Commitment through pressure

Some of the commentaries on new media work and creative labour refer to long hours cultures as a response to the pressures that workers experience. Gill and Pratt (2008), for example, acknowledge that, although the long hours culture of creative workers can be the outcome of a passionate engagement with their work, it may also be

‗dictated by punishing schedules and oppressive deadlines‘ (p.18). From this point of view, the culture of long hours is construed as a direct consequence of the project-based arrangements of most types of new media work, whereby individuals labour extensively to finish projects in order to take up new ones. This may either reflect a lack of self-management (Kodz et al., 2003) or the indication of a progressive work-life imbalance (Perrons, 2003). Gottschall et al. (2003) note that, for new media workers, ‗periods of hard work, sometimes on multiple jobs simultaneously, and long hours including night and weekend shifts [...] alternate with slack periods when only a small job or none is at hand‘ (p.10). Pratt (2000, p.432) termed this pattern of work

‗bulimic.‘ In his study of new media workers in New York, he noticed that people tended to work in ‗boom and bust‘ patterns; that is, working for ‗long days and nights‘

at a stretch before breaking up until the next project. Gill (2002) explains that, for some of her respondents, ‗many projects had extremely tight deadlines (which workers agreed to meet in order to get the contract) and these necessitated intense round-the-clock working for a short period, which might then be followed by several weeks with no (new media) work at all‘ (p.83-84). Under these circumstances, workers were pressured to ‗burn‘ as many hours as possible on available projects including odd hours of the day, late nights and weekends. This is why, as Gill (2010) mentions about her respondents, some new media workers looked forward to having more time for themselves.

Apart from the tensions that arise from trying to complete projects, new media workers are also pressured to keep up with the modern tools and techniques of their trade. In her writing about web designers, Kotamraju (2002) frequently used the term

‗pressure‘ to describe the tensions such workers are confronted with to ‗keep up with the changing technology of the web‘ or to ‗update a skill-set.‘ Nevertheless, her usage of this term appears synonymous with the ‗passion‘ for new media work discussed in the previous section. For example, she notes that ‗the pressure to keep up with the changing technology of the web is often articulated as an attractive quality of the job‘

(p.18). As she explained, this was the case during the relatively early years of the Web when web design was heavily associated with the ‗cutting edge of technology and art‘

and therefore ‗seen as cool work.‘ As she noted:

The excitement provoked by constant upgrading ensures that the web design jobs possessed what Bauman [1998, p.33] describes as some of the ideal qualities of the modern job: ‗varied, exciting...giving occasion to ever-new sensations‘ (p.18).

The pressure referred to above which provokes such excitement can be distinguished from the pressures new media workers face which are imposed on them by societal constraints. The latter has more to do with workers‘ concerns about finding new jobs, contracts or projects, the need to earn income for their upkeep and the requirement to skill in order to remain relevant in the industry. Kotamraju further argues that re-skilling is of primary importance for new media workers because it provides them with at least the technical capital that potentially determines their identity in the industry.

According to her, ‗not keeping up with the latest technology definitely means that one is not a good web designer, but it also means that one may not be a web designer at all‘ (p.18).

Other literature on new media work make it clear that the working conditions of new media workers (and how they respond to them) are contingent on geographic context.

In a study that compared new media work in the US with that in Sweden and Germany, Christopherson (2004) observed that in a highly competitive market like the US, those engaged in short-term contracts ‗need to always think one step ahead,

setting up their next work contract at the same time they are completing work in the present.‘ On the other hand, in Sweden and Germany where workers ‗follow a path closer to what would be considered a conventional career,‘ they experience ‗less job turnover over time‘ (p.549). The empirical literature also seems to show a variation within countries. For example, while Henniger and Gottshall (2007) note that,

‗available data on UK and US media workers indicate working conditions similar to those for freelance knowledge workers in Germany‘ (p.67), Mayer-Ahuja and Wolf (2007) relate from their study of internet workers also in Germany that, ‗standardized working-hours seem to be emerging‘ (p.97). According to them, these working schedules ‗are usually associated with Fordist times, but accepted by employees in order to adapt to customers‘ office hours, to cooperate with colleagues and to match superiors preferences‘ (p. 97). Thus, like Christopherson, Mayer-Ahuja and Wolf (2007) suggest that fixed office hours and more stable conditions can be found in countries like Germany, rather than flexible, long working hours. Furthermore, her research indicates that such stable working conditions provide employers with the security to invest in employees‘ training which greatly eases the pressures that workers face in trying to upgrade their skills.

In summary, I have shown from the literature that, on one hand, the culture of working long hours and the constant need to re-skill derive from new media workers‘ passion and love for their work. On the other hand, they are also the outcome of the societal pressures workers face to survive and make ends meet (as with everyone else). I have also briefly discussed how some other empirical studies demonstrate that the extent of these pressures vary with geographic, economic and social context. In the next section, I engage with this contextual theme further by examining other features of new media work which I consider to be primarily context-dependent. These other features differ from those considered in this section because, as I argue, they are solely the result of extrinsic factors such as contractual arrangements, sociality and the legal frameworks within which such work takes place. In keeping with my argument in this thesis, I suggest that these particular features vary with context because they are based on new media workers‘ responses to the prevailing social, legal, economic and network structures of their work environment. As I will discuss, it is these, extrinsic features

which differentiate new media work in varied contexts and form the basis for identifying the themes for my analysis of new media workers in Nigeria. As already mentioned, these features are precariousness, entrepreneurialism and social networking in the practice of new media work.