The Migrant Creative: U.S. Media Freelancers at the Border of a Changing Work Culture

This dissertation, The Migrant Creative: U.S. Media Freelancers at the Border of a Changing Work Culture, is a collection of personal conversations with established U.S. media freelancers discussing the shape-shifting required to work the liminal landscape of this emerging new economy.

The melding of philosophies supporting the narrative study, Socially Constructionist Theory and Appreciative Inquiry, essentially explore how dialogue positively transforms individuals, organizations and collective realities to create meaning. These collaborative principles are embedded in the process and invite shared engagement of the participants. The inquiry uses the notion of “liminal space” to position, describe and create the experience of life at the border of a changing work culture.

As more U.S. workers take on freelance work by default, it is critical to examine individuals who have been successfully operating in this culture. The polyphonic voices of established freelancers create an understanding of the past and present freelance culture -- and where they envision it heading in the future. What would they change to make it more sustainable? What are the lessons learned along the way that would be invaluable for future freelancers?

The Migrant Creative: U.S. Media Freelancers at the Border of a Changing Work Culture is a story about creative individuals traversing the new work frontier. Freelancers, rather than being marginalized, are now being institutionalized within the business structure. As the job market morphs into a new model free of perks, offices, insurance, and the promise of regular employment -- it is important to study how freelancers navigate this shifting workforce culture.

The film, television, video gaming, music, advertising and Internet-driven industries regularly employ contract workers and this phenomenon is growing across all business sectors. Professionals with varying skills come together for relatively short periods of time, contribute to a project, and then leave. Some production and creative teams retain the same loose-knit network for years. What can they teach us about organizational teamwork -- and who works? The project participants’ individual conversations create a composite image of life as a migrant creative.

To enter The Migrant Creative conversation or learn more, contact Laine Goldman at lainegoldman@earthlink.net. You can also download the CMAP application (http://cmap.ihmc.us) to view her research timelines. In applications, open IHMC Cmap tools folder; Cmap tools; Shared Cmaps in places; IHMC public Cmaps (3); open users folder and scroll down to Laine Goldman; Research timeline folders; and click on grapelike-icon for each semester’s research timeline.

Laine Goldman is a former media freelancer. She currently serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Mass Communications at Winston-Salem State University, a historically black university, and a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina.