Do Web Based Technologies Enhance Professional Practice?

On the first campus session we were faced with the question - Do web based Technologies enhance Professional Practice?  In groups we tackled the question and produced a presentation with what we thought.  I felt that working in a group and attending this campus session helped me to be more involved and I feel I contributed well to the group with thoughts and views that I would not produce on my own.  The environment helped me to produce my own thoughts and then develop them in discussion with other peoples views. 

First we brain stormed the definition of each word so as a group we had an understanding of the meaning of what we were being asked!

Web Based Technologies
Search Engines                        Online websites
Media Devices                          Blogs
Flickr                                          Spotlight
Internet                                      Twitter
Skype                                          MSN
Email                                          Facebook
Social Networking                  Reviews Sites
Google Docs                              You Tube

Enhance
Progressing with time
Improving
More opportunities
More options
More auditions
Keeping up to date

Professional Practices
Spotlight
Career
Life
Marketing
Projecting Yourself
Managing your career
Conducting yourself

We then looked at the question in a format that we separated in to a For and Against so we could define which web based technologies could and could not enhance our professional practice.  Here is what we produced:-

For
Casting websites - More opportunities, More jobs
Social networks, Facebook, Twitter - Build yourself a reputation, reader and creator
It's International, Global - can communicate with people all over the world, opens up job opportunities
Emails - quicker, faster, greener
Reviews - Good reviews equals good publicity allowing more opportunities
Skype - cheaper methods to communicate worldwide
Search engines - allows a wider area to search, more opportunities
Communication - More access to communications

Against
Social networks, Facebook, Twitter - need to consider professional and social, could get yourself a bad reputation
Reviews - If a review is bad, then its bad press which can limit opportunities
Casting websites - Defining between real and dodgy sites, can lead to unprofessional jobs
Permanent - What goes on the Internet can not be removed, it's permanent
Search engines - Can filter the wrong information before the best
Hacking - Your information or information you've read could of been tampered with
Reliability - How do you know if the information you gain is correct or reliable
Accessibility - Without computer and Internet access it's very difficult to access these web tools

After our thoughts were down in front of us we could see that a few of the web based technologies fell in to both categories, for and against, as they each had positive and negative aspects to them in relation to our professional career.  We focused our investigation in to 3 specific areas to discuss and use in our presentation:-

1. Casting websites
2. Search engines and email - Gmail
3. Social networks

1. In relation to casting sites, these give the professional a good amount of information on jobs, auditions and castings that are around at that time.  In a way it opens up opportunities and alot more jobs use these sites now to advertise rather than 'The Stage'.  However there are so many casting sites out there now so how do you know which is the best to use and what information is safe.  Also some casting sites charge to see the information in full and to put your profile online, so you need to learn and assess which casting sites are legit and which best suits you for your line of work so you don't lose money. 
2. In the professional world we rely more and more each day on search engines and emails to help us with our work.  They are vital in our everyday work whether it's to research in to information ready for auditions, to search for locations or to email agents and future work prospects.  Emails are quicker than the original letter sending, they are instant and greener.  However all these resources can be difficult without an Internet connection or access to a laptop.  This I have already experienced at the beginning of the course when I had recently moved house and was in the process of organising the Internet connection, it became difficult to almost impossible to send emails and blog.  So the resources of emails and search engines are an asset to professional careers if accessible. 
3. Social networks have been used and developing for many years now, with names like Facebook and Twitter growing everyday.  I have used my Facebook account to socialise with friends and family and it's a great way to stay in contact with everyone.  However you have to be very careful as what goes on to the internet stays on the internet and cannot be deleted.  You need to manage your account as you do not want to paint yourself in a bad light or give yourself a bad reputation.  We discussed as a group that it would be difficult to let an agent for example to connect with you on a social network as these cannot always portray you in how you wish to be seen in your profession.  But as a group we agree social networks can be an asset, enhancing your career so therefore you could create a specific professional profile. 

As a group we came to the conclusion that web based technologies do enhance you professional career, they help to give you and your career so much more - more contacts, more auditions, more paths to take within your career and overall more opportunities.  However we believe it is all down to 'Professional Management', this is the key.  It means that web based technologies can enhance your career but it is down to your own professional management to how you use them, taking care not to fall in to the wrong sites and bad information. 

Overall we believe that web based technologies do enhance professional practice with the involvement of your own professional management. 


Please take a look at the presentation my group produced on power point, and also the recording for you tube on our key points and let me know your opinions on if web based technologies enhance professional practice?