Meeting with Claire Smith

Claire was the third lecturer that I consulted about this idea. I really wanted to get a variety of opinions on this idea before I went all in, as I couldn't risk having to start over again. Gareth really supported the idea and helped me gaining information of primary social media education. Ade seemed to much prefer this idea to the last, and encouraged me to keep the dinosaur theme for the younger students. So, I just needed to get a positive response from Claire...

Claire generally seemed to enjoy and understand my idea, and was really useful in the advice she gave...
- She recommended I look into activities and quizzes to add into my presentations to make them more engaging.
- Claire agreed that I was right in really focusing on my research for these few weeks, and suggested watching videos and reviewing what made them/good bad.

Deciding on Visual Themes

Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11): Safety Online
- Respond better to bright colours and characters.
- Ade mentioned his enjoyment for the dinosaur idea.
- Dinosaurs could be good metaphors for different people online.
- Non-realistic colours.
- Predominantly primary colours.
- Fairly basic character designs.
- Comic-y font (NOT Comic Sans).

Key Stage 3 (ages 12-14): Communication Online
- Important not to patronise.
- No need for the 'narrative'-like characters.
- But a little narrator/mascot to fill up space.
- Robot - very neutral, fun, tech-y.
- Quite sharp and clean, mostly.
- Maybe quite fancy titles (like comic book mastheads).

Key Stage 4 (ages 15+): Employment and Social Media
- Very clean cut and tidy.
- Minimal and modern design style.
- Maybe hints to a few memes to keep it entertaining (be careful not to date the presentation by doing this).
- Incorporate photography maybe?

Deciding on the Presentation Themes

Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11): Safety Online
- Very at risk.
- Shouldn't be using social media, but will.
- React better to "if you MUST do this, here's how to do it safely" than "DON'T do this".
- Basic information that they may already know but in a more exciting way.
- Important to encourage children to communicate and share with their parents.

Key Stage 3 (ages 12-14): Communication Online
- Cyberbullying is very prevalent at this age.
- Teens like to show off online and post things they don't mean/understand.
- Talk about the 'it's out there forever' rule.
- Give information on where to go if you're being cyberbullied.
- The importance of thinking about what you say - future employers.

Key Stage 4 (ages 15+): Employment and Social Media
- Are going to be starting to think about their future.
- Mentioning social media hindering job applications (finding old tweets, etc.), but explain that this can work the other way and what you post can make you more employable.
- Jobs in social media.
- My personal experience.
- The Wendy's guy. The Innocent Smoothies dude.
- LinkedIn.
- Breaking down the separation between your social media life and your professional life.

More In-Depth Project Description

Below is a slideshow I produced to give a better insight into my project. This will also be used when pitching my idea to an industry panel next week.

My Project Brief

- A series of three educational presentations will be produced, all aimed at different age groups and on different focal points, but with the central theme of social media.

- Each presentation will be between 10 and 20 minutes long, so as to suit the 'assembly' lengths of most schools.

- Each presentation will include a supporting slideshow, basic activities (quizzes, suggestions, 'spot the problems', etc.), and verbal communication of the majority of information.

- These presentations will be adapted and filmed for online distribution.

- The information from the presentations will be condensed and displayed in printed booklets (around 8-12 pages).

- A full website will be produced to host the online presentations and provide more information.

- A brand/house style will be produced to gain cohesion and brand identity.

- Full social media campaigns will be kept.

Starting Points for My New Idea

During my meeting with Gareth, I identified the parts of my idea that were worth keeping. I also pinpointed my personal skills and interests, so that I could make sure I felt really passionate about my project, which would ensure I did my best work.

Good points from my previous idea...
- Constructing workshops.
- Working with children/students.
- Building my network.
- Working with digital technologies (website building).

My skills and career interests that could be built upon...
- Social media.
- Marketing.
- Vlogging/video creation.
- Graphic design.

Why I'm Not Doing My Initial Idea

I've been nervous about this idea since I came up with it. I felt it was over complicated, stressful and not very concise. But, due to the fact I'd already lost one idea this semester and was already behind, I felt to scared to move on from this idea.

However, today I sat down with Gareth and voiced these concerns, and he agreed with me. We broke down my idea and identified what the issues were, as well as the strengths (and things I'd want to carry into my new idea). I found that I was trying to force too many things into the idea, because I was too scared of not having enough work. I feel like this idea really put quantity and complexity above quality and cleanliness.

Because of this, I won't be continuing on with this idea. Whilst this is a very scary decision to make, I know that I will create better and more valuable work with a new idea.