Summary
The Digital Artefact that I have produced this semester addresses the short to long term future of digital media marketing through a series of four blog posts. These blogs informed the creation of my future five-year career plan and therefore addressed the future cultures DA challenge while also acting as a guide for others wanting to investigate their future careers. Throughout the semester, I also engaged with a radical prototype, the UOWDMS TikTok page, which allowed me to gain feedback and engage with a public audience through videos that provided audiences with social utility.
Read 1500 Word DA Process Summary Here
Methodology
Despite my original plan of producing blogs consistently throughout the semester, my DA plan and timeline undertook a significant iteration when I came to realise in week 12 that I had not written any blogs. However, throughout this semester, I was able to consistently post on the UOWDMS page, posting videos that sparked dialogue from my public audience within the comment section.
This multi-platform method allowed me to address the future culture DA challenge by helping me decide whether or not I will want to work in digital media marketing in short to long term future. By posting consistently on TikTok, I was able to experience aspects of working in digital media marketing through social media management and content creation. My blogs explored the theory behind my TikToks, following a logical progression that demonstrated the benefits of future studies research, as seen below:
Introduction with un-researched 5 year career plan
My existing experience in digital marketing
The short to long term futures of content creation, social media and digital marketing
How to create a 5 year career plan (with my future studies informed plan included)
Below, you can see how my original production timeline differs from my completed project timeline with included chronological contributions:
On my pitch, I received three forms of feedback, with Chris firstly suggesting a resource that I ended up utilising within my research blog (blog 2). My peers Pia and Ethan also offered suggestions that resulted in the iteration of the planned contents of my blogs. Evidence of this blog feedback can be seen below and is further examined in my DA summary here, also examining how I iterated my TikTok content in response to feedback. The second moment of iteration for my blogs was caused by self-reflection upon realising I had given myself too much work.
Background Research
I utilised a mixture of future studies concepts and lecture materials throughout my entire project. The concept and structure of this DA were inspired by Wendell Bell’s theory of ‘possible, probable and preferable futures’ and Dator’s law of future studies, with ideas within these texts being drawn upon throughout each of my blogs. Similarly, future studies concepts of the Anthropocene and Imagination were used as frames for each blog, especially in blog two, which explored specific imagined futures within the scope of digital marketing via the Anthropocene.
Further, each blog post contained a podcast that related a future studies concept to the podcast, with the three topics I explored being decision making, alternate history and paradigm shift. Finally, blog post two demonstrates engagement with the live-tweeting task, relating theories in my posts to science fiction films we examined.
Utility
The following graphic demonstrates the utility of this project in relation to the blog posts and TikTok videos:
As my blogs were all written in Week 12, I have no evidence of blog feedback. However, I do have evidence of my attempt to gain feedback early on in the semester by creating a group chat, which is explored further in this post:
Message I sent to BCM325 group chat before I deleted it
Examples of the utility my TikTok videos offered are demonstrated in public audiences engagement in the comment section of the videos:
Project Success / Limitations
The main limitation of this project was self-inflicted by my inability to follow my originally proposed project timeline. In the future, I will be more conscious of outside commitments when planning my project, as this would have resulted in a far more researched and extensive assignment.
The main success I experienced from this project is now having a competently researched 5-year career plan that I intend to follow. This project allowed me to develop a deep understanding of my future and the direction my chosen career path will take me.
The overall trajectory of this DA will see me continue to run the UOWDMS page until the end of this year, with a continued ability to iterate the content I create from public feedback. Further, while I may not document the research process of creating a five-year career plan again, there is certainly a possibility to revisit the creation of my template as the digital marketing career landscape changes.
Thanks for Reading! Remember To Keep It Sweet xx
Keep it Sweet with Kira Sweet 