Will Knapman

Open access is an incredibly broad topic, and one that can incorporate almost every field of media production. I chose to use the music world to give perspective to the main issue that I discussed – open access in academia – and I felt this was effective, although it may have been slightly confusing as I had to explain my comparison to Joe. Continue reading →

I don’t listen to Taylor Swift. This means, in essence, that if I want to listen to music, I can probably find it on Spotify. And that’s great. As a student I pay a mere £5 every month for commercial-free listening to every song in Spotify’s extensive catalogue. Unfortunately, some people enjoy Folk-Pop and that’s where there’s an issue, because Taylor doesn’t agree with the way Spotify, and other services, value her craft. Continue reading →

I did not feel as engaged with this week’s topic as I had the previous three. I chose to continue exploring the theme of employment, and specifically the legality and morality of Facebook screening employees, prospective or otherwise. Some of my colleagues chose to take an entirely new approach to this topic, and, in hindsight I might have done the same, as I felt I perhaps limited the scope of what I could discuss. Continue reading →

Over the course of this blog thus far I have spoken at great length about the best way to present oneself to the melee of prying eyes in the digital world. However, one aspect of the discussion that we appear to have chosen to skirt around is the ‘ethics‘ of this barrage of scrutiny, and that’s because it’s a whole new can of digital worms. Continue reading →

I’ll admit, I approached this week with a sceptical outlook. At first glance, it seemed to me that I would be repeating much of what I said in the last topic, and following a guideline on creating a professional profile that appeared to be predetermined. However, as I progressed through my research and formed my own opinion I began to see ways to inject my own style and spin into the discussion. Continue reading →

In some ways I think we have an unfair advantage over the previous generation when it comes to employability. Continue reading →

It’s clear that this is a topic that divides not only personalities, but opinions. At the outset, I was quite clear in my belief that the sense of two-facedness in having more than one online identity is not worth the gain, but what I learned during the writing process and from my colleagues’ own posts and comments has helped give me a more balanced view of the matter. Not enough to change my mind, but to afford me a better understanding. Continue reading →

Online identity can be a problem. Much to the dismay of vast numbers of the online population, there is no real way to choose who sees which aspect of your online identity, which can be socially or professionally troublesome. So what is the solution? Should you create more than one online identity and flit between them when the need arises? No, you shouldn’t. In my opinion, and experience, at least. But I’ll get to that. Continue reading →

Our introduction to the Living and Working on the Web module was the task of explaining the concept of Prensky’s ‘digital residents’ and ‘digital visitors’, by which those born in the digital age are more digitally fluent than those who have had to adopt it, and whether or not these terms are pertinent. Researching and commenting on something which, on reflection, is an integral part of my own existence was a refreshing undertaking. Continue reading →

The idea of a distinction between digital ‘visitors’ and ‘residents’ is a strange one. The suggestion that there is a difference between those who merely adopted the digital age and those who were born in it, even moulded by it, seems fair. But what many attempted explanations and justifications of this rather blasé categorisation fail to appreciate is that the ‘digital’ is not a single culture, originating with the few and appropriated by the many. Continue reading →