What are you watching?

Within a relatively short period of time, services like Netflix have become giants within the film and television sector. Their role in providing access to 'back catalogue' as well as producing original content has made them a new kind of media company.

As with music, the shift to a streaming model of distribution and consumption is relatively recent. Netflix, currently the largest streaming video content supplier, began their shift from DVD rentals to streaming video in 2007.

The new law of productivity is:

High-quality work produced = (time spent) x (intensity of focus)

Increased productivity can all be achieved through ‘Deep Work’, which is becoming an increasingly rare skill. Deep work has been defined as:

“Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skills and are hard to replicate” (Newport, 2016)

Cast your net broadly...

As I got older, I began to enjoy when WJR (one of the local radio stations in Detroit) began to play old radio shows and to produce new radio shows. The weekly airing of CBS Mystery Theatre or the occasional re-broadcast of Fibber McGee and Molly allowed me to begin to understand the power of audio and the way that it fired the imagination.

My employer has fully funded the course for me and pays me one day a week to go to college in Bedford.  In return, my position in the company is, as far as can be predicted, guaranteed for the duration of the course, and a further year after that. Along with doing other professional courses along the way, I can look forward to more responsibility, pay rises and the ability to do my job well.

In a relatively short period of time the media industry has gone through a fundamental change. While the transition from physical to digital is still ongoing, the industry has clearly moved beyond the ‘tipping point’ and everything is heading towards digital. But this transition is not just about a change of format (from physical media to digital media),  it is transforming many other aspects; from models of production, distribution, consumption and ownership. New industries have arisen as older industries struggle to change their approach.

Imagine having a ringing in your head..... all the time? Chronic Tinnitus

Imagine not being able to hear music properly or conversations with friends? Music Induced Hearing Loss.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) states there's more than 1.1 billion young people at risk from hearing loss, with 40% of these exposed to damaging levels of sound from entertainment venues. Musicians and DJs are 3.5 times more likely to suffer from hearing loss and 1.5 times more likely to develop Tinnitus than the general population.

Articulating social change in the Theatre

The new London West End production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company sees the role of Bobby, a previously male lead, changed into a female. 

Originally opening on Broadway in 1970, Company was ‘non traditional’ at that time as it was one of the first musicals to openly tackle adult contemporary relationship issues of the time.

Though certainly not the most criminal of linguistic lapses, this habit can be a drawback in professional life, detracting from the value of what is being said and often detrimentally affecting the listener's perception of the speaker's eloquence. It is something especially important to be aware of when it comes to job interviews or speaking in front of groups of people.

Here's how to rid yourself of this small, but annoying verbal tic:

If I could go back a decade and converse with my younger self, there are a few things that I would have appreciated hearing during this time, so here are the 5 things I would have loved to have known:

It was a great opportunity to bring together a recent Pearson College London graduate, James Wright, who is a Senior Associate at Carmichael Fisher; and a representative from the technology industry, Nuno Guara, Head of Corporate Affairs at Cisco. We were also joined by my colleague, Rebecca Mamelli, Head of Higher Education Research and Qualifications at Pearson.