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge' Karen Stephenson, undated.
I wonder whether how effective it would be to be a part multiple communities? Or would you be able to expand your knowledge through being involved with many different groups and meeting a large volume of people?
The Industry Hangout that I mentioned in my last blog is an example of a community of practice i have developed in my professional network. We have all come together with similar interest(creative/entertainment business), but importantly for all of us their is no sense of selfish gain, this community has been primarily built on friendship so there is no risk of being 'stabbed in the back'. Karen Stephenson talks about trust on her website. Well worth a listen...
http://www.drkaren.us/KS_video01.htm
Trust is...'Underlying force that is holding together a network' (Stephenson, K. http://www.drkaren.us/ accessed 23.11.10)

References:
The Networked Professional Course Reader, 2010
 http://www.math.com/  (accessed 23.11.10)
http://www.everythingbio.com/ (accessed 29.11.10)
http://humanresources.about.com/ (accessed 23.11.10)
http://www.drkaren.us/ (accessed 29.11.10)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connectivism_(learning_theory) (accessed 23.11.10)

Developing and Nuturing my Professional Network

After reading other peoples blogs, in particular Laura Jane Weir's blog
where she quoted Ivan Misner, June 2010

"It's not what you know or who you know- its how well you know them that really counts"

 I decided to look more closely at how I am maintaining, nuturing and developing my professional network.
Here are two of the things that I have built in. The first is an
'Industry Hangout',
I got together with another actress-friend of mine and we decided to gather together a fist full of our close friends who are in the entertainment industry..singers about to launch albums, fashion designers, magazine editors/ writers, choreographers, actors and presenters. Some people I knew better than others and others were close friends of hers. We thought it important to invite people who we could trust, the objective being to 'hangout' once a month-ish to encourage one another and extend our networks.Sounds like quite an eclectic mix of people, doesnt it? However the outcome was brilliant. Choreographers connecting with artists.. Editors arranging interviews for their magazine and I connected with a girl who has a friend who works for MTV and another girl who has a friend working for Sky Sports who are willing to pass on my showreel.

The second idea was to keep my own 'Contacts' book. Keeping a log of significant people I meet, the date i met them and their all important contact details. In the hope that this will help me develop and maintain new professional friendships!
Has anyone got any other practical ways to extend and nuture our professional networks?

The Networked Professional

At the last campus session we began to explore the final part of this
module, The Networked Professional.
We were initially given 5 minutes to create a map of our current network.
I really had no idea how to approach this so I just began to write
down the different circles of people in my network, for example
friends in the profession, teachers, agents & casting directors...This
had no order or structure to it at all.
I remembered that in the past I had a conversation with a friend where
we'd categorised the types of friendships in our lives. I felt that
this would be a good way to bring some order to my chaotic network map.
Here is an enlarged version of what i doodled.

This concept revolves around the idea that there are people who you
receive from (mentor types), those you give to and those who you
equally give to and receive from (close friends who you can encourage).

The second part of the task was to share our ideas with another
person. I was paired with Nicholas who had a concise looking map and
had managed to make links between the people in his network. This idea
of connection later developed into a tube map. Check out Nikki,  Jo and
Nicholas' blog for more about that!
Whilst talking to Nicholas we came up with another way to look at our
network.

The idea behind this is that we are in the middle and there are
three circles around us. Inner circle- those in your close network (close friends and professionals on your level). The next circle is those who are important to your network but not people you would have a personal relationship with (casting directors, spotlight); and the outer circle represents those who are in your network in a purely professional capacity (someone who you may meet through a friend who is in the position you aspire to be in). Alan has named this 'The Ripple Effect'

The final part of the task was to work in groups of 3/4 to create a collaborative map that summarised everyone's ideas about their professional network and then give a 5 minute presentation.
I shared my doodles with the group and this was the skeleton for
our presentation. We began by looking at who and what
our networks consisted of and where they fitted into the structure we had created. This is what we came up with;

Receive

Casting Directors
Agents
Contacts book
Spotlight
Facebook
Teachers
People we meet with links to our desired job/industry

Give

Up and coming performers
Students
Younger friends
Charities

Equal

Friends in the industry or similar industries
Blogs
BAPP students
Past and present colleagues

We then began to look more closely into where and when these networks
are significant. We felt that networks are seasonal, as time goes by
your professional network will grow with you. This was most evident to me when we thought
about those who we give to. Four years ago I coached a 16 girl for dance school auditions, at the time she was someone in my network that I gave to. She has now completed her dance training and is working as a professional dancer in the West End. She has moved from being someone I knew on purely a
professional level (outer circle) to being a friend and someone who I could receive from as much as give to!
As we advance in our professional practice the number of people who we can give to will increase and the knowledge and experience we have to pass on will grow richer.

Adesola made a very valid point about our network not just being a
tool for us to get to where we want. I strongly agree, I think the
idea that we can give to others as much as we gain from our
professional network creates a healthy balance. At times we may be
able to act as more of a link between other people, by passing any opportunity for
personal gain other than being a good friend!
There has been a few occasions where a friend of mine, who runs a dance school, has been looking
for dance teachers and I have been able to connect her with someone I know
for a permanent job. Just the other day a friend of a friend called to ask for
dancers for a music video shoot that I was unable to do however i was able
to put him in touch with someone who I knew would be available for the job and appreciate the work!

Alan mentioned during the Plenary the importance of being a giver. 18 months ago I enrolled in a presenting course at GMA with Geoff Motley. He has been incredibly genuine and generous with his time long
after the course was complete. As a result I have been able to recommend others to his training course- hopefully resulting in more business for him!

There is a proverb that says 'The world of the generous gets larger and larger, the world of the
stingy gets smaller and smaller'
I think it's important to have a certain level of trust in your close network
but if we can be generous with our time and knowledge who knows where
it will lead?...
These are just my initial thoughts about my professional network and
look forward to uncovering more about the network I already have and
exploring ways of developing that network!