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W13 (Future Tense: Unions, freelance workers and Codetermination (Only 6%…

- - - - Social media is an important tool in connecting freelancers in similar jobs.
      - https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170427/downtown/ebony-magazine-freelancer-pay-dispute-black-writers-johnson-publishing-ebonyowes-cvg-group-llc
        
        Whilst services like Uber have built-in pay mechanisms so drivers get paid for work, freelancer writers (and many other types of freelancers) currently have to manage their own finances and hope clients pay on time – how could this change?
        
        I think some sort of accountability tool or rating will emerge in the future as more people rely on 'gig economy' jobs to get by. We rate Uber Drivers and Airtasker workers (and Uber drivers can rate customers) – what if there was a system in place for the company to be rated too.
        
        On Airtasker, each 'tasker' has a profile with a star rating out of five – feels reminiscent of the Black Mirror episode Nosedive where everyone from baristas to family members are rated constantly.
        
        How are systems like this put in ethically? There's an existing trend of people leaving fake reviews for companies they don't like – what if this happened to a freelancer or a publication?
      - Sites like Who Pays Writers provide a way for individuals to record information on pay etc, but there is no collective action based on that information
        
        What would collective action look like in this situation? With so many companies involved, a simple strike could be ineffective – even with the recent Fairfax strike there were freelance journalists who "crossed the picket line" and wrote pieces (and were then dubbed 'scabs' online). In a freelance-only strike, would there be even more people who don't participate in the collective action?
    - - In the gig economy you could be an Uber driver, waitress, freelance writer and more – how can one trade union cover all of that? Do we move past "trade" unions to less skills-based alliances? Or do we have one union per 'gig'?
- - - - However I disagree that it's a 'rejection' of modern technology – there's definitely an element of romanticism, but I only started shooting film because of Instagram and friends who I'd met online
        
        Groups like "Negative Feedback" on Facebook and hashtags like #filmisnotdead and #staybrokeshootfilm emphasise the importance of the digital.
      - Something I find interesting is people will post in Facebook photo groups with two near-identical images asking "which is film and which is digital"; being able to tell the difference gives you social credit.
      - The film vs digital argument is raging hard, and will continue to do so as there is no "better" option – whilst digital photography lovers reference megapixels and shutter speeds, film still has a mystery and artiness to it.
    - - I listen to records while editing photos on my laptop, and shoot film and then scan and upload it to Facebook
        
        I scan my film photos to get the highest digital quality and remove dust, but I also add grain and light leaks to my digital photos – based on the "material aesthetic qualities" that Cramer refers to.
        
        There is definitely some analogue faux retro nostalgia associated with adding light leaks and grain to digital photos, but a lot of the editing is also to fit personal taste (e.g. I don't like oversaturated greenery, so I tend to fade greens)
        
        How much of my personal taste shaped by the faux retro aesthetics prevalent in modern photography?
        
        A lot of people combine old and new media, and I think that old isn't considered worse than new or vice versa
        
        The exception is old new media – e.g. a vinyl record is cool, even a walkman portable CD player – but a 2011 iPhone is outdated and perceived negatively.
        
        Using vinyl is a choice, whereas using a slightly outdated model of smartphone is seen as less intentional and has more negative connotations (e.g. being off-trend, not being able to afford a newer model, not being tech-savvy)
        
        I find a lot of discussion on Instagram outdated and Cramer's 2014 article shows its age referring to Hipstamatic – the editing style of making your photos seem aged (e.g. cracked, damaged, fading) is passé and film-emulation as championed by apps like VSCO Cam are more trendy now
        
        Hipstamatic and the original Instagram filters seek to recreate an faux retro aesthetic through emulating a photo taken in the 1970s but seen today with visible signs of aging, newer VSCO and Instagram filters rely on a film emulation aesthetic to emulate how a photo would've looked when freshly processed and printed on a particular film stock.
        
        Another example is how borders (like peeling edges or film perforations) have lost popularity) on Instagram
      - The tag #instax on Instagram is full of digital photos of film photos, posted online (warning: there are some photographers who take nude portraits on instax and post to the hashtag)
        
        Fujifilm Instax cameras, as of April 2016, are actually outselling their digital cameras, tributed to the "analog revival"