Before starting on the main group assignment, we presented our ideas to the class, as well as to lecturers from other studios. We showed the research that we had done, and the potential ways that we could present it.
The topic that we worked on was Jobkeeper and Jobseeker, two government programs that provided some income to people who lost jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. While looking at ideas for our presentation, we examined a few different approaches, including whether to take a satirical stance; and what medium to use for our final work. We were originally looking at making a piece to camera, some posters, and possibly a podcast episode; though we might choose something other than a podcast episode if we decide to narrow our focus to Jobseeker.
Heather recommended against examining Jobkeeper, stating that it was now irrelevant, since it been discontinued. While I still wonder if it would’ve been useful to discuss, as the government has made it difficult to discern between the different job programs during the pandemic; just focusing on Jobseeker would make our assignment more effective to ease confusion, and could potentially be more relevant to viewers for longer.
Though if we just stick to Jobseeker, it might be harder for us to create a third ‘deliverable,’ as if were to go ahead with the podcast episode, we would risk producing something that might be a bit too similar to the piece to camera. We might be able to perhaps extend our infographics deliverable to work both on paper and on social media, especially Instagram. If we have the time, we could possibly also publish shorter cuts of our piece to camera, either to Instagram or TikTok.
As a group, we decided to push back against the decades of disinformation that the media and parts of the government create around social security payments, especially unemployment benefits. Constant talk of dole bludgers and job snobs make it easy for governments to cut funding from our social safety net without public push-back, and hard for people to access the help that they are entitled to as a citizen. While we didn’t find any specific Fact Check articles that looked at the stigma, we were able to find some that reinforced the reality that social security payments barely help their recipients make ends meet, let alone finance the supposedly luxury lives that the media and governments fabricate for these people.
It was difficult to organise as a group without being able to meet up in person, as we all had work and classes, and lived on opposite sides of the city, though I personally found it slightly easier than the previous piece to camera. Similar to my experience working on the other piece to camera, I found it hard to start writing things without others in the group writing their own parts. I’m sure there is some form of writing block there, but it could even just be that I need to be more assertive while doing groupwork. I found it a bit easier to assert myself this time around though, and felt like I could provide constructive ideas for the group. While at this stage, we have plenty of room for improvement, I believe that at the rate that we’re going, we should be able to produce great work for Assignment 4.
The other groups also had interesting topics, though I found the presentation on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout interesting. I think the assignment has the potential to assist those who may not have a clear understanding of the vaccine or the rollout. However, similar to us, they could run the risk of trying to put too much information into a single piece to camera. If they had the time, producing different ones for different questions – such as addressing vaccine hesitancy, and addressing the government’s role and actions – could be more effective than one video attempting to summarise everything. I am looking forward to seeing their final assignment.