Announcement: 2016 EquityOLB Archiving and January Meeting

This post appeared first in the Equity Online Branch's Chat Room - written by ME :)

This time last year the online branch working party were making the final preparations for the Online Branch to enter its 6-mth open to all pilot.

We finally opened our digital doors on March 1st [article in The Stage LINK] and following the 6-months period which ended in August 2016 we presented a report on our progress to the September meeting of the Equity Council.

LINK TO MY MODERATORS REPORT

From the conclusion of that meeting and the consequent press releases, [article in The Stage LINK] we have been an official Equity General Branch and open for business. In accordance with the branch's rules, we held an election for a committee and before 2016 closed we scheduled the very first Online Branch Committee Video Meeting.

The 2016 - 2018 committee are

• George Callander
• Clifford Lee Evans
• Caron Jane Lyon << Moderator / Chair
• Helen Raw
• Rhubarb the Clown
• Nana St Bartholomew-Brown
• Paul Valentine << Public Relations Officer (PRO)

2016 Archiving

The nature of the forum facilities we have in the branch (a long and different story) means every conversation appears in the main chat room in chronological order based on the last comment posted. Some topics have a lot of attention (and controversy) and others fell silent after a few members viewed and the subject didn't find traction. To begin the new year I thought it a good idea to perform some housekeeping.

ADDITIONAL FOR  THIS POST

As the Moderator and Chair of the branch keeping an active relevant dialogue in the chatroom is a challenge. Facebook Pages and Twitter Accounts are numerous across the Equity membership catering for many interests, The Ensemble Musical Theatre and Tape for Self Tape Facebook groups being two very active digital communities for working entertainment industry professionals. They are easy to access, well frequented and tends to be where the day to day, industry focused dialogue with fellow professionals takes place. Not everyone is in the Facebook club and everyone is at different networks staged of thier career.

QR Codes are back?

Their inclusion is on the rise. Why?

Since discovering a QRcode reader on my Nokia N95 in 2007 and Googling QRcode reader, followed by the fact I could create them myself with ease to pursue the paperless dream as an event organiser I've been a QRcode advocate.

The humble QR code has had a bit of a rough ride over the last 10 years through misplaced inception and shirt tails gimmickry without audience consciousness, rather than the QR code being a mechanism devoid of use. Its inherent usefulness has kept its obsolescence at bay.

The success of the QRcode is in the hands of users. Is what is contained beneath it worth scanning? A few disappointing "I could have just typed that in" remarks and the fate of the QRcode was momentarily sealed.

The QRcode came back to my attention with my interest in the rise of Snapchat. The emergence to the mainstream of augmented reality (AR) after PokemonGO took the world by storm for a brief and bright time in 2016 started the trend along with the

The emergence to the mainstream of augmented reality (AR) after PokemonGO took the world by storm for a brief and bright time in 2016 started an acceptance of AR along with the adventures into AR from agencies using it to bring packaging and adverts to life to crayon makers Crayola adding animation to children's colouring books, I feel a comeback might be on the 2017 cards.

This proximity connection and entry to engagement demanded from Spapchat intrigued me. Snapchat not being immediately intuitive seemed to be a feature, users liked. Being in a club with a secret knock is a desirable hurdle, the learning curve to successfully engage seems accepted too. It's those on the outside who complain. A fascinating psychology in the age of usability.  I recently stumbled upon Twitter's QR code and scanner tucked away in the profile settings and in Facebook's Messenger.

 

A video posted by Caron Lyon (@pcmcreative) on Jan 3, 2017 at 11:12am PST

Sharing Makes Me Happy

You don't have to spend money to give a gift that has value to the recipient. More and more of those closest to me expressed an instruction of ' just no more stuff' or requested, 'gifts you can poo', sharing digital assets that have value to me seemed like a good gift.  There was also a proliferation of 'I'm not doing cards, I'm donating to charity', or simply 'I'm not doing cards'. Personally, I find cards necessary at Christmas because they help me actually evaluate who I know and who I want in my life. It also makes me reflect on those I've drifted from, and opportunity also for staying in touch with those in my life who are not digital.