Last entry…maybe

The semester has come to and end ands we log, our last blog.  The past 12 weeks have gone so fast, from a humble gathering of very mixed students with such diverse backgrounds and experiences.  We have all developed our transient spaces knowledge and now progress with more knowledge of this new medium of communication.  Creating a doco on a community has been an excellent subject to immerse the students into the use of this medium.  A second semester would not be wasted.  Transient space’s 102 maybe!

I hope our blog and facebook connections will keep us linked into the future, communicating through the medium we have learnt so much more about.

Fluid community

Ha, as I mentioned in my last blog entry our work community is fluid and last week proved that when one of my staff announced her departure, having secured a position with another emergency service.  On the up side she remains within the emergency services community, on the down side I lose a great staff member.  The team will now adapt to the new structure until will have a replacement, in the meantime a uni intern starts with us so we are always adapting, nothing ever stays the same…but that’s life and would we want it any other way!

Time for reflection

So what does this all mean? What have I learnt?  Is there a community within my workplace?  On reflection and further reading I get more sense of my work community, it is fluid, not fixed, not frozen in time, as people enter and exit the community it is adapting. Looking back on the bushfire event, a strong sense of community emerged, as Bachrach & Zautra (1985) identified, a strong sense of community became evident when a group of residents were faced with a proposed hazardous waste facility. This lead to a strong sense of community emerging with problem-focused coping behaviours.  My work community is often placed in a similar position when  an emergency arises, we work together to resolve the crisis.

 

I feel Durheim (1964) is correct in his approach that a community is based around interests and skills more than locality, this theory fits well with a work community where locality is sometimes not one physically location and where skills and a common interest are very evident.

The community is adapting as I write, over the past few weeks as life settles to a more ‘normal’ routine, the community settles back into it’s traditional habits and customs.   Observing other students research and presentations, was so inspiring, how so many communities were discovered, most in places one would not imagine a community to exist.

So many communities

Tonight’s class presentations have been very interesting, so many different approaches, so well documented.

The process has been interesting and well worth while.  Through images I have been able to demonstrate a community.  This project made me realise just how much of a community we have at work.  Now adding the final touches to the documentary.

Home straight

Presentation of my doco went ok, I think, bit dissapointing most of the class had left!  Attending to final edits now.  Worthy to note it takes forever to load onto Youtube.  The interviews with staff are proving to be tricky to embed into the doco, more edits required.

 

Has the documentary established that my work is a community…YES. With so many elements evident and a sense of community radiating from the material in the spoken and unspoken context.  Two staff have watched the doco and felt it was a honest and accurate representation of our work community.

More challenges

WordPress require a $60 payment to load a movie file onto my blog, ahhhhh

Need to discuss this with Dean.  I can do this, however this does annoy me!  An alternative is to create a web site or load onto Youtube, however this contravenes what I said I would do in my request to use images (breach of contract!!!).

The doco is complete however  need to change some of the images as they dot relate to the voice over.  I feel I have demonstrated that my work is a community.  Keen to get my class feedback.

Technical glitch resolved.

Preparing the doco has been more time consuming than I first thought.  I feel comfortable that it is coming together and it demonstrates my work community.  The doco is a rough cut at this stage, I need to insert more appropriate images to firm up my argument.

I found the article by Doolittle & MacDonald interesting and feel Riger, LeBaily and Gorden have defined some excellent indicators of a community.  Membership, Influence, Integration and Shared emotional connection.

What could possibly go wrong?

Well, the doco wont load onto the blog!  Tried mp3, mp4 and AVI files but no luck.  Will need to seek technical support.  Voice over working well with music in background.  Went to movies and watched Defiance and they talked about a community in the Jewish camp, established in the bush while hiding from the German soldiers. Each member of the community assigned a task, traditional rituals were observed,  these were seen as pivotal in creating a community.  I gave this some thought, how my office community has rituals, everyone is assigned a task.  There are communities all around us.

More images required

I’m now finding I require more images than first expected.  Have linked other community groups within our work community into documentary.  Matching voice over to images is a challenge, it’s all about the timing!

More evidence collected.

I now have a good cache of images for my doco.  The images give a strong sense of how my work place is a community.  I have two members of the community who are happy to be interviewed to give their account of how they view our work group as a community.  Need to get talent release forms signed!

How long should the doco go for? This seems to be a burning issue in the class. I think this will become evident as you create the doco.  It needs to be punchy and support your theory yet not be too long that you lose the audience.

A day at home tomorrow, rough cut will be complete if all goes well.