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Critical Analysis – Group Blog

I think of all the projects the group blog was my favourite.

We had basic ideas after the first session and it was just a case of organising who was going to do what and narrow down categories and sub-categories. This got done fairly quickly and we realised that by having a large group we could not only post a lot of material but post a real variety. The Fat Sausage was born and aimed to give recipes, reviews and handy hints to students on a budget.

In terms of group members some were happy to take on extra responsibilities, I decided to create and help run the Twitter account and sub, and others were allocated roles to do with production and design. Most people were keen to contribute something other than their compulsory articles but others were not so eager and in fact never bothered to turn up to any group meetings. This at times caused confusion especially if we’d agreed to change something or moderate posts.

I think overall our content was really tailored to students’ needs and constraints. Everyone understood the vibe we were trying to create and that we weren’t out to teach people how to make gourmet food that’s time consuming; we wanted to share what we have tried and tested so that others can enjoy it too. I think that by adding restaurant reviews and food/takeaway deals we stopped it becoming boring and just like every other recipe book. Aside from subbing and updating Twitter I posted various Top 5′s and recipes, the Top 5′s were especially fun to do as they were quite jokey.

We didn’t really have many problems with late posts, we had a schedule and everyone stuck to it I think because working in a team means that should you not do your bit it’s everyone who suffers not just you, and no one wants to be the person who lets the rest down. We had one blip with Twitter, a re-design after the second day and then a quick meeting about continuity.

I think that our group blog The Fat Sausage was something different, (especially from what I’d normally write about) original and an enjoyable experience. The fact that it was spread over two weeks and didn’t have to be a perfect piece of academic writing meant that it didn’t really feel like tedious work at all!

Tags: thefatsausage

Critical Analysis – Audio

Getting to grips with using the zoom was extremely easy; there was no worrying whether your hand is steady or fear that the audio won’t be picked up.

I decided on my topic fairly quickly and started calling and emailing professionals in the cosmetic surgery industry to secure an interview. I couldn’t believe my luck when a consultant from Transform, a leading surgery group, called back to confirm a telephone interview. Having organized a time and date I booked a radio studio so that I could easily record the interview. I should have been weary that everything was going so swimmingly because it suddenly turned stressful.

After problems with the studio came the phones and once both were sorted I got no answer from my interviewee. After a few hours of calling and voicemailing I got through to a PA who informed me that the consultant was out of the office until the next week. With the deadline looming I needed to sort something out, so it was back to the drawing board.

Meanwhile I’d gone to Southampton to interview a student who had gotten himself into financial trouble after becoming addicted to gambling. This interview was really interesting because it was about finance which is an issue close to every student’s heart.

The morning of the podcast deadline I was woken up by an unknown number. It was Shami from Transform calling to do our interview (half a week late). She tells me she doesn’t have long and I don’t have a radio studio or phone recording equipment! After a bit of improvising with my zoom and Skype, the interview is done and ready to be edited.

I was really happy with my podcast and interview as both the issues (plastic surgery and the danger of debt) are both issues that I’m really interested in. They were the right length and after editing them using Audacity had good content.

This project was a lot more fun than I thought it’d be and hopefully I’ll get the chance to do more like it in the next two years.

Tags: audio, radio

Critical Evaluation – Reflective Analysis

When I saw the words multimedia journalism on our schedule, I can’t say I was particularly excited. However after the first session where we found out exactly what it consists of, I was pleasantly surprised and I’ve enjoyed the module so much more than I thought I would.

At the start of the year I’d really started to get into Twitter and so by the time we came to look at it in multimedia journalism it was nice to look at it from a journalist’s point of view rather than a personal one. I subsequently followed lots of journalists and newspapers so that my timeline now acts as a great news provider.

I’d say the part of the module I found most educational and therefore interesting was the blogging. It’s interesting how it all started and the links between the media, blogging and social networking etc.

I’ve always liked the idea of blogging as a type of modern day diary but was hesitant to try it before; aren’t they time consuming? Who would read it? Which site do I use? All this became clear and besides setting up my module blog and group blog I set up a personal one focusing on beauty reviews, tips and tutorials.

The online part of this module introduced me to a limitless platform and a huge online world that I never even knew existed.

Critical Analysis – Video

As my audio skills left a lot to be desired I didn’t have high hopes for video. We spent a couple of weeks learning the basics of capturing and editing video before we were left to think of ideas for either a documentary or a vox pop video.

I felt that I had plenty of ideas and a lot of confidence, I don’t mind approaching people and was prepared to persuade potential ‘stars’ of my video however the reality was rather different.

Whilst sharing ideas with the group, it came to my attention that my idea (teen binge drinking) was the same as, or very similar to a few others; not a problem, I have plenty more. Unfortunately these ideas were plagued with bad fortune from camera problems, to filming issues to a lack of authority none of them ever came to much.

So I gave in and started on a vox pop video and accompanying video diary.

I wanted to make a vox pop video that was relevant but that was something most people had an opinion on wherever they were from (as I was making half at home half on campus). It was whilst I was failing miserably to write part of a portfolio that I thought ‘why not Facebook?’ – after all I know I’m not the only one who uses it as a means of procrastination.

I then took to Harrow and home to ask ‘Is Facebook taking over our lives?’. Of course, most people had an opinion on it and it didn’t take long at all to get a few good vox pops. On my return to the computer I was disappointed by yet another problem – all of my outdoor Harrow clips had no sound, obviously need more practice using the microphones!

However this was nothing I couldn’t fix, I still had a few good quality vox pops with good sound and I had made a short introduction which helped fill it out.

Overall I wasn’t that happy with my final video as I should have started earlier and made a documentary. I did the best I could and tried to make the editing make up for what may be poor content. The hiccups were irritating but without them you don’t learn and next time I will be super prepared for anything the project throws at me. I found the video diary was simple as I can talk for England (I secretly enjoyed this self indulgent exercise) and came out well.

Click to see my final video.

Click to see my video diary.

Tags: Facebook, Video

News Media Design

I have looked at a few online news providers including the BBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Huffington Post to find the best and the worst.

In my opinion, the best of these sites is The Guardian.

Their main page is busy yet clear, making you want to read the content. They have their newest and top stories displayed as a mixture of articles, photo, video and links which they’ve managed to do well as again it’s inviting and not off putting. They have used simple red lines and an obvious different in text size and colour to help the reader distinguish between stories.

Above the main stories at the top of the page they have a wide range of categories which they have cleverly colour coded making for an easier search and a more pleasant aesthetic than many other news sites. When you click each of the categories a new main page appears, dedicated to that type of news and subcategories appear below. Once again this makes searching for specific stories extremely simple.

The Guardian Homepage

The Guardian has a really good mix of multiemdia on its site with plenty of video, pictures, interviews and articles to choose from to make it more exciting. The Guardian is a site I go back to again and again as reading it is not a stressful experience like some other newspaper’s online media.

I found it hard to choose between the BBC new online (which I have never been a fan of due to its boring and misleadingly underwhelming amount of news) and The New York Times.

I will start by saying that The New York Times is by no means a ‘bad’ site and it has a lot of great content, however I find it hard to navigate and boring to look at.

Being American, there are naturally a lot of adverts on the site the first two appearing right next to the logo/name. Not only is this ugly but it’s rather annoying as they keep changing. Further down, there are yet more adverts for both themselves and other services; some zooming at you, coming from the side of the screen, others flashing, none making me want to buy.

The main page itself is loaded with content but I just don’t think they’ve put it together very well. The categories are down the side and unlike The Guardian are all one colour (black) and in tiny type. I think had they made these coloured or alphabetical it would be far easier to find what you’re looking for.

The New York Times Homepage

The stories on the main page at the top are easy to see, they have large pictures, headlines bigger than the text itself and a nice snippet of information. Get a bit further down and it turns into a bit of  a mess. The same difficult-to-read font is still there but it’s got smaller and so have the headlines. Grey lines that blend in with all the other black and grey on the page break up random chunks of stories and the right hand side has all  sorts of boxes and themes going on.

However near the bottom we see a few clearly marked categories with pictures underneath, and underneath them some more categories that are really easy to read through and navigate your way around.

The New York Times are getting something right - clear categories

I think that the layout of the main page is really misleading and is dragging the site down so to speak. Each category itself once clicked on is actually rather like The Guardian and has colour and clarity but you’d never know that from looking at the small squiggly print on the main page. Overall, a great site with a front page that’s really letting it down – sort it out!

 

Group Blog Competitor Analysis

Whilst on a visit to Southampton Solent University, I came across a poster that said:

“Confused about vegetables? Go to www.studentcooking.tv“

As we had already decided that we were definitely going to make a student food blog I thought it’d be interesting to have a look at this for inspiration.

At a first glance it looks quite professional, almost as if it’s not actually run by students. There are recipes, a blog, competitions and an extraordinary amount of videos to watch. The layout’s really clear although I felt there was so much content on the first page I wasn’t quite sure where to go first.

Once I’d read a few posts and watched some videos, it became clear that they had really thought about the students themselves with all of the recipes containing difficulty and price ratings. They also seemed to understand the restraints of a university kitchen which a lot of student cook books don’t and give advice on healthy eating without simply saying eat 5 a day.

It’s also very interactive and by this I mean that students can upload their own videos and recipes, search for or share tips through media we are familiar with using.

The content uploaded to the main site is by 15 different universities across the UK. The site itself is run by a Loughborough University enterprise company.

having already won a Royal Television Society award for ‘Best Contribution to New Media’ it’s clear this site is going places.

It’s given me lots of inspiration for our blog, especially in terms of layout and ideas that are not simply recipes.