I’m backtracking here but the day after our workshop where we discussed the purpose of media, I went to work.
Not going to be the most riveting of posts in that it’s reflective of the constraints and issues that arise in the professional realm of media.
For the most part, I enjoy my job; creating content, photography and coordinating of this and secondary media for the university’s design faculty.
I am slowly getting students more involved in creative processes, working with them to create more content that gives them a voice within the university and always learning of new ways to effectively use social media to increase their engagement.
I am currently working with international clients for one of the professors at RMIT, which means that communicating is a little difficult.
You can have as many skype conversations, write all the emails you like but sometimes you’re just not going to see eye to eye.
Our aim as a university is to show the work of the students, lecturers and those involved – nourishing their minds with as many relevant articles associated with their projects but the client is much more interested in the monetary aspect of the eventual exhibition.
I suppose I should premise this by stating what the project involves – (I’m just running with the thoughts as they appear in my mind, instead of backtracking right now).
The project is for a Malaysian company wanting to develop a smart city in Johor, Malaysia.
They have teamed up with RMIT to create various studios based around the development, each to choose particular issues such as mobility, technology, knowledge or commerce, and work on those ideas and come up with solutions.
I take the photos, find articles, post them online, likes likes likes, share share share – you get the gist.
Our ideology is one that supports students. We want to publish works that are engaging and educational, as well as photos of students working, their work and their lecturers in the act of lecturing – that is to say, this is what we communicate with our media.
The clients, on the other hand, do not share our ideology.
Currently in the process of navigating these waters but there’s one thing that we both agree upon – media is a powerful tool.
‘With great power comes great responsibility’ – Uncle Ben.