60Sox: Developing a creative ecology as a community of practice

Developing a creative ecology as a community of practice: The pathway from training to profession in the digital content industries.

Research on human resource and human resource development issues in the digital content industries in Australia is limited. As a result, the Australian Research Council, three State governments, industry, and a large vocational education and training (VET) provider funded the 60Sox project to investigate:

a) education-to-work transition experiences of graduate and emerging creative professionals i.e. "aspiring creatives"

b) key drivers and conditions underpinning the profiles and trends of aspiring creatives

c) how aspiring creatives can access existing industry distribution resources and further career development opportunities, including enterprising self-employment.

The project has four main components, each of which are discussed below.

60Sox WEBSITE

The 60Sox website is a national virtual creative ecology and a series of cross-platform distribution channels which enables innovative content generation, skills/knowledge-sharing and collaboration for aspiring creatives and industry professionals. It is a not-for-profit network that showcases original creativity across a broad spectrum in order to help people:

• get exposure for their work
• get constructive feedback from peers and industry experts
• get industry contacts, commercial experience and work.

Benefits for aspiring creatives:

• Self-publish their work on their own online gallery
• Swap constructive feedback with peers/hone their skills
• Get personal advice from industry leaders
• Learn more about the industry they want to get into
• Be inspired by other creative works
• Respond to real creative briefs
• Collaborate with people from Aust/NZ on new work
• Present their work at exhibitions/screenings
• Industry contacts, commercial experience and work

Benefits for industry professionals:

• Get the best work in their field sent to their inbox each month
• See what's hot across a broad spread of creative disciplines
• Find people in their city with the talents they need
• Get a higher profile for their organisation
• Learn more about their industry
• Get access to research exclusive to 60Sox

For more information about the site, contact Justin Brow: j.brow@qut.edu.au or 0413 411 744.

SURVEY OF ASPIRING CREATIVES - click here for a copy of the final report.

To explore the employability of aspiring creatives, the project involved surveying over 500 aspiring creatives who work or intend to work in the publicly-supported, less commercial end of the Creative Industries spectrum as well as those who work or intend to work in the digital content industries. The 60Sox survey was the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken in Australia.

The project team presented research findings in the report, 60Sox Report Volume 1: From graduation to employment in Australia’s Digital Content Industries: An analysis of prospective employees’ employment aims. The project team set itself three objectives in order to analyse survey data in a way that aligned with the purpose of the 60Sox project:

1. Identify the characteristics, skills, and attributes of aspiring creatives who completed the survey.

2. Determine the extent to which aspiring creatives (CI graduates) have made successful education-to-work transitions, and identify any factors that influence the ability of aspiring creatives to make successful transitions.

3. Determine the extent to which aspiring creatives engage in communities of practice in the Creative Industries, and identify ways to encourage their engagement with these communities and industry.

For more information about the project contact Sandra Haukka: s.haukka@qut.edu.au or 0424415376.

SURVEY OF EMPLOYERS

The 60Sox employer survey gathered data on what employers think about the skills and attributes of aspiring creatives. The survey report reports includes a comparison of the views of 50 employers in Australia’s Creative Digital Industries to the views of the 507 aspiring creatives in relation to the skills and attributes of aspiring creatives.

The project team used findings from this comparison to identify skills gaps and other issues that are inhibiting the ability of aspiring creatives to find work in their preferred occupations.

The project team set itself four objectives in order to analyse data from the employer survey in a way that aligned with the purpose of the 60Sox project:

1. Describe the characteristics, employment patterns and intentions, and recruitment and training practices of employers who completed the survey.

2. Compare the views of employers to the views of aspiring creatives in relation to skills and attributes of aspiring creatives.

3. Identify the factors that influence employer’s views of the capability of aspiring creatives.

4. Propose strategies to address skills gaps in the Australia’s Creative Digital Industries.

For more information about the project contact Sandra Haukka: s.haukka@qut.edu.au or 0424415376.