Sports has always been across many cultures for many generations and will continue to thrive in the future because sports connect people. Connects people to people, to technology and to other cultures. Sports is also a testing ground for advanced technology. Personally, I enjoy playing volleyball and watching various types of sports. I chose the future of sports as my digital artifact because my family and I are big sports fans.
I decided I would do a video series within blog posts. I wanted to do both types of media because some people are visual and some people are readers and I wanted to appeal to both. In my pitch, I said I was going to create 3 videos, each one assessing a different part of the future. The first one is short term, one to two years, where I talk about the world’s anticipation of the 2020 Olympics. The second video is medium term, 5-10 years. This video is about virtual and augmented reality and the rise of videogames. The last video was long term, +25 years. This video talks about the possible futures and where sports fits in, based off movies and speculation.
I improved the presentation after each video. As said in my beta, for the first video I used Powerpoint. I did not think it was appealing to look at, so I searched for another platform. I aspired to create videos using animations like Crash Course. I was recommended the platform Platoon and there I did my second and third videos. As this was my first time making a video series, I was faced with technological challenges. The tricky thing was that Platoon only allowed three minutes per presentation because I was on a trial mode. I had to use a screen recorder. I recorded half as one video and then make new slides for the remaining content and record that as well. I would then combine them in Movavi Video Editor. The result of these challenges was that I became familiar with several different platforms, that I now can use in the future. In reflection, I think I should of just upfronted some money for one good platform.
Throughout the video series I made mistakes. I had difficulty with the audio and lining it up with the content on the screen. I learned from this because the next video I tried to have longer scenes so that what I said does not have to match with a lot of small scenes. In my beta I completed 2 of the videos and was working on the third. I had good time management for my digital artifact. Because I worked harder during the beginning and middle of the semester, the last weeks were not as stressful. The final project is 3 blog posts each one with a video (about 5-6 minutes) embedded in it discussing a specific part of the future.
I posted a link to the blog on my personal Instagram. I did this because I wanted to further my audience. My persona on my Instagram is family and friend oriented, adventure seeking and fun loving. Each time a posted a new video I would put a link up on my Facebook and Twitter. I used these platforms because I am most familiar with them. In relation to feedback, said in my beta, I did not get much. I went out looking for some as I reached out to specific people on twitter such as athletes, futurist and sports fans.
My digital artifact is important because I inform, inspire and persuade sports fans. I pass on little tastes of knowledge, just enough to grab their interest and research for themselves. My strategies for attaining research was using the UOW Library and Google Scholar. I grabbed various news resources. I tried to communicate scholarly and not journalistically, but it’s a mix. I mainly stuck with facts, but my opinions are here and there throughout the series. In reflection I noticed that I based my research around technology advancements. I had a broad topic and I could have explored so much more about sports (politically, socially, comparing cultures etc.), this is my one regret.
Mandy's Blog 