-Far Side Comic
Read an interesting article in the NY Times today.
Excerpt..
“They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home”
“A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment”
Click here to read the rest of the article http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06sweat.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
What do you think? Are we too plugged in? Too connected? Has our home desktop become the new sweatshop?
Well, I kind of object to the sweatshop analogy in that people who blog for money have the choice whether to do so or not. I mean, I don’t know much about sweatshops because thank God I don’t work in one but also, can’t a blogger earn more money the more he/she posts whereas a sweatshop worker earns like, a dollar a day regardless of how many designer logos they sew onto t-shirts? I don’t know, whatever, not the point, I’m just saying.
Anyway, no, I don’t think we are too plugged in (though I admit I may have a slight internet addiction.) Again, I think it comes down to choice; yeah, the economy sucks but they could always do something else if they didn’t want to be blogging for money, if they felt it was to stressful. I mean, if someone wanted to pay me for a few freelance posts I’d be all for it. I know plenty of bloggers who do it in addition do their “real” jobs.
Such controversy!
I think the interesting part of the article is pointing out that blogs are still considered fringe, at least when it comes to paying the bills.
A journalist could write the same piece for an established paper’s print article as for its online blog, and they would not be paid the same.
This is not a matter of quality work.
I think a writer working for the same periodical should be paid fairly for the work produced, regardless of whether that be in traditional or nontraditional venues; of course, try selling that to the marketing/business department..