This week lesson and readings of the class are focused on the topic of Liquid Labour. It is a new kind of labour seen today and is done by many people today. Basically Liquid Labour is the of character traits of a person, that ties in personal leisure and work together, this makes it hard to differentiate whether work and personal leisure are two separate different things anymore. Even in DIGC202 tutorial class, we discussed on Google which are one of the companies outside that's said to be one of the nicest place to work in today. Why is it? Google Corporation contains almost every facilities one can ask for in return for working in this particular company such Foosball, Beach Volleyball, Cafes, Bicycles or Scooters for efficient travelling within the Google company or much more known as Googleplex (nicknamed by Google and many more other facilities as well.
Perhaps this video can serve a better view of the Googleplex or Google company on the company's working lifestyle and the facilities provided by Google Corporation.
Coming back to the point of Liquid Labour, Google are one of the many companies which have it's people or family to have indulge in the works state of Liquid Labour. Nevertheless, look at our personal life as a student as well, especially today. We're all working on the assignments which requires us to access a particular information or data required, for example Blogs - We tend to blog on things we like, but now in degree we are using blogs as an education platform for students to share their knowledge as part of their assignment task which is the online presence. Twitter - social networking site for people to post up a short post update on anything they want to share about, but Twitter is now part of an education platform for students of DIGC202 to share their main points of their blog post and reply to tweets regarding on their main points from other students. As described the examples, is becoming more of a clouded term which differentiate between work and leisure.
Look into the reading written by Mark Deuze, "Liquid Life, Convergence Culture and Media Work" mentions upon few of the following key points. Firstly is Social Theory, second is Liquid Modernity and lastly Media work. Work and life are becoming together as one whole singular subject which in the sense that work is becoming a way of life. Especially today in the 21st century, as mentioned by Deuze "Work and life are becoming a factor which no longer be something that will be different, in fact the term of work and life are beginning to mix up, thus spilling into each other becoming more uncertain which are dependent on the characteristics of the other." A liquid life as mentioned by Mark Deuze, a life which is filled in with many uncertainty especially in ways we handle our work or live in our daily life.
Particularly this happen due to the rapid change of technologies which are improving overtime. Look at the few technology gadgets we have today, laptops, Iphones, Ipad, Smartphones, Blackberry, and many more. One characteristics shared by this gadgets we have is convenient and mobility. Work can be done anywhere today, which no longer requires people to head to offices to do their work there. Take a look at college students today compared to the past of 1990's, internet access is limited and mobility of having them to finish up their assignment are also limited as well. Student's are bounded to use the big personal computers or desktop computers which during that era only provide them with such technology and because of its size one can say. It is inconvenient for the student to bring along their work along to anywhere they want to go due to is inefficiency such as its mobility. Today is a whole new different story as mentioned earlier even using the mobile phone today, people can type out their work using their phone. Submission of assignment or work report can also be done using the internet platform that can be accessed globally today from any hotspots such as cafe's or restaurant providing WIFI connection or having the USB wireless broadband that allows people to connect from anywhere in the world as long its within the area of a telecommunication service "the phone line".
In addition, the liquid labor has allow people to communicate more efficiently as well. Instead of having to go through a specific centralized system such as the snail mail posting, today e-mail provides the platform for decentralized method of communication which allows people to deliver messages easier to one another. In companies is accustomed that, there is a certain hierarchical structure staffs has to follow in meeting. Even looking into education, e-mailing becomes a formal form of invitation which students has to do in order to set up a meeting with their lecturers instead of having to go through a reception and having to book a time for the meeting and confirm with the reception but not the directed person whom you want to meet. Communication can be more direct instead of having to go through people to people to people, causing the message to be lost or have different meaning when it reaches the particular person.
In conclusion, many barriers of labour especially can be overcome today, time, place, location, and many more won't be a drawback to people in completing their work. Liquid labour provides the perfect explanation of today's culture on the way people has start to deal things especially with labour task, everything today is moving at a fast paced structure whereby everything is on-the-go. Using back the traditional could lead to a fall back for individual in completing their labour task. Work and life can be said as becoming mutually as a whole as time goes by. It is becoming something, soon to be very clouded and hard to differentiate one another as time goes by every second.
Perhaps this video can serve a better view of the Googleplex or Google company on the company's working lifestyle and the facilities provided by Google Corporation.
Googleplex
Coming back to the point of Liquid Labour, Google are one of the many companies which have it's people or family to have indulge in the works state of Liquid Labour. Nevertheless, look at our personal life as a student as well, especially today. We're all working on the assignments which requires us to access a particular information or data required, for example Blogs - We tend to blog on things we like, but now in degree we are using blogs as an education platform for students to share their knowledge as part of their assignment task which is the online presence. Twitter - social networking site for people to post up a short post update on anything they want to share about, but Twitter is now part of an education platform for students of DIGC202 to share their main points of their blog post and reply to tweets regarding on their main points from other students. As described the examples, is becoming more of a clouded term which differentiate between work and leisure.
Look into the reading written by Mark Deuze, "Liquid Life, Convergence Culture and Media Work" mentions upon few of the following key points. Firstly is Social Theory, second is Liquid Modernity and lastly Media work. Work and life are becoming together as one whole singular subject which in the sense that work is becoming a way of life. Especially today in the 21st century, as mentioned by Deuze "Work and life are becoming a factor which no longer be something that will be different, in fact the term of work and life are beginning to mix up, thus spilling into each other becoming more uncertain which are dependent on the characteristics of the other." A liquid life as mentioned by Mark Deuze, a life which is filled in with many uncertainty especially in ways we handle our work or live in our daily life.
Particularly this happen due to the rapid change of technologies which are improving overtime. Look at the few technology gadgets we have today, laptops, Iphones, Ipad, Smartphones, Blackberry, and many more. One characteristics shared by this gadgets we have is convenient and mobility. Work can be done anywhere today, which no longer requires people to head to offices to do their work there. Take a look at college students today compared to the past of 1990's, internet access is limited and mobility of having them to finish up their assignment are also limited as well. Student's are bounded to use the big personal computers or desktop computers which during that era only provide them with such technology and because of its size one can say. It is inconvenient for the student to bring along their work along to anywhere they want to go due to is inefficiency such as its mobility. Today is a whole new different story as mentioned earlier even using the mobile phone today, people can type out their work using their phone. Submission of assignment or work report can also be done using the internet platform that can be accessed globally today from any hotspots such as cafe's or restaurant providing WIFI connection or having the USB wireless broadband that allows people to connect from anywhere in the world as long its within the area of a telecommunication service "the phone line".
In addition, the liquid labor has allow people to communicate more efficiently as well. Instead of having to go through a specific centralized system such as the snail mail posting, today e-mail provides the platform for decentralized method of communication which allows people to deliver messages easier to one another. In companies is accustomed that, there is a certain hierarchical structure staffs has to follow in meeting. Even looking into education, e-mailing becomes a formal form of invitation which students has to do in order to set up a meeting with their lecturers instead of having to go through a reception and having to book a time for the meeting and confirm with the reception but not the directed person whom you want to meet. Communication can be more direct instead of having to go through people to people to people, causing the message to be lost or have different meaning when it reaches the particular person.
Note to everyone:
All this information are for educational purposes only, feel free to share your opinions with me in the comment box and do share your thoughts are there anything you'll like to correct me on? add on? We are all learning =D
a good piece of analytical review bro. i like the point where in liquid labour the management is decentralized. This obviously provides a smoother information flow between staff and thus increases the performance of the company. As we all know a good communication is important in the business world. as the name indicates "Liquid Labour" sure does lubricates the performence.
ReplyDeleteGoogleplex, for me, is a "too-good-to-be-true" place to work. Somehow, it would need a huge motivation and determination for one to be able to constantly be efficient in his/her work and in the same time, to enjoy fully the awesome facilities that are provided in the company. Agree?
ReplyDeleteGreat analysis of the reading :) I personally feel that the whole idea of 'liquid labor' is a huge challenge for individuals. The challenge in balancing between work and leisure and also to achieve the best out of everything in the same time. I believe that no one will be ever to achieve such top-notch achievements in just a snap, and I believe that if the idea is utilized and managed well, it would be a great psychological training for individuals.
The question here - how to resist your own temptation or desire to work or to have fun while maintaining your efficiency in the responsibility entrusted to you?
Today's culture is breaking the border between work and leisure, like the way the idea of liquid labor is being implemented. Even culture is becoming challenge (smiles)
Thanks Kiru, even today we also can relate to the decentralizing method of e-mailing to our lecturers also can be looked as a decentralizing method of communication. It's definitely easier comparing to the centralized method. However There are their pros and cons in decentralized and centralized. In situation such as mailing, e-mail has the advantage over snail mail, but in corporations having to send an e-mail to the higher ranks might get lost such as having to many e-mails in the inbox of the particular person e-mail may cause him to ignore it, going there meeting up with the secretary of the organization and setting a meeting with the higher rank may get you the meeting you want with the higher ranks.
ReplyDeleteYes Su Wern, liquid labour is definitely an interesting concept and something we should learn as well. However, working in an enviroment which incorporates leisure facilities might get us distracted from our work thus instead of improving our work, it might make it worst. I agree with you totally on this, thus a balance has to be maintained or else efficiency will be affected, big time. Thanks Su Wern
ReplyDeleteHey Kok Han
ReplyDeleteGoogleplex felt like a campus then an office, i agree with what Su Wern said, it would require a lot of determination and focus in order not to be tempted from enjoying too much and forget about work.
I agree that "work and life are becoming together as one whole singular subject which in the sense that work is becoming a way of life", in today society,it is a never ending rat race and people seem to forget that other then working they have yet another life to fulfill. But thanks to liquid labor, we somehow have a more balance life now between work and leisure.
Ola Kok Han!
ReplyDeleteI love the 200 Second Googleplex Tour! It looks super great to be working there! I would say Googleplex would be the ultimate ideal spot for everyone's work place! You have dogs roaming around freely! Who doesn't want that!
Back to the point, you've related well on the key point and I'd like to add on from your examples, if I may?
One thing I have to say is that it is true that our work has become our playtime in a sense. Take a look at journalist or bloggers or photographers, they attend social functions and have the time of their life but at the same time, they're working! Whether it's updates on Twitter, or updates on blog or the website, it is still part of their work. Isn't this just sublime?
It is true that you've mention in time, these two concepts would be blurred and we wouldn't be able to differentiate them. What's more is that more and more people are working and having fun in the virtual world at the same time. This, in another perspective, might propose a problem because people would tend to get fixated screens that they abandoned their real life, a face-to-face affair.
One thing is also that people might easily be distracted since it's a two-for-one package deal with liquid labour. I suppose rather visible but faint traces can already be seen in our societies, especially college students, when procrastination is just another reason for using the Internet for addictive, fun purposes.
What do you think? Thanks for the reflection of the reading!