Short Project Summary
My digital artefact is an independent and opinion based cricket blog that aims to address the problem that there aren’t enough young voices in the cricket media sphere.
I decided to form this digital artefact as a cricket blogger to create a space for fans to interact and discuss points I raise, to add to cricket media the way that creators like Jarrod Kimber, Russell Jackson and weCricket do, and because I want to be a journalist, ideally focusing on sport, and even more ideally focusing on cricket.
My research drew me to the conclusion that there are plenty of young, online-focused and opinionated cricket fans around the world, but there are very few serious young (18-25 year old) content providers. I felt this would then be useful for users as they can interact and discuss my opinion pieces.
The artefact was originally pitched to be on all sorts of mediums, attempting to solve a different problem of there not being enough cricket content on platforms such as Discord and Twitch, but my Beta shows the development of the project using Reddit and Twitter in co-existence with one another instead of burning myself out trying to reach too many audiences on too many platforms at once.
From there I then decided to develop my project by posting discussion topics on Reddit with my articles and visuals embedded, as well as posting on Twitter and using hashtags created for those interested in browsing news and opinions on games. I feel this is the most effective method and was developed through testing and prototyping over the course of creating this digital artefact.
Analysis of Important Learning Moments
Event 1 (Weeks 2-4)
First I wrote articles relating to ongoing cricket matches and series.You The feedback was minimal as this is an area that is well covered by those on the ground with bigger followings and closer analysis.
These articles would pick up less than five views each, only by use of hashtags on Twitter, and would put unnecessary stress on me as I would try to be as current as possible. This meant that the articles were poor in quality and low in feedback.
At this point I was trying so hard to keep my content relevant that I wasn’t fully engaging with lectures, and with my approach in observing I was unable to decipher “how they react to certain types of content, what they like/dislike and what they need.” Furthermore, I didn’t take on Plattner’s findings that “in the Define mode you determine the specific meaningful challenge to take on, and in the Ideate mode you focus on generating solutions to address that challenge.” Without defining what I was exactly trying to do in terms of social utility I was not able to move on any further.
The learning from this event was that without a more engaged and specific method of finding users to interact with, or my artefact would be unable to make any tangible, useful improvements. This was certainly a #fefo moment as I failed to receive views and therefore feedback of any substance, but allowed me to make early observations about how difficult it would be if I did not attempt to streamline my user group and interact with them.
Event 2 (Weeks 5-8)
Then I started focusing on an event, the Men’s T20 World Cup, attempting to provide full coverage and using my own personal Twitter account and one specific to the event, Reddit and the site itself. Starting the World Cup focused Twitter was a #fist change, and while it didn’t eventuate to become anything major it was done with social utility of discussion creation in mind. This time feedback was better, with direct feedback to me and general discussion of the topic. However again I had the issue of not being able to cover all areas, and did make some errors in attempting to maximise viewership without doing adequate revision of work and making sure it was time bound.
Although I was tempted to “defend my model” after an upturn after a long slog in trying to break ground, this process allowed me to use Dam’s advice to “use prototypes in order to better understand the dynamics of a problem, product, or system by physically engaging with them and picking apart what makes them work or fail.” I applied this by engaging with the feedback of my errors and areas I had shortcomings in (such as access to news immediately) in how I would form my digital artefact.
The learning experience from this stage of testing and prototyping was the need to be strategic in posts on Reddit and my blog and ensure they are open-ended for discussion to fit my social utility. When they weren’t, like the above news type article, feedback was frank but very useful as they helped me to make the following change to my approach.
Event 3 (Weeks 9-13)
The most recent lap around the feedback loop saw me finally take on advice we have been encouraged to do in BCM114 and “do the smallest thing”. From my testing and prototyping across different Twitter and Reddit pages, as well as the blog itself, I determined r/Cricket on Reddit was the best place to expend my time and effort, and focus only on discussion topics that came from opinion and not efforts to interpret news and current affairs I didn’t feel I had the necessary sources to cover. This decision was made on the back of feedback received in Event 2, and while feedback rarely involved my writing itself, it showed I was making valid points and filling my social utility in creating discussion with issues and topics not being covered extensively by other forms of media, and as usual the feedback was conversational which was nice as it helped interact directly with users.
It took me a lot less time following and watching cricket to write articles like this, and allowed me to focus more on multimedia and links than rushing to get something on my blog.
Boyd’s assertion that “we must interact in a variety of ways with our environment” was one I attempted to follow throughout my Digital Artefact and I felt this was an area I improved in by the end of the project when I had a clearer definition on how to use platforms, particularly Reddit.
The learning from this process in terms of social utility was persistence in monitoring coverage and finding niches on a platform like Reddit, and focusing my attention on it while collating my content through my blog and Twitter. These opinion and discussion only posts have had the most staying power as they continue to be relevant and open-ended, and while my blog has not maintained or garnered as much new readership as I would have hoped considering the World Cup is on right now, I am pleased to have ended my DA on this note.
Sources
jarrod kimber – Freelance Writer – ESPNcricinfo, Wisden | LinkedIn
http://thewastedafternoons.blogspot.com/
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/wecricket-455201189
https://prezi.com/qtd-gcqgpvbd/digital-artefacts-observing/
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/viewer.html?pdfurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.alnap.org%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2Fcontent%2Fresource%2Ffiles%2Fmain%2FModeGuideBOOTCAMP2010L.pdf&clen=1955022
https://prezi.com/z9wo1hqephpm/digital-artefacts-prototyping/
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/design-thinking-get-started-with-prototyping
Russ Haylock Sportswriting 