This was our final project and I was given my final role of researcher. We were tasked to think of a workshop/event, promote it and then run it. I knew from working with previous researchers that the role is heavily work orientated from the start and that as a team, we couldn’t progress without my research being completed punctually.
We quickly decided on healthy eating, before homing in on gluten and dairy free food, this decision was taken because a member of our group already had experience in gluten and dairy free baking due to a family member, but also because other groups were also interested in healthy eating, so we wanted to separate ourselves to an extent.
During my research I worked closely with the team, as previously stated the production and dissemination member of our group had experience with gluten and dairy free baking so I was able to find the recipes she used online and thus make the recipe cards. I was also aware the information I found would be put onto a poster by our content creator, so it was important for us to establish a mix of both serious and more humorous facts and images. I personally wasn’t very knowledgeable about Coeliac disease nor the difference between an allergy and an intolerance so as I learnt more, my research became more in depth about the issue.
We decided that as the posters would be around campus and that most wouldn’t know about the issue, we would stick to basic facts and definitions which everyone can understand. Specialist statistics and terminology-based research was instead implemented into the video, as it would be assumed that our target audience for the video would have been following the campaign and therefore would already be comfortable with the language used.
It soon became clear that for this project my role needed extending. I was made responsible for advertising the event online, in the form of a Facebook event but also on the Intranet.
As a team we worked well, one of our members commuted which I had prior experience with in my last project. This meant we made the most of the time after our tutorials as well as utilising a group chat which allowed us to keep on track of our work and make necessary changes. For instance, we originally planned our event to be on a Wednesday, but we realised that no lectures take place in the afternoon, so this would have limited our audience. We then regularly checked the weather and decided online that the event should be held on a Tuesday instead, one of the only dry days that week.
Given that this was our last assignment, I felt that our experience from our previous three tasks shone through. I was comfortable finding relevant and accurate information, as well as making a bibliography that was to the Harvard referencing standard. I feel our video also has high production value, as it incorporated everyone’s role in the film, even my research, as shown through the facts and statistics that pop up.
Overall, I would argue that this was my best piece of work on this module. When we were first given this project, we knew we would have to be punctual in order to meet deadlines due to the sheer scope of the project, but the fact we managed to have the research completed, marketing done and the video published just under a week before the deadline shows how competent and experienced we were throughout.
Media and communications 