How Not to Get Fired...
Biz Stone's notes on blogging policy and work environments are a light-hearted response to the blogging phenomenon. In a way, this article mostly suggests common sense, and reminds readers that blogs aren't just a casual comment to a friend at the water cooler, but are public domain messages that stay posted for significant amounts of time. Stone organizes the article into several headings:
1. Photos: Choose Your Captions Wisely
2. Understanding "Public"
3. Blogging Off the Company Pier
4. "They Would Never Allow It"
All of these sections essentially respond to a 2003 Seattle incident where a man was fired from Microsoft, allegedly for security reasons, because he posted a photograph of a Microsoft development lab recieving a number of Apple computers. Microsoft felt the photograph and caption contained sensitive information about the company grounds, and Michael Hanscom was let go immediately.
Stone's article is almost more a comment on corporate America than a comment on digital resources. He includes references to the movie "Office Space" and has a link to a website which has designed a one-click button that jumps the blog reader out of the blog to a fake screen which resembles a word processing document or similar "work-related" application so that bloggers can escape the watchful eye of their supervisors while on the clock.
The most interesting note for me was the mildly revolutionary tone Stone assumes through this piece, almost portraying blogging as an underground freedom, a reaction against the Big Brother oppression of corporations. He speaks of blogging in the same way others speak of snowboarding or any such passtime, and depicts bloggers as avant garde, minor revolutionaries, who are trying to get away with as much as they can without being caught. For me, that raises an interesting question: has the workplace become prison, and the internet freedom? I guess, as long as you don't get caught...
7 comments:
It's the cubicals fault, I think. If you stick a man in a cage and give him a piece of paper, eventually he's going to make a paper air plane out of it, or some sort of oragami.
I never considered this problem at the work place, mainly because I've never had a real job, but I can see how it is a legitimate problem. With unlimited internet and "blog" access at your fingertips from eight to five everyday, how long do corporate head honchos expect mere human beings to avoid the temptaion of clicking around a little bit?
I don't see it as a problem at all as long as the employee is getting their work done and not talking bad about the company.
I do think blogger had some good ideas though since there are some nasty bosses out there who like to ruin everyone's fun!
I did think it was funny that they ended the article on the note of "keep on bloggin'." Who cares if you just got fired for it, never stop!
I worked in a coffee shop with a public domain computer inside. My boss caught me on tape or something sitting at the computer for two or three hours straight on a slow night. They put me in charge of the shop's myspace page. A few weeks later, I was fired.
Anyway, I appreciate the suggestions Stone puts forth and they could be applied to any online venue, not just the blogosphere. It would only be a precautionary measure to think about these things before posting, oh, say a snide comment under a picture of your boss on a myspace page. Just as an example.
From the Office Space reference I could only think that it is a prison in the cubical sectionals...
It's interesting to think of it from the employer's pov though, if you are paying people to work and they are being very unproductive (in your mind) it would be hard not to complain. But if there is nothing to do, why not just ship those jobs overseas to someone who will do it in even less time for less money.
I did like the bit that hinted toward a counter-cultural aspect of the blogosphere, just sticking it to the man in that last attempt to show that you still have some control.
see references below about the public sphere.
what is it the would lead someone to, for example, make a snarky comment about their boss on a myspace page that their boss was paying them to update? one could certainly guess that no good could come from that, and yet.... irresistible.
There was also an undercurrent of dishonesty about posting a blog on the clock. There was a link to a blog fire escape of some sort that told me you could quickly click out of your blog once you heard your boss coming. I don't see why it has to be such a scandalous thing. Posting to a blog for a few minutes is the same thing as asking a co-worker how their weekend was and chatting about it for a few minutes before you get back to work.
John
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