Wk 13 – Project Brief Four

For Project Brief 4, my group, consisting of Sasha and Zac, were given the topic of ‘texts’ – one that quite honestly had us stumped at first. How does one begin to cover ‘media texts?’ Well, we have indeed come far from that dubious starting point and produced something that we are honestly quite proud of. This assignment enabled us to use our likemindedness in order to explore aspects of social media and how it influences self-identity. Since our trio has an inclination towards pop-culture and alternative ways of thought, I would like to think that our assembled book complimented this.

Personally, I feel that the most successful aspects of our own text – Exploring Texts in the Digital Age – were the ways in which our group combined our initial investigations to forge a piece that clearly flows. From our brainstorming session in our first research class, we discovered that we wanted to somehow discuss youth culture and how the internet has somewhat warped creativity and representations of self. This was implemented in our book by way of presenting three chapters of sorts – The Id, The Ego and The Super-Ego, which were all partnered with a pictorial collage that ran in line with the thoughts being expressed. For example, the face, a mixture of young and new participants, commented on the progression of social media artefacts. This is why our book begins with the examples of a handwritten love letter and email as they were some of the first modes of communication. This progresses to contemporary technology with the collage of the pelvis/chest area and then the academic points of communication with the pictures of a hand. To tie this altogether, ‘The Artists’ have written reflective pieces that also feature. These focus on the invention of Web 2.0, psychoanalytical criticisms and social implications, which is really where the voices of my partners and myself shine through.

It admittedly took a while for our group to find our feet and the path we wanted to take in creatively responding to the task. One of the least successful elements of this project was the fact that we were constantly changing our minds and in doing so, jeopardised the content that we aimed to bring forth. Furthermore, our far-fetched ideas, whilst a necessity for media practitioners, meant that a lot of our time was not used wisely since we were worried about the general aesthetic (very very very crucial to us.) I also feel that because the topic of ‘texts’ is so broad, our concepts never had any foundation and were generally all over the place until the last minute when we finally found a way to hone them in.

Overall, this collaboration process hasn’t exactly been ‘eye-opening’ for me, which is not to say that it hasn’t been something special. It’s been interesting to watch this project evolve and morph shape with each week and I’m so glad for having been put into a group with Sasha and Zac, who understand my mind, body and spirit. For future reference, I aim to have more of a solid structure in terms of understanding and interpreting the topic so as to not stray… But, perhaps straying is a good thing.