[Reader-list] Not quite what I had in mind.

[taraprakash]

Zygmunt Bauman has written extensively on the issues arising of today's 
employers who are everywhere but not tied to anywhere. Earlier factories 
were supposed to be responsible to the community whose territory these 
entrepreneurs were using to establish a venture. Now mostly they do not 
belong to any territory. Bauman compares them with absentee landlords of the 
feudal times. These firms are less responsible than an absentee landlord in 
several senses. The firms like yahoo have only responsibility to their share 
holders, which are found throughout the world.

Bauman's, and other such writing, irritates when you are involved in the 
enterprise, when you are employed with such firms and make good money. You, 
then, think that these writers do nothing but making mountains of the 
mole-hills. But when you are renderred useless by these firms, such writing 
is music to the ears. It is like listening to sad songs when heart-broken 
(our sweetest songs are those which tell of saddest thought), after dancing 
on the tunes of merry ditties.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ravikant" <ravikant at sarai.net>
To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 2:41 AM
Subject: [Reader-list] Not quite what I had in mind.


> What happens when a corporate giant like yahoo lays off people? Who is the
> first to be fired? Never thought it would be somebody working with its
> so-called commons project! It was just the other day in Taipei we 
> celebrated
> George's efforts at bulding the flickr commons. Read this account in her 
> own
> words and follow the link if you want to explore more.
>
> ravikant
>
> http://george08.blogspot.com/2008/12/not-quite-what-i-had-in-mind.html
>
> December 15, 2008
>
> Not quite what I had in mind.
>
> by George Oats
>
> I wrote this 3 days ago on a plane.
>
> I've been cooking up an end-of-year blog post, feeling like my 35th year 
> was
> one of the best so far. I've been unbelievably fortunate to spend quite a 
> lot
> of it traveling the world to tell people about The Commons on Flickr. I've
> spoken in front of hundreds of people, sat in meetings in the bowels of
> museums, pored over a photographic archive in person, sent a ton of emails
> that I enjoyed writing (wtf?), met too many fascinating people to list, 
> made
> lots of new friends, and been honestly excited about what I'm doing.
>
> After giving the opening keynote at the National Digital Forum in Auckland 
> on
> November 27, then presenting at the Powerhouse Museum and the National
> Library of Australia, visiting with Commons members the State Library of 
> New
> South Wales and the Australian War Memorial, I headed to Taipei for an
> exciting Culturemondo Roundtable event I was invited to attend. This
> Wednesday, I shook the hand of the Vice President of Taiwan, who was at 
> the
> opening.
>
> The next day I presented with Seb Chan, about our take on "Search & Find."
> That evening we all went to a lovely dinner at one of the best Taiwanese
> joints in Taipei. (Thanks to Tien Sing, Shadiral, Christina and Aleksandra
> for being such entertaining dinner conversation.) Then off for a wander in
> one of the massive night markets. I decided to jump in a cab back to the
> hotel with Jackie from NZ Live and Jock from Te Ara. It took a slightly 
> long
> way home, we suspected.
>
> When I got up to my room, I saw a text message from my manager, asking if 
> he
> could call me on Friday at 9am. I wrote back to say I was going to be on a
> bus full of people at that time, and that I was awake now if he wanted to
> call. The phone rang.
>
> "I'll just get straight to the point. You've been affected by the 
> layoffs."
>
> He told me he was reading from a script he was required to follow, and 
> that he
> needed an address to send some sort of "Agreement" to me in Australia, and
> needed it sent back by December 19. Before I'd even finished the call, I
> twittered (to my private account):
>
> "Wow. I just got fired." I was immediately distressed.
>
> I stayed up until about 2:30am that night, chain smoking and talking to
> friends who saw my tweet and had responded - THANK YOU. I sent a formal
> request for time to transition The Commons program to whoever is to take 
> it
> over: "A week should do it," I said. It was denied.
>
> (It would be unfair to give anyone affected by the lay-offs special
> treatment.) It's not just my treatment I worry about here. Such a sudden
> movement makes it especially hard to continue the program effectively, at
> least for a while. So silly. I sent a few tersely helpful emails before my
> email account was closed. Couldn't resist. Don't let The Commons die, you
> buggers! Can't you see how wonderful it is?!?!?
>
> Finally needed sleep. I woke up fairly early Friday and was immediately 
> awake
> and tired. I got up and jumped on my laptop.
>
> I was very upset. The speed of the lay-off began to sting. I asked Seb to
> cover for me at the conference. I couldn't find my brave face - THANK YOU.
>
> Sent a quick, unsatisfying goodbye to the team. I watched as my access to
> various parts of the guts of Flickr fell away. I noticed how naturally I
> searched for any and all bits I could think of, just in the hope that it
> still existed. But no. I was shut out entirely within about 14 hours of 
> the
> phone call.
>
> Support from friends kept coming - THANK YOU. I spoke with my mum and dad.
> Very upset.
>
> Watched The Net. It is that bad, but I didn't care. Ate some odd Taiwanese
> baked goods. Run out of smokes.
>
> I declined Seb's kind nudges to head out with the conference peeps for 
> dinner.
> I just couldn't face the idea of being cheered up. I was beginning to feel
> humiliated, particularly given what I was up to. You know, being in Taiwan 
> at
> an international conference to talk about my work. Stayed in. All day. 
> Plus,
> I'd cried so much I looked like a boxer who'd just woken up the day after 
> a
> fight. Not exactly game face.
>
> Realised I hadn't made it out of Denial yet. Packed to leave. Had to wake 
> up
> at 3:00am to get to the airport.
>
> Woke up on time. Was given some fruit by the people at the front desk - 
> what a
> nice gesture! Drove for an hour through the empty Taipei streets. Got on 
> the
> flight to Hong Kong. Now on Hong Kong to Sydney, where I sit now, annoyed 
> by
> everyone. Still shocked. So fucking brutal.
>
> Not what I had in mind at all.
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