Paris' Perspective

Firstly, thank you BCM313, especially Kate, you are amazing.

BCM313 started as a subject I was unsure about, but in the end, became one of my favourite classes and the best part of my Friday’s. Kate is a fabulous teacher and brings an amazing energy every week. The 313 team are very understanding about other commitments and classes and honestly, this made the whole class more enjoyable because I didn’t feel pressured or that I was forced to attend and would fail if I handed in my assignment 2 minutes late. This class was one my highlights in my very different final year of uni where I didn’t have any human connection and felt a little lost and unmotivated. 

What I learnt about myself within the class:

I learnt that many of my classmates are in the same position as me when it comes to work, stress and life. I learnt that it is okay to have your camera on in a zoom class and it is not a scary thing to do at all. I learnt that it’s okay not to have a plan and to have everything figured out because chances are, no one else does either.

Overall, BCM313 has been such as helpful class and has been one of the best classes I have taken so far especially online. So thank you. 

Project Summary

Sunflower social is a social media management and content creation business that I started in March after unofficially losing my marketing job due to COVID and never being contacted again. I have developed the project through an Instagram account, a Facebook account and a website.

My initial idea for my digital artefact was to continue with KatCreative (Image 1) which was a creative based Instagram. However, I discovered that it did not show an abundance of potential, I did not have a clear niche and was stuck on what content to produce so I decided to undertake Sunflower Social as my digital artefact instead. I started Sunflower Social in March and had the excitement to start, I build 4 different websites (Image 2) because I was unsure which design was best, bought the domain name and started the Instagram but never published anything due to self-doubt and fear. Therefore, I thought using Sunflower Social as my DA would be a good push to officially start as I would have to post content, engage and be present on it and be held accountable if I didn’t.  

Brand image ideation:

I am not a graphic designer so the process of developing a website, Instagram layout, logo and brand colour scheme was challenging for me. The process became much easier when I used a colour scheme generator and discovered the perfect brand colours for Sunflower Social (Image 3). This made it easier to develop the website and Instagram layout as I knew what I wanted to create.

The website process also involved many changes as shown below I designed roughly 3-4 different websites before I published the one I have now, they were all created on WIX. (Image 4) I think I focused too much on making everything “perfect” rather than just publishing it. I was influenced by other “social media managers” on Instagram who had a larger following and doubted myself and my ability and ultimately I think this held me back as I was constantly comparing myself to them. The curated seminar really helped with me with as I realised many other people felt this way and I received advice to just focus on myself and not worry about those already at the top. This encouraged me to keep pushing and being creative. For my Instagram layout, I wanted it to be very aesthetic and clean. I have a diagonal design with my brand colours featured (Image 5). According to Solar (2018), strong brand colours are highly important as they increase brand recognition and can affect total sales. The colour yellow, which is the main colour for Sunflower Social is indicated to spark positivity, light, warmth, motivation, creativity and happiness. I think this a good colour choice and matches well with the name of my brand.

In the initial few weeks I had a wave of creative energy and wrote out a month’s worth of content and scheduled it weekly. I use my own images for ½ of the posts and designed two of the others on Canva as they are text images. (Image 6). However, recently I have been experimenting with using all of my own images as I feel it is better for the image of the brand. The initial bulk scheduling made it very easy as I did not need to think about what content I was going to post.

From my feedback in the project pitch I was advised to use a scheduler such as later.com and that has been very helpful as I can also see what the Instagram feed will look like (Image 7).

Within the pitch feedback and project curation seminar I was also told to use a hashtag generator and I have been consistently using displaypurposes.com (Image 8) which has also been very helpful as I am able to see which hashtags are the most relevant and popular. The high levels of content produced in the early stages of Sunflower Social allowed me to fail early and fail often, or the FEFO method, as conveyed through lecture one (Mitew, 2019). This frequent content produced more frequent feedback between my audience and I. This can also be conveyed through the feedback I was given in the pitch and the curated seminars as I integrated this feedback and was more successful because of it.

Analysis of key learning moments:

When starting the Instagram account, I decided to focus my content on 4 pillars which gave me more incentive to be creative as I knew what that post was going to be about. According to HelloSocial (2018), “A content pillar is a subset of topics or themes which create the foundation for your overall content strategy.” Content pillars represent relevant information for your targets audience. They also allows for you to be more organised, produce more targeted content and allow for fresh ideas. 4 pillars I use are; marketing tip, sharable content, showcase and a call to action post. My most successful posts are the marketing tip and sharable content (Image A)

Within every post I use hashtags and a call to action such as “Save for Later,” “Click the link in our bio to find out more,” and “Comment below your favourite.” I have found that “save for later” has been the most successful because every post I have used it on has been saved which allows me to understand that my target audience is enjoying my content (Image 9).

The key iterations Sunflower Social has undertaken have been through audience feedback from the project pitch, beta and seminars. This feedback includes having more consistent content which I have done with bulk scheduling my content for more consistency. I also received feedback to tag my location and other brands within my posts, I have also done this, especially in my Instagram stories where I tag “Sydney” as my location and have found that my Instagram stories reach more people. I have also been trying to use creative Instagram stories that feature my brand colours as well (Image 10/below).

_{Image 10}

I also received feedback that I should be using Instagram reels as they are great for engagement and I have posted 2 reels so far. However, Instagram doesn’t allow the music feature for the account (Image 11) and I have tried many different methods and still don’t have the feature which has been a frustrating experience. My first Instagram reel boosted my engagement greatly and was playing 350 times in just 24 hours and gained 16 likes (Image 12).

My second reel I discovered that I am able to use someone else’s “original audio” and this is the only way I am able to gain music, this reel didn’t have as much engagement with 127 overall views and only 3 likes (Image 13). They are fairly easy to use; it is just challenging trying to music find on the explore page using someone else’s audio. I tried making my own reel with iMovie and posting it with audio except it was removed for copyright reasons. According to the Social Media Examiner (2020), it is the best time to start using Instagram Reels because they are new, favourable and are showing very high benefits for early adopters. Some users explain that they are seeing higher levels on engagement on reels compared to their ordinary Instagram posts. Hence, I am trying to post at least 1 reel a week, I have seen other creators on Instagram express the benefits of reels and how it has allowed their account to grow greatly.

In terms of feedback loop with users, most of my feedback on my images is from accounts similar to mine (Image 14). I reply and like every comment and engage with their content, I also reply all DM’s that I feel are real and not a bot. I have also been featured twice on other people’s accounts which I think has been very helpful for my brand as I think collaboration is important (Image 15). Brand collaborations are conveyed to be beneficial for both brands as they increase customer base due to the target market of both brands being combined (Go Media 2019). There are a few accounts on Instagram who are similar to mine that always comment on my images and engage with my content so I try and do the same to theirs. (Image 16) I think this is important as it builds a community and allows for both of our content to gain more exposure and relevance.

My engagement rate has been ever-changing, with some weeks being really high and some being very low. I assume this is because of how consistent I am with posting content and how engaging I am with other accounts (Image 17). The week three lecture conveys the importance of consistent feedback through the OODA loop (observe, orient, decide act). This would involve a consistent cycle, feedback loops dynamic analysis and dynamic action. For Sunflower Social to achieve this I would need to produce more consistent content and gain more feedback. (Mitew, 2020). Therefore, the trajectory of my project has differed but ultimately is going in an upward direction.

Some of the biggest feedback I received from my pitch, beta and curated seminar was to establish my niche and target market. When starting Sunflower Social I had no idea who I was targeting and what content I wanted to produce and did not think it was that importance. However, after some thought, research and experience I discovered that my niche is small business owners. This is because it has a wide market, involves a range of different businesses and conveys the most potential. According to Hubbard, (2019) “identifying a target market helps your company develop effective marketing communications strategies,” this is important because your messages can be targeted towards a specific group. I once heard that if you try and target everyone, you end up targeting no-one. Therefore, I have been trying to target all of my content towards my ideal audience and have made it clear in my Instagram bio who I am targeting. (Image 18)

I recently helped a family member build up their social media for their kitchen renovation business and saw that there are many accounts who are missing the opportunity to market their business on social media. I built up his Facebook and Instagram which now has over 85 followers. I now realise the importance of having a clear target market. My starter pack for my target market of small businesses would be an individual in the ages of 40-55 (Gen X), has a messy small office with paper everywhere, has no clue about social media, posts blurry quotes and images on their business account, posts over-saturated/edited photos, only posts about their business in the local area Facebook page and thinks that social media is not that important for their business. (Image 19) In the next few weeks I am going to start adding some of my recent work to my Instagram feed and integrate it on my website to show potential clients that I have experience.

My audience in my Instagram Analytics are from Sydney 31%, age 18-24 38%, and 82% Women. My Instagram analytics are different to my target audience which means I need to start producing more simplified content for my ideal audience (Image 20). WebFX explains the benefits of utilising Instagram analytics such as a low cost, a better insight into your audience, easily plan your campaign and insights and provides basic tools and data. It allows you to understand your target audience, when the ideal time to post is and the best times to interact with your audience.

The week three reading titled, ‘The Simplicity Cycle Manifesto ‘(2015), explains the idea that everyday tasks can sometimes incur complications when too much complexity is added. This can be observed through Sunflower Social because the project is not too complex, it requires me to critically think when I need to produce content but not too much that it over-complicates the project. I started with nothing, I added content, images, colours, interaction and now I have something.

The simplicity cycle can also be correlated with the FIST methodology from week one. The FIST methodology refers to Fast, Inexpensive, Simple, Tiny and relates to project development. Sunflower social relates to this because:

Fast: optimise for rapid prototyping can be shown through the early stages of my project where is produced a large amount of content and posted it to my audience.

Inexpensive: Sunflower social was relatively inexpensive because I already own the equipment needed to produce content and I was using free applications such as later.com and Canva. The only thing that I needed to pay for was my website and domain. I was also able to produce my content quickly because I already knew what I wanted to post.

Simple: Optimising your project for simple information, this can be shown through my text posts on Instagram, which are easily digestible content.

Tiny: This can be seen through the breakdown of tasks and content such as content planning.

Overall, I have really enjoyed building Sunflower Social and hope that I can start making a profit off it because I think it has potential.

REFERENCE LIST:

Barnhart, B 2018, ‘Social Media Basics; what are content pillars,’ HelloSocial. Viewed 12th November 2020. <http://blog.hellosocial.com.au/blog/social-media-basics-what-are-content-pillars>

‘Benefits of brand collaboration,’ 2019 Go Media. Viewed 9^th November 2020.< https://www.gomedia.co/blog/the-benefits-of-brand-collaboration-/#:~:text=A%20brand%20collaboration%20helps%20both,to%20their%20products%20and%20services.>

Carter, E 2018, ‘4 benefits of using Instagram Analytics for your audience’ WebFX. Viewed 13th November 2020. <https://www.webfx.com/blog/social-media/4-benefits-using-instagram-analytics-marketing/#:~:text=You%20can%20use%20Instagram%20analytics,are%20most%20popular%20for%20posting.>

Davis, L 2020, ‘Is Instagram reels worth pursing? Pros and Cons for Marketers’ Social media examiner. Viewed 9^th November 2020. <https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/is-instagram-reels-worth-pursuing-pros-and-cons-for-marketers/#:~:text=Benefits%20of%20Instagram%20Reels&text=Users%20are%20reporting%20higher%20reach,similar%20content%20in%20different%20placements.>

Hubbard, L 2019 ‘Why is identifying the target market so important to a company?’Chron. Viewed 8^th November 2020.<https://smallbusiness.chron.com/identifying-target-market-important-company-76792.html>

Mitew, T 2019, ‘Fast Inexpensive Simple Tiny #FIST,’ YouTube Lecture. BCM302. University of Wollongong. Viewed 25^th August 2020.

Mitew, T 2019, ‘Fail Early Fail Often #FEFO,’ YouTube Lecture. BCM302. University of Wollongong. Viewed 15^th August 2020.

Mitew, T 2020, ‘The OODA Loop,’ YouTube Lecture. BCM302. University of Wollongong. Viewed 25^th August 2020.

Solar, M 2018,’ What brand colours can reveal about your business,’ Adobe Marketo Engage. Viewed 11th November 2020 <https://blog.marketo.com/2018/05/brand-colors-can-reveal-business.html>

Ward, D 2015, ‘The simplicity cycle manifesto,’ Porchlight. Viewed 11th November 2020.<https://www.porchlightbooks.com/blog/changethis/2015/the-simplicity-cycle-manifesto>

*Participants did not feel comfortable sharing the pre-recorded interview presentation, therefore it is not included in the blog post.

For my interview presentation assignment, I interviewed George Katrivesis, who is my Dad. I decided to interview him because his professional career has gone through many changes and challenges, especially now with COVID-19. My Dad, Mum and Aunty all own a business together called Chilli IQ, which is a company that produces, sells, markets and runs conferences for the legal and technology sector. They have all worked together for the past 18 years and run roughly 6 events a year. I choose to interview my Dad as I know he is a very hardworking and motivated individual and I also wanted to learn a little more about how he started the business. Since my Mum and Aunty also work with my Dad they were also mentioned within the presentation.

In preparation for this interview, I wrote down some example questions that I would ask and the rough answers I thought my Dad would respond with. I did this so I could understand what to focus on and which topics I should delve deeper into. I knew that I wanted the interview to be pre-recorded as I felt more comfortable doing so and I knew I would be able to reach the required time limit. I knew that if I did the presentation live, I would get nervous and speak too fast and the presentation would end- up being very short. The interview itself was successful and I was able to gain a deeper understanding into the values and determination that motivations my Dad in his working life. I edited the interview and made it into a video with added slides for it to be more engaging when presenting. 

Due to the fact that I interviewed an individual who I know very well, I really struggled to describe who they were and their stories through an “outsider perspective.” I struggled to find the words to describe my Dad and often ended up using the same words. Additionally, because I already know most of the stories it was hard to pick which parts of the story would be important to an outsider. I believe that this was my biggest downfall within the presentation, as I often second-guessed myself about what was important and struggled with what words to use. 

I tried to include the class material within my presentation and referenced the theory of the absent but implicit. This was not done to the best of my abilities and feel that I did not explain it correctly. I referenced the source by Carey, Walther & Russell 2006 to gain a deeper understanding of the absent but implicit and how it related to my narrative interview. 

Moreover, the storytelling with my Dad was told in a neutral setting and allowed me to fully listen to what he was saying. I took notes of important phrases or words he was saying such as “determined, motivated, we did the best we could,” these allowed me to frame my interview presentation to convey my Dads drive and passion. Because most of my life, personal and work values have been shaped by my parents (in a positive way), it was hard to describe my response because my values are not very different to theirs. I tried to frame my values in a way that shows my parents in a positive light as they are very inspiring to me. Additionally, I was also a little bit confused about the context of the assignment so I also struggled with ways to present it and how to frame my interview.

Overall, I believe I learnt more about my Dad and his effort to make a better life for his family.

As stated in the video my DA is a social media management business called Sunflower Social.

I followed the feedback suggested from the pitch such as using a scheduler and hashtag generator and the in-class discussion feedback which was to tag brands and other creators on my post and to figure out my niche as it is important. For now, my niche is small businesses.

In terms of audience feedback most my DM’s on Instagram have been about follow loops or people asking me to follow their friends on Instagram which isn’t very helpful. I don’t think random loops will present me with engaging audiences so I don’t partake in it as I worry it will decrease my engagement and visibility.

I have also had a few comments on my posts from other social media management accounts and from followers which is positive. I respond to all comments and then will go and follow, like or comment on their posts as well to boost engagement.

Sunflower Social has gone through many iterations in terms of design. I changed my logo many times before I decided on the one I have now, and this the same as the website (a few possible logo designs in image below). I changed my website design multiple times before I actually finished and published the one I have now. However, I think developing a colour palette really helped as I was able to establish my brand colours and have a better understanding of what I wanted my website to look like. Ultimately I wanted the logo, website and the brand in general to be something that I was proud of.

I have no clients yet but developed the website for my boss and her company so I am considering putting this on my website to showcase my work.

In regard to my narrative reflection, I will be referencing “The absent but Implicit” method which is a term by Michael White who was an Australian social worker and Family therapist. His method of the absent but implicit is used to convey the understanding of difficult situations (Carey M, Walther S & Russell S, 2009)

1.

For as long as I can remember I have struggled to say no to others from fear of disappointing and letting people down and mixed with the factor that I dislike change, it can often cause to a decrease in enjoyment for my job and work-life. However, through COVID this all changed drastically.

In January 2020, I had 2 jobs. The first job was a casual waitressing job where I had been working since February 2018 and the other was a marketing assistant position that I was worked for a year to find/obtain. I was working in total 5 days a week (2 days marketing, 3 days waitressing) and then in March, I started 3 days a week of University. It was a challenge but I enjoyed the feeling of being busy and loved both of my areas of work. So from January- March I used to work, Monday, Tuesday at my marketing job, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday at university and then Friday, Saturday, Sunday I would work as a waitress during the night because we are only open from 5 pm. This was great however, I did not have a social life and missed out on 85/90% of things that my friends did.

Lockdown and restrictions were put into place in March and everything changed in an instant. I love being home and because I work weekends I usually missing out on events so I secretly enjoyed lockdown. I was able to spend quality time with my family and boyfriend. Every Friday we would have a family game night and cook delicious dinners and I loved it. But then everything changed again. 

I was thankfully able to go back to my hospitality job in mid-May, unaware that I was about to embark on 5 days and 35 hour weeks of full-time work (my job is generally understaffed so only 3 of our staff, including myself, my boss and one other waitress were placed on the JobKeeper payment). Although I am very grateful I was lucky enough to go back to work after nearly 9 weeks of no job and pay, I was/am exhausted. I went from the secret bliss of lockdown, back to reality with big changes happening every week with restrictions easing. The 4 weeks of constant change made me question why I even went back to work. Week 1, was back to work 5 days a week and we opened as a takeaway restaurant because restrictions still disallowed people to eat out. Week 2 &3, the restrictions lifted as we were able to seat 10 people at one time. Week 4, the 50 people restriction was lifted and we were now able to fill 1/2 of the restaurant. With all this change, and my thankfulness to be back to work I said yes at every opportunity. Whether that was working from open-close (3 pm- 12:30 am), cleaning the restaurant or working every day. After a few months had passed it started to make me angry at how many unnecessary hours I was working because I am hired as a casual employee, not full-time. I was now unable to have weekly dinners with my family or even see my friends as my only days free became Monday and Tuesday. The marketing job that I worked so hard to achieve, also stopped responding to me and I assumed I no longer had a job, so that also did not help my anger.

2.

Michael whites method asks us to imagine what the opposite of our scenario and in terms of myself, the opposite of my situation would be:

Does not like change –> embraces change

Saying yes -> say no

3.

However, my inability to say no and not enjoying change can also have positive effects. I know that me always saying yes helps my boss because she does not have to do everything on her own and it allows her to live her life too.

4. 

My family and my boyfriend are very aware of my inability to say no and my habit to put others before myself and at times they worry about the strain that overworking has on me. But I believe it shows people that I love and care about them.

5. 

If I was to take this value and apply it to a different situation, I hope to learn that it is okay to prioritise yourself and your own mental health rather than the need to please others.

 

 

Reference List:

Carey M, Walther S, Russell S, “The absent but implicit: a map to support therapeutic enquiry.” Family process vol. 48, No, 3 pp.319-31.

The two pitches I will be reviewing are Verity’s ‘women’s health’ DA and Ethan’s ‘sweater stories’ DA. 

Verity’s Feedback: 

https://beerwithv.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/bcm302-pitch-womens-health/

Verity’s concept is an Instagram based around Women’s health which will feature semi-formal infographics and cross checked information. I really enjoyed this concept and think it has so much potential as personally all I see about women’s health on Instagram is based around working out to look good rather than factors such as mental and sexual health. 

I think your concept has a lot of potential because when trying to find similar accounts that focus mainly on women’s health and not a ‘lifestyle’ or ‘influencer’ account it was very minimal. Furthermore, considering that most youth spend their time on Instagram I think there is lots of potential to reach a wide female audience. You could also focus on how harmful and false the information that Instagram influencers share to their followers and how this misinformation can cause issues for young females. This can be shown through the article: https://www.insider.com/the-dark-side-of-instagram-fitness-culture-2017-6

Verity spoke about her platform being based on Instagram which I think has a great market but the account could also utilise other platforms such as Twitter, TikTok, Instagram reels and even Instagram live. This is because the engaging infographics could be posted to twitter with a small caption and for TikTok, Instagram reels and live you could make short videos about the facts or even the process of how you gather the information and create the infographics. 

Ethan’s feedback: 

https://whenyoufeellikeit.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/sweater-stories-season-2/

Ethan’s digital artefact is an upgraded version of a previous Instagram called Sweater Stories. The upgraded version will be a podcast that focuses on a deeper level of stories and will be more relevant than sweater stories. I think this concept is really unique and that the existing Sweater Stories Instagram is super aesthetic and flows really nicely. I agree with some of your followers that you should extend your platform to TikTok and post small clips of peoples stories on there to gain a bigger audience. You could also experiment with Instagram reels and live videos or even post behind the scenes of the photos and videos of the people telling the stories. 

I found this great article that focuses on how to use Instagram as a storytelling tool and how water.org utilises this to tell the stories of poor neighborhoods. The first line of their Instagram posts is always water gives …… and then the person’s story. I think you could do a similar concept with sweater stories maybe as the jingle for the start of your podcast so viewers can remember your podcasts and have something catchy stuck in their head. 

https://medium.com/atlantic-57/how-to-use-instagram-as-a-storytelling-tool-62f1785b4d84

I think both Verity and Ethan’s concepts are unique and have the ability to gain a large audience on multiple platforms as I personally have not seen anything similar.

As mentioned in my pitch video I will be working on 2 digital artefacts initially and then seeing which one has a better response with my audience.

KatCreative= content creation and product photography

Sunflower Social= social media management

Both digital artefacts are something that I wish to do when I graduate uni which is something that involves digital marketing, social media and content creation. Therefore, because this is my last semester of uni and the job market due to COVID is not great, I decided I would gain more experience on my own in order to be more employable.

In terms of the feedback loop, I have had some interactions with users from KatCreative, but most of them are individuals who are promoting their brand. For example, a website/logo developer or a small makeup company who suggested I buy her products. I have also had a few positive comments on my images. I aim, within the next few weeks with both accounts to gain real and meaningful interactions and feedback from users.

Between now and the BETA pitch I aim to have a more refined idea on the presence of each account and to become more established on Sunflower Social.

 

 

Throughout the course of BCM325, I have developed “adopting sustainability,” which focuses on teaching others and myself how to help the environment in order to help our future. In today’s society, the issue of the environment in regards to global warming, climate change and pollution are issues that are very prominent. I am not an expert in this area and wanted to further develop my understanding on an issue that affects everyone because the future is now and if we don’t change we may not have a planet.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adoptingsustainability/

Blog:https://adoptsustainability.wixsite.com/adopt

Future Cultures challenge:

My topic focuses on helping the future in the short, medium and long term future because if individuals make a positive change now the impacts for our future could be filled with fresher air and a greener planet. Examples of short, medium and long term future improvements include;

Short term future	Medium future	Long term future
Recycling bottles, cans and glass.	Less waste ends up in landfill and waterways.	Less pollution.
Carpooling/taking public transport.	Reducing greenhouse gases and carbon emissions.	Creating cleaner and improved air quality. (Spence, D n.d.)
Growing your own food.	Save money, save water, reduce packaging.	Reduce carbon emission and greenhouse gases, reduce landfills.

Utility:

In relation to the utility of my digital artefact, the delivery of Instagram and a blog was perhaps not the best platform as I did not receive an abundance of engaging feedback from my audience. The likes, comments and views on my posts decreased as the semester continued. However, I noticed that once I posted an Instagram story promoting my blog, the engagement and views on my blogs increased. Moreover, when I aimed for most “aesthetic” Instagram stories, it resulted in more engagement. Alternatively, when I posted Instagram images that were not original images, I noticed a decrease in engagement. 

Methodology:

The issue of the environment in relation to global warming and climate change is an issue that is becoming more and more prominent, especially when society does not act and make a positive contribution to change. Prior to choosing my topic, I struggled to decide what I wanted it to be as I did not know what I wanted my future to look like. In most films we have watched this semester, they convey a dystopian view of the future and there is an abundance of articles online explaining what will happen to our planet if we do not contribute to change. For example, the planet will become warmer, melting the ice, increasing the water levels and leaving places such as London, Australia and New York permanently underwater (DW News, 2013). I decided to formulate a blog to produce longer and more engaging content and an Instagram in order to receive fast feedback from my audience and to promote my blog. The week 4 lecture contains a quote from Wendall Bell which states, “futurists ask what would the future be like if we continue to behave as we do right now” (Moore, 2020 week 4). In my blog posts, especially the last one, I aimed to look at this concept and educate others on what would happen if we don’t change, the concept for this last blog post was inspired by a comment made on my BETA presentation. 

Overall Trajectory/ Projects success and limitations:

The trajectory of “adopting sustainability” aimed to educate not only myself, but others on how to live a more sustainable life to help the future of our planet. My project experiences successes through personal progress and the progress of my Instagram and blog. Personal progress relates to an increase in self awareness about ways to help the environment and that small changes now can impact the future. Moreover, I gained a slight increase in followers and engagement but it was not as much as I had hoped. In future, I would have improved by maybe using twitter as another platform instead of blogs or just posting my blogs to Instagram as they were not very long. The blog posts took longer than I had hoped to accomplish, thus towards the end I spent less time constructing them and taking my own photos as it was evident in my engagement as it decreased. 

 

Overall, I had hoped to gain more engagement from adopting sustainability but I hope I educated even one person on the ways that we are able to help the future.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

DW News, 2013 ‘Earth 2100- What happens if we don’t change our ways?’ Online video, November 25 2013, DW News. Viewed 8th June 2020. 

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts3wQi4yBiQ&feature=emb_title>

 

Moore, C. (2020). Multiple Futures. Week 4 Online Lecture, University of Wollongong, viewed 7th June 2020.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbks7l4qr0A&feature=emb_title>

 

Spence, D n.d. ‘Benefits of carpooling,’ uOttawa. Viewed 10th June 2020.

<https://www.uottawa.ca/parking/carpooling/benefits-of-carpooling#:~:text=Carpooling%20offers%20many%20benefits&text=Not%20only%20will%20you%20be,air%20pollution%20related%20health%20costs.&text=Having%20fewer%20cars%20on%20the,emissions%20and%20improved%20air%20quality.>

Throughout the course of BCM300, we were required to formulate a project dossier for a game. My dossier focuses on media archaeology, “re-examine a tabletop game from your childhood”. My project titled, ‘The Family Cards,’ is a tabletop card game that my family and I have been playing for over 20+ years. A tabletop game can be broadly defined as a game that is played on a table or surface (What is tabletop gaming, n.d.) I presented my project in the format of 3 Youtube videos. The first video explained the family history of the game, the second video was the rules and how to play and the third video featured a gameplay with a small voice over. I decided that a youtube video series was the best format because personally, the easiest way to learn is by watching others. Therefore, if I had created a podcast people would not have been able to see the cards or understand the concepts. Moreover, the family cards is a game I have been playing for years so it was easier to explain the game by showing others how to play.  The game can be related to the lecture of week 1, titled ‘game experience design’ as it discusses elements such as how a game tells a story, this is important to my game as history and game narrative is the main focus (Moore, 2020). 

 

Background research and examples:

The family cards is played with, a deck of card (with jokers included), minimum of two players and a pen and paper, to keep score.  

The game itself is a mixture of conquain and gin rummy. Gin rummy is a two-person tabletop card game that involves trying to get all your cards into sets before your opponent does (How to play gin rummy, 2020). Alternatively, Conquain is played by forming a meld of 10 cards into 2 variations (Dunlop 2019). The family cards share some of these aspects but differ slightly, my second video focuses on the rules and how to play (linked below). It varies from Gin Rummy and Conquain because within “The family cards” the players drop their cards as they go instead of holding them and dropping them in one large set at the end of the game. The family cards aim is to have the least amount of cards and points at the end of each round. The video below is the second video from my project and explains in-depth the rules and how to play the game. 

Research has found playing card games has a positive effect on an individual’s mental and emotional health. This is because games such as gin rummy and poker stimulate the brain and boost concentration along with the aspect of socialisation (Emotional benefits of playing cards, 2018). The study by the University of Wisconsin found that playing cards as you age can help individuals stay mentally sharp. It also slows the rate of health issues such as dementia because you need to remember your cards and think quickly.  (Emotional benefits of playing cards, 2018).

I have found that when playing The Family Cards the repetition of rounds throughout a night can allow you to feel more focused and with each round, your skills and thinking improve. In relation to The Family Cards, the game involves making sets, quick thinking and risks, it allows your brain to work promptly and improves your logical thinking. 

The source by Examiner.com (n.d.) conveys many advantages of playing card games, especially with children in a social family setting. The ability to think rationally and play within a social setting allows children to develop vital sociological and developmental skills which may help them in the future. One important aspect of the family cards is strengthened family relationships, the game has become an important tradition in my family and allows everyone to connect, unwind from the day and play a good tabletop game with some healthy competition.

 

Response to feedback:

My project experienced small adjustments because, initially I aimed to undertake 4 different videos, but after my project BETA, I realised that I would run out of time. Thus, I combined the concept of two videos and made them into one. In response to feedback, most of it was positive and allowed me to understand that I was heading in the right direction. 

 

Playtesting and prototyping:

Due to ‘The Family Cards’ being an existing game and not a new game, there was no in-depth phase of playtesting and prototyping because the game has been something I have been playing for years. Throughout the semester/quarantine my family and I played the family cards frequently to pass the time and because it is something we enjoy. However, the game was never prototyped because it already exists. Moreover, the reflection that was undertaken into how the game began was interesting. It allowed me to reflect on fond moments in my life and the realisation that my family always plays this game. Within previous other gaming subjects including BCM300, I always classify myself as a “non-gamer,” however this experience has made me realise that the statement of “non-gamer” may be false because my whole life I have played the same game regularly. 

The week 7 lecture titled, ‘Synthesis of Mechanics and Narratives,’ states that “In the very best games there will be many opportunities for different players to trade what looks like to them the leading position.” Within the family cards, even though a player wins a round that does not mean they win the overall game. The family cards run on a point system and after every round, you count how many cards (points) you have left. For example, player one, won two rounds of cards however, player two did not win any rounds but won the overall game. Therefore, player one may think that they will win the overall game because they won two rounds when in reality, player two won the overall game because they kept a low number of points after each round. 

	Player 1 points	Player 2 points
Round One	0 (Won the round)	10
Round Two	30	16
Round Three	0 (Won the round)	4
Round Four	25	19
	55	49

In conclusion, the tabletop card game of ‘The Family Cards,’ focuses on media archaeology and the re-examination of a childhood game. I choose to focus on ‘The Family Cards,’ because it is a game that has a history in my family and one that I wanted to further delve into. The game was presented in a series of youtube videos which explain the history and how the game works. Overall, the experience of re-examining the game was one that I enjoyed as I was able to remember fond moments in my life and reflect on a game that has now become a tradition in my family. 

References:

Dunlop, P 2019, ‘Conquian’,Cool Old Games. Viewed 11th June 2020.

<https://www.coololdgames.com/card-games/rummy/conquian/>

 

‘Emotional benefits of playing cards,’ 2018 The Emotion Machine. Viewed 10th June 2020.

<https://www.theemotionmachine.com/the-emotional-benefits-of-playing-card-games/#:~:text=Most%20people%20play%20card%20games,a%20happy%20and%20healthy%20life.>

 

‘How to play gin rummy,’ 2020 wikiHow. Viewed 10th June 2020. 

<https://www.wikihow.com/Play-Gin-Rummy>

 

Moore, C. (2020). Game Experience Design. Week 1 Online Lecture, University of Wollongong, viewed 7th June 2020.

<https://prezi.com/p54t9lsvpyo6/&gt;

 

Moore, C. (2020). Synthesis of Mechanics and Narratives. Week 7 Online Lecture, University of Wollongong, viewed 7th June 2020.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=9&v=sacKs-Kh9iw&feature=emb_title&gt;

 

‘The benefits of playing card games with children,’ n.d. Examiner.com. Viewed 12th June 2020.

<http://honeycreekschool.org/k-1/files/2015/11/The-benefits-of-playing-card-games-with-children.pdf>

‘What’s tabletop gaming,’ n.d. The Ogre’s Den Gaming. Viewed 11th June 2020. 

<https://theogresdengaming.com/tabletop-gaming/&gt;