Tag Archives: life

My online identity

Posted on by
Reply

I signed up to Twitter in 2008. The now-defunct handle I used was @nadiatweets. I used this account as a personal (not private) chat room and news feed for friends that I had left behind in Singapore (born and bred), and people that I had met while I was travelling. I started out as a fairly passive user, but started gaining momentum as time passed, realising how good Twitter at being a training tool for myself as a writer. I wrote about my life, my friends, and people on the 86 tram. @nadiatweets was personal, engaging, and potentially humorous (debatable).

In late 2009, I signed up for another Twitter account, @ElliotOwl. This account was to be, in contrast, my ‘professional identity’. Alongside this account, I also set up a blog, delicious stacks, Vimeo and so on. I was very careful with what I posted across these different networks, as I wanted to be ‘professional’. I wrote about work, and only about work, and made no effort to inject any hint of my personality at all. I used Twitter to ‘engage’ with thought leaders in the digital communications space. By which, I mean that I did a lot of retweeting. A lot. I wanted future employers to see @ElliotOwl and be impressed by the depth and breadth of knowledge that I hoped I demonstrated in my writing and my research. @ElliotOwl was dry, boring, and robotic.

Fast forward a few months: I reviewed my stats. I had 30 followers on @nadiatweets, and 200 followers on @ElliotOwl. In spite of that, I had dozens of @ replies and DMs on @nadiatweets, but hardly the same could be said for @ElliotOwl. The total number of @s, DMs and RTs that I had collected in those few months could be counted on two, sad, lonely, poorly moisturised hands.

The conclusion? As much as we try to exist and co-exist in the online space and use it increasingly as a communication tool, people still want to know people. People want to interact with people. Employers still want to hire people. Not robots.

It doesn’t matter how much you know, how much you read, and how many Seth Godinand Clay Shirky quotes you’ve retweeted. Learning is easy. Reading is easier. Anyone can do a Google search, read a blog and claim to be an expert/guru/ninja of their chosen discipline. How do you make yourself stand out?

One crucial thing that we sometimes forget, given the incredible speed of which technology grows and develops, is that we are not, in actual fact, an astoundingly complex species. We all crave human interaction, on multiple levels. Even more so, I feel, in this present day where we sometimes prefer to send a text message than speak on the phone, or choose to ‘like’ a status update than meet an old friend for a coffee. We are losing ourselves in a sea of boring, soulless, robots.

The irony is that we try so hard to make ourselves more present by hiding behind a keyboard and a computer screen.

Go back to basics. Talk to somebody. Start a conversation. Make a friend.

I have since deleted @nadiatweets, and made @ElliotOwl my main channel of communication online. I still tweet about my life, my friends, and people on the 86 tram, but I no longer make a distinction between my personal life and my professional life. I connect to many friends, people that I work with, have worked with, and will potentially work with on a far more personal level than I ever have before. I now know their likes, dislikes, whether they are a dog person or cat person, their choice cafes and restaurants, and whether they are looking to hire. I am not ‘networking’ any more. I am making friends.

The result? An uncountable number of connections made with some very clever and interesting people, and a very satisfactory number of work and collaboration opportunities.

I have not written this blog post with the intention of encouraging you to make your personal lives more public. Certainly not. Instead, take a look at the content that you’re putting out there in your name. What does it say about you? What input have you given. Are these your thoughts, and your opinions? Are you putting yourself out there as a person, or a robot?

We’ve gone through the benefits of positioning yourself as a media practitioner in the online space time and time again; opens multiple doors, allows you to connect with anyone and everyone, breaking physical/geographical boundaries etc. Now it’s time to think about how we can put that in practice, in the best way that we can.

Questions? Feedback? Leave a comment, @ me at @ElliotOwl (#im212) or connect with me on LinkedIn.

-

Cross posted HERE

Share

Workaholics r us

Posted on by
Reply

It’s an atrociously busy week for me this week. I’ve got the standard, boring 8-5PM hours to plough through at the office, before I’m off for a slew of meetings and idea-brewing get-togethers with some talented folk. I’ll try to squeeze in some dinner midway, and if I’m lucky, I’ll try to get to sleep before midnight. Alas, things like eating and sleeping tend to get in the way while you’re trying to take over the world. The pesky little things.

But it’s okay. Snow White says, all I gotta do is:

Share

I’m back

Posted on by
1

Finally back on this space.

I’ve spent the last two to three months travelling quite extensively. My body has had to adjust to about ten different timezones in a span of about nine weeks. Not very fun. On the flipside, I’ve met so many great people and done so many amazing things in such a short time, I really can’t complain.

Some of the things I’ve gotten up to since November:

I seriously considered a career in screenwriting. A very dear friend of mine was/is adamant that I would make a great screenwriter. He is one of the most intelligent and creative people I’ve ever met, and I hold his opinion in high regard – even if he thinks that I don’t, sometimes. I’ve never written for the screen before, so I was a little apprehensive. In spite of that, I took up a refresher screenwriting course and got my nose into some really great books. That opened up a whole new world for me, as I began to discover a new way to look at and create stories. I found a few amazing resources that really helped me out and I consumed voraciously; absorbing and committing to memory every word. I flew up to LA in January 2011 with news that I might get a chance to meet a “hotshot TV guy” to make some beautiful TV babies together. Things didn’t quite work out as I’d expected, but I wasn’t disappointed at all. The fact that I was even offered a chance in the holy grail of film/TV was proof enough that I might actually have a shot at this industry – something I had only considered a “hobby” right up to that point. I like keeping my options open, and adding another potential career path to the mix wasn’t a bad thing at all.

From LA, I made my way to San Francisco, then to New York. I spent most of my time travelling alone, and making friends with some of the most interesting people. I am an awful, awful tourist. I have just about zero interest in visiting your standard tourist spots. I didn’t visit the Empire State Building, I didn’t stand on the Golden Gate Bridge, I barely spent any time on Hollywood Boulevard. Instead, I spent most of my time sitting in cafes and bars, having random conversations, talking about our lives and spilling secrets the way you can with a perfect stranger you’ll probably never meet again in your life. In San Francisco, I met an English girl who was on a six month travel sabbatical after she found her boyfriend in bed with her best friend. She regretted packing six Lonely Planet guidebooks instead of bringing a little WiFi friendly netbook with her. In Harlem, New York, I met a guy who plays bass in a great funk/soul band. He invited me to come watch his band play in a cute little bar, and we got drunk on cheap whiskey and bar nuts. In Los Angeles, I met a South African girl who had just been kicked out of her boyfriend’s house. She was a full-time au pair and loved drinking iced tea. I don’t remember any of their names, but it really doesn’t matter, and that certainly wasn’t the point.

A blizzard in New York delayed my flight to Japan, which in turn made me miss my connecting flight back to Singapore. I ended up spending a completely unplanned 24 hours in Japan, which, in spite of being a fairly frequent traveller, I was completely unprepared for. Let’s just say that anything that could have possibly gone wrong, did go wrong, and I was basically stranded in Narita City in the middle of winter without a coat, hungry and completely penniless. I was surprised by how optimistic and upbeat I was through the entire experience/ordeal though, given how I love a good whinge at the slightest instance (I’m Singaporean, it’s programmed in our DNA). The best part of it was that I got to bring home a great story for friends and family, and anyone else who would care to listen.

Since all that, I’ve moved my arse back to Melbourne-town, and have been slowly trying to settle back down. Getting back to work, and trying to get back into the swing of things. On impulse, I’ve decided that maybe I need a change of pace, and so have been seriously considering moving my life up to Sydney. What’s there for me? Nothing, really. At this point, anyway. I don’t know anyone there, but really, it doesn’t matter. A(nother) fresh start is what I think I need at this point in my life, and this just seems like a great way to get into it. That would all probably explain why I haven’t completely unpacked my suitcase yet, and am only staying at a mate’s place “temporarily”. In the meantime, I’ve been getting in touch with some great minds in Sydney, begging for a job (I may blog about this later – the feedback I’ve gotten for my cover letter has been nothing short of interesting). As some of you might know, I have been freelancing the last few years, but feel that I am ready to step (back) into big agency life. I’m excited to see how things turn out in coming months. Stay tuned.

Share

Splendour Detox

Posted on by
Reply

Splendour in the Grass

Splendour in the Grass

Splendour in the Grass

So it’s true, my massive Splendour weekend is officially, finally over. That’s four days of dirt, grime, warm beer, condom balloons and a bunch of fuckin’ awesome music. My head (and legs) are still reeling from it all.. At this point, you should know that I’m most definitely heading into word diarrhea mode, so.. beware.

It all started on Thursday morning for me. Woke to news that it was rainy and mucky up in Woodford so gumboots (and snorkel gear) were highly recommended. Spent a good part of the morning running around Queen St Mall on a big gumboot hunt; bumping into many-a Splendourite on a similar mission. Turns out Brisbane was running desperately low on their gumboot supply, and the only ones left seemed to be dodgy little girls’ multi-coloured polka-dotted ones in Target. Nasty. Definitely worth seeing buff Aussie blokes trying to squeeze their feet into girl-sized boots tho. Post-gumboot shopping saw us + said Splendourites hitting up Woolies to stock up on food and water to last us the next few days in the country. Of course we only pick the most sensible foods like Red Rock Deli chips and a seemingly endless supply of canned tuna.

Finally it was time to catch the train up to Caboolture; the first leg of our Splendour adventure. An uneventful hour later, we arrive safe and sound in Caboolture, which by this point, is already packed with Splendourites hailing from all over. We find out that there’s a huge traffic gridlock up near the festival ground, so we end up waiting about two hours for a shuttle to come, and then another three-and-a-half hours to slowly crawl up the road to Woodfordia (a trip that would normally take about twenty minutes). Butt-numbingness aside, we eventually reach the camping site and check into the glorious Tent City. No, Julian Casablancas. I don’t care if you mock us. Tent city is AWESOME. How else can I get away with not having to pitch my own tent, have a decent shower and free tea and coffee in the morning while I charge my mobile?!

The next three days pretty much went by in a blur. Waking up to blue skies (yay, Weather Gods – for being nice and giving us amazing weather all weekend), we lathered on some sunblock, shimmied into our little denim shorts & shiny new gumboots, and trekked up the treacherous gravelled slopes from the Tent City campsite to the festival grounds.  We stood for hours in the sun, sipping on warm beer and dancing like mad men. In the evenings, we would sit together and eat giant sausages, polished off with Yemeni dessert wraps. Then we would huddle by the bonfires while we admire huge fingers, fish, spines and heads that dominated the festival site (all art installations, don’t worry). After the last major gigs of the night we would retreat to Tipi Forest to get freaky with some strobe lights and synthetic beats. Or, to Guzman Y Gomez for margaritas and latin hip-hop. It wouldn’t be anything short of 3AM before we would drag our weary feet back to our tents, fighting the urge to NOT take a hot shower before taking that precious five hour snooze before the next day starts.

Having such an amazing line-up, there was bound to be some heart-breaking clashes. I absolutely do not regret any of the picks I made tho. Standouts definitely have to be Grizzly Bear, Passion Pit, Angus & Julia Stone, Two Door Cinema Club and, quite surprisingly (for myself at least), Scissor Sisters. I cannot stress this enough: Jónsi BLEW MY MIND. I stood there completely gobsmacked, probably looking like a fool with my mouth hanging open the entire time. I was standing in a crowd of at least 5,000 people, everyone just standing there in silence, quietly listening. That was a fucking spiritual experience, right there. I would’ve shed a tear if I hadn’t been dehydrated and a little high on bratwurst and sauerkraut.

I would also like to say a huge thank-you to the 32,000 people at Splendour for being so damn amazing. This was the first festival I’ve been to where there wasn’t any douchebaggery. Even better, the venue was large enough for all 32,000 people to have a decent dancing space. Everyone was just lovely and friendly, and it was just fantastic to be able to dance and have a ball with a complete stranger standing next to you. A friend and I lost our cameras midway through the festival, but we both got it back in perfect condition. Splendour 2010 crowd, you are splendtacular.

While I’m really supposed to be working in preparation for a presentation I have tomorrow, I find myself continuously getting distracted by my Splendour playlist (still going strong on iTunes!) and all the amazing reviews and pictures that are coming up on hot spots like The Vine and Radar Radio. I can’t seem to get out of my post-Splendour funk! As I am typing this, I am wondering how long I can leave my Splendour band on before it starts smelling/being disgusting…

Here’s to Splendour in the Grass 2010, for being the most fucking amazing music festival I’ve been to. Ever.

Credit to Splendour in the Grass for all photos.

Share

Herald Sun article stereotyping international students

Posted on by
1

I felt the need to comment on this ridiculous article by Keith Moor on the Herald Sun: Degrees at RMIT ‘dumbed down’ for foreign students. I find the article particularly offensive because I am an international student from Singapore, studying in Melbourne. I am reasonably intelligent (at least I like to think so), and I speak fluent English: two things that the article seems to suggest is not synonymous with the “international student”.

The article is poorly written; it’s as simple as that. It makes sweeping generalisations and seems to be pinpointing Middle Eastern students, though covering it up thinly by throwing on the “international student” tag. Mr Moor seems to forget the there are almost two hundred other countries in the world, and yes, surprise surprise, some of them are English speaking and do have reasonably intelligent residents. I guess I’m personally tired of people assuming that Singapore is a little village in China which serves dog sashimi for breakfast. And no, it doesn’t mean that I don’t speak or understand English because I have a different accent than you. Grow up and smell the dung. Yeah, I’m looking at you dipshit girl from my Media & Meaning class a few semester ago who questioned my English because I had a (quote unquote) “weird accent”. And you, girl from PP1 who didn’t think I had the ability write you a decent enough descriptor for your project. There I go again, off on a tangent on my own little rant. I apologise.

Getting back on track: I am proud to say that I have not received any form of preferential treatment in the two years I’ve spent in my Media course. Sure, for $10,000 a semester, I would probably have appreciated a ‘free’ HD here and there (hint hint, Adrian), but nope. Not once. I guess, according to Mr Moor, I shouldn’t classify myself an “international student” then, hey? Since I haven’t ticked all the boxes? First, I speak English even though I wasn’t born and bred in Australia. Then, I graduate with a Media degree and land myself in honours without needing anyone to “dumb down” anything for me. Who knew it could be possible?! Someone stop the presses, that’s a news scoop right there.

My point is, Mr Moor, is that your article stinks. Sure, I get it. You want to report ground-breaking news about how some students are given preferential treatment, and some students have resorted to cheating. But please, stay away from making uneducated claims and save yourself from looking silly. Don’t they teach you to cover your ass by not bringing up damning stereotypes in journalism school? I am also surprised the editors at the Herald Sun saw no need for a rewrite. $17 billion a year not worth it, eh? Nah.

Share