News and Analysis

News of the Day 9/29/2009

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Career:
Tips on how a recruitment agency can help you – Good advice. I'd also note that recruiting agencies are good for long-term networking, and you meet some pretty interesting people.

Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:
Japan in a deflationary spiral – Beyond the usual bad news, this may at least keep people aware of what can happen to other countries.

There are how many Starbucks near your office? A nice example of what is probably going to get hammered in the consumer cuts – some places have serious luxury coffee density.

Media:
Rights for Terminator may be in the air. Again – A good cautionary tale about the ownership – and handoff – of media properties. The kind of thing you want to be aware of because if you work in fannish areas like media, such legal acrobatics are things you'll see.

Publishing:
Sony's eBook Store adds self-publishing tools – With a better cut for the author than Amazon, some possible deals with Scribd, and these new tools? Sony's certainly making highly aggressive moves in the e-book arena. This is good news for tech people and authors/publishers – though it's also something else to keep track of your your career.

According to a survey, 72% of publishers are looking for new business models – With additional information for you, the writer/publisher/editor/etc. to chew over.

Social Media:
A bit of sports geekery: What sports team social media can teach you about policy – A few lessons and a neat example of learning from your hobby. Also the New England Patriots have made Facebook their social media home base.

Technology:
More on the iPad – Which does seem to be a big iPhone. The source seems reliable. I'm not sure this is going to get much interest at the supposed 1 grand price tag, but it sounds like Apple is giving themselves time to market it.

Video Games:
There are 254 institutions with video game courses, in 37 states – So start doing that research for your career. While you're at it, perhaps you might get some time in teaching at one of these . . .

Funcom cut's 20% of it's staff – Sad. I guess Age of Conan didn't help them, but still.

The new Star Trek Blu-Ray has unlockable costumes for the Star Trek MMO – There's some interesting synergy there. Not sure if it's going to have any major benefit, but an interesting idea to observe.

What's up with SquareEnix? (SquareEdiosnix?) They're apparently aiming for layoffs (A 200-300 person job cut) and also claim they'll double profits in the next five years. No idea here, though I doubt Square Enix is going to do as well as they expect without major efforts and reorging (which may be part of the layoffs), and expanding/ensuring market reach. At least you know now not to go sending resumes for a bit.

– Steven Savage

Your Fandom Edges

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We all have things we're good at.  Maybe you're a leader.  Maybe you're an artist.  Maybe you're the Funny Guy, the Support Person, etc.  We all have our edges.

Your fandom is often vital to maintaining these edges – it's one of the many reasons you shouldn't discount it.

What we do in fandom, as I have gone on endlessly here and elsewhere, is usually an expression of ourselves, of who we really are.  It often comes from very deep places in our psyches that we may not otherwise be aware of.

Fandom also is an expression of what we do and what we like to do, what we're good at.  We may love art, or role-play games.  We may love sports history or writing stories.

Fandom is often about expressing your personal edges and your special skills.

That's why it's vital, for your peace of mind, for your career, to not take it for granted.

Our hobbies express who we are, what we do – and reinforce and improve these things, especially if we're aware of the benefits our hobbies have.  They make us better, stronger – and more "us."

So don't look down on your fandom.  It tells you a lot about yourself.  It expresses what you like.  Take it seriously – in the right way.

It's about your own, personal edges.

– Steven Savage

Imagination And Success

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You're a fan.  You have imagination.  It's what led you to make the ultimate historical fantasy baseball team.  It's what let you make Steampunk Avatar: The Last Airbender fanart.  You are a person that gets into information, plays with it, and shares it.

That imagination is not a waste of time.  It is critical for your success.

I've come more and more to the conclusion that success – we're talking career here, but really in anything – is dependent partially upon having a good imagination.

If you can dream, you can solve problems.  If you can imagine, you can find new ideas.  If you can speculate, you can create.

If you have your imagination going, you also feel alive.  When your mind is able to come up with new ideas and have fun, you're enjoying what you do.

Imagination gives you the power to do.  Imagination also makes what you do fulfilling and enjoyable.

So cultivate your imagination.  Enjoy it.  Play with it.  Apply it.  Enjoy and indulge all those strange fannish, geeky activities from fanfic to fanart to web pages and more.  This keeps your imagination healthy and pumped and exercised.

Then, in your career (and indeed all your life) you have this active, powerful imagination to provide you new ideas.  To drive you.  To play with and enjoy all aspects of your life.

All those seemingly useless Role Play games and LOLArt?  That's exercise for the imagination.

Imagination is key to success.

– Steven Savage