Christopherson.+The+Divergent+Worlds+of+New+Media

=Christopherson, Susan. "The Divergent Worlds of New Media: How Policy Shapes Work in the Creative Economy." =

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"'New media' workers have joined the creative economy as digital designers, web page designers, and producers of entertainment products. Like many creative commodity producers, their work lies at the intersection of the technical (in this case code writing) and the expressive (through design). It reflects the tensions inherent in this intersection and the conflicts common to many creative workers who produce commodities but whose work also reflects some element of personal expression or authorship. The ways in which these tensions are resolved is central to the formation of new occupational and professional identities. Cultural economy perspectives offer us insights into the subjective experience of the tensions associated with creative work. They become more powerful, however, when combined with an understanding of the policy context in which new media has evolved. Drawing on both cultural economy and policy analysis approaches, I argue that while new media work emerged in conjunction with new technologies and reflects the tensions between technical applications and design, it also is a product of changes in broader regulatory frameworks that have shaped the work-world of new media. The 'regulatory difference' has produced considerable variation in the occupational identities of new media workers among advanced economies. In some economies, new media work is evolving in a form that is closer to that of the professional, whereas in the United States it is better described as an entrepreneurial activity in which new media workers sell skills and services in a market. To make this argument I examine findings from the growing bodies of international work on new media but focus on the particularities of the United States case. What this evidence indicates is that the character of new media occupations is defined as much by the policy context within which is emerges as by the technology it uses" (Christopherson 543). =====

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Christopherson's article focuses on the profession of a new media worker in the creative economies of the United States, Sweden, and Germany, as they are influenced by policies and other institutions within the workforce. She explains that new media captures the "tensions between technical applications and design" (544) and presents the primary difference between the field of new media in the United States compared to Sweden and Germany: in the U.S., the field is entrepreneurial, or governed by sales and business, while in Sweden and Germany, workers tend to align themselves with firms, creating long-term contracts and alliances, and their goals are largely based on cultural expression. Chistopherson targets three similarities between new media and other forms of creative production, stating that each is project based, which entails production, deadlines, and input by specialized parties, skills based, which encompasses differing goals of design and utility, and each poses the challenge of building a career, due to the nature of projects, the responsibility of the worker to continually develop new technological skills, and their obligation to be networked to find future jobs. The first aspect of new media identity, or production based on projects, allows for flexibility, temporary commitments, and imparts a measure of control to the new media worker over the firms they design for, but such work also creates unclear career paths, imposes unclear negotiation processes, allows for individual anonymity, and limits the individual designer's personal power over aesthetic and technical decisions. The struggle between employer and client regarding who is the creator is exacerbated by the designer's negotiation "between creativity and utility or profitability" (547), but in Germany, the field of new media desires delimited occupational boundaries and hierarchy of occupations. In Sweden, the majority of new media professionals, compared to U.S. new media entrepreneurs, experience better working conditions, as their long-term commitment to a company obligates their employer to contribute to their training, invest in their education, and listen to their opinion; this contrasts sharply with a New York City new media study, which revealed that 87 percent of United States new media agents are self taught. The profession of new media largely thrives due to personal connection, which aids a select few who are privy to affluent connections, and limits those who do not have access to such aid, meaning that classism, racism, and sexism are able to flourish, and, in some circumstances, when who you know overpowers what you know, a new media professional's job may be positively or negatively affected as a result. While new media in Sweden or Germany would be considered a conventional career, in the United States, many are willing to risk a career, constituted by a succession of short-term commitments to employers, because there is little job security in other careers, and because they value creative authority in their work. Ultimately, Christopherson asserts that in a creative economy, the consumer has the largest sway upon what constitutes artistry, and, therefore, while the new media professional's goal may be creativity, there may be no market for their version of the commodity. =====

On her purpose for writing:

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"Drawing on both cultural economy and political analysis approaches, I argue that while new media work emerged in conjunction with new technologies and reflects the tensions between technical applications and design, it also is a product of changes in regulatory frameworks that govern employment conditions and the media industries" (544). =====

 The importance of the context of new media:  "The available evidence indicates that new media work is being defined as much by the policy context within which it has emerged as by the technology it uses" (544).

 On the role of the new media "professional":  "Because new media professionals produce numerous types of information, communications, and entertainment products in a wide variety of settings, they cannot be encompassed within any traditionally defined industry. Instead, their activities should be seen as transforming conventional industries, including cultural and entertainment industries" (545).

 United States creativity commodities:  "Cultural products produced by media firms in the United States have been considered commodities to a much greater extent than in other economies where their significance in terms of cultural expression and civic engagement has been recognized by state support" (553).

 Creativity in the U.S. economy:  "And, in industries where customers make the sole determination of what constitutes quality or creativity, that standard almost always favors commodity value rather than innovation. In an economy made up of entrepreneurs, the creative worker may find that there is little scope for creative work" (556).

Kotamraju, N. "Keeping up: Web design skill and the reinvented worker." //Information, Communication and Society//, 5(1) (2002): 1-26.
 McChesney, R. //Rich media, Poor Democracy//. New York: New Press (1999). Print.  Pratt, A. "New Media, the New Economy and New Spaces." //Geoforum//, 31 (2000). Print.