BCM206 FINAL DIGITAL ARTEFACT REPORT
WRIT.TENBYME
This semester in BCM206 I wanted to develop a project with meaning and purpose to my study and personal life. Therefore, I decided to write original poetry surrounding ideas of personal development and growth; and publish them to social media. The purpose of my digital artefact was to heavily emphasise that healing, growing, and changing is a normal stage in life to go through, and should be celebrated rather than protected by hiding our emotions and experiences from others. The main goal was to strengthen my contact with society and relativeness to others, through the creation and cultivation of an online safe space. The social media site I elected to publish my work on, was Instagram; due to its popularity, ease of use and ability to foster communication between individuals. The nature of this journey was to determine the effectiveness of poetry to both evoke and convey emotion simultaneously for the reader and author; in building that sense of community. To complete this project, I drew on common themes from both speculated future networks and emergent future networks; including, the internet in regard to fragmentation and openness, and the development of internal complexities, battling existential anxieties to create a future reformed society.
Throughout my project development there were three main important moments that aided in the creation of my final piece. The first was when I started gaining followers on my dedicated DA Instagram account. More specifically, individuals who were following my account throughout the whole process, that were people I had not previously discussed my ideas with and were unaware of my project and its intentions. This was evidence that I was growing my audience and increasing my reach. Whilst also, contributing significantly to my selected media niche of poetry, by introducing new people to this medium.
The second significant moment regards the collaboration aspect of my assessment. Throughout my project I had reached out to friends asking them to be a part of my digital artefact creation by writing their own pieces of poetry, to also be published on my social media. This is because it was important to me in development, to introduce new ideas and experiences alongside my own, to my growing audience. Additionally, I wanted to give my friends a chance to outwardly express their internalised thoughts and emotions, in whichever way they decided; as this was something that some individuals struggle with or are apprehensive to do in everyday settings. As a result of these conversations, I was overjoyed when my friends were excited to participate and contribute as they added significant meaning to my project.
The last and final significant moment of my digital artefact was after the creation of my first piece. I posted it to my social media and was rewarded with a showering of engagement from my friends and audience. It was definitely the encouragement I needed to continue with my ideas and this project; and I was ecstatic to see it come to life with purpose.
The topics, ideas, and themes in the content of this year’s semester in BCM206 relates heavily to my digital artefact; specifically, found present within both speculated future networks and emergent future networks. Throughout this assessment, we were required to research and investigate information relating to both these ideas as themes of the subject. We were then to publish these on our university twitter accounts, to share our findings and perspectives with fellow peers and tutors. In completing this research, I discovered one aspect of speculated future networks that relates heavily to my personal project. This being, the development of internal complexities, battling existential anxieties to create a future reformed society. This is evident within my DA through opening myself up to the emotional risk of uncertain exposure; thus, highlighting to my followers, the need and normality of doing so when coming to terms with difficult and unfamiliar information and emotions. If we were all to do this within ourselves and to others, the general sense and understanding of our society would significantly improve as we begin to heal our inner selves and battle our anxieties and internal angst. Thus, we can imagine, potentially creating a speculated future network that sees humanity significantly more harmonious to both ourselves and our environment.
Additionally, one resource I discovered when investigating emergent future networks was “A universal internet in a bordered world: Research on fragmentation, openness and interoperability” by, The Royal Institute of International Affairs from 2016. This source goes on to discuss the ability of the internet to bring together fragmented societies through openness and communication. This was a momentous goal for my digital artefact, as I wished to foster a safe space of online community on social media, where people could then share their thoughts and experiences if they wished, or at the very least, to know they aren’t isolated in their own experiences and emotions. Thus, these two ideas from both topics of this subject, played significant roles in shaping and building my project.
In conclusion, the journey to create this digital artefact was extremely rewarding as I investigated my internal complexities and turned to writing to express these in a natural and healthy sense. In doing so, I built a community of online individuals who could empathise or sympathise with my emotions and experiences. In turn, I achieved my goals for this project and wish to keep adding to it in the future.
References
A universal internet in a bordered world: Research on fragmentation, openness, and interoperability (no date) Docslib. Available at: https://docslib.org/doc/12799593/a-universal-internet-in-a-bordered-world-research-on-fragmentation-openness-and-interoperability (Accessed: November 1, 2022).