SCS6079 Digital Practices MA Digital Media & Society

Please choose one of the following briefs.

download briefs [PDF]
Brief 1: Get Active!
Background

The issue of weight gain is a global problem. In the UK, almost half of the people in the UK are either overweight or obese because our lifestyles have changed. More and more of us have desk-based, computer-based jobs, compared to the manual work of previous decades, and children’s play has shifted from the street to the screen.

People need to be persuaded that burning calories can be as fun as eating them! Children should exercise for 60 minutes a week and adults for 150 minutes a week.

creative challenge

Create a digital product which focuses on motivating children or adults to take part in regular physical activity. Don’t preach! Think about how you can use the elements of digital media to encourage, persuade and motivate. Your product will need to change behaviour, to get people exercising and to get them excited about exercising.

The UK’s Department of Health website (gov.uk/department-of-health) may serve as a useful resource.

considerations
deliverables
  1. A site plan to outline the information architecture (this can be in form of a tree chart diagram or a well structured written document)
  2. A website with at least five pages presented online, containing: text, images/video as appropriate
  3. A 500-word document describing considerations for each main part of the website, the content structure, tone of copy and why you chose to include certain elements.
Brief 2: Bringing up children in a digital age
Background

Technology has always played a role in discussions about what it means to be a good parent. The pace of recent advances in digital media can leave parents and carers anxious about what these changes mean for their children and how they should go about bringing them up.

These anxieties can be made worse by media stories about online dangers, the detrimental effects of ‘screen time’, or contradictory, optimistic tales about the opportunities that digital media bring for achievement or self-expression. Parents need help to navigate their way through the fast-pacing digital word.

creative challenge

Using the well-known Parenting for a Digital Future project as a resource (blogs.lse.ac.uk/parenting4digitalfuture), create a website which draws on the project’s research to give parents some simple tips about bringing up children in a digital age. Your website should contain a combination of text and images or video. Your target audience is parents of primary school children (aged 5-11).

considerations
deliverables
  1. A site plan to outline the information architecture (this can be in form of a tree chart diagram or a well structured written document)
  2. A website with at least five pages presented online, containing: text, images/video as appropriate
  3. A 500-word document describing considerations for each main part of the website, the content structure, tone of copy and why you chose to include certain elements.
Brief 3: Being an international student
Background

Students from around the world are attracted to UK universities, with their high-quality programmes of study and lively student life. While many international students succeed both academically and socially, some struggle to adapt to life in their new countries and can experience feelings of isolation.

This is just one challenge faced by international students in the UK. Help to overcome these challenges could therefore be very welcome.

creative challenge

Create a resource that provides insight into the experience of being an international student in the UK, to prepare future students to handle some of the challenges that arise whilst studying abroad. Think about how you might be able to incorporate first-person narratives and experiences into what you produce, and how these might be received by your target audience.

These resources may help you: ukcisa.org.uk & sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/international. Your target audience in international university students of any age. English is not their first language and this is their first time studying abroad.

considerations
deliverables
  1. A site plan to outline the information architecture (this can be in form of a tree chart diagram or a well structured written document)
  2. A website with at least five pages presented online, containing: text, images/video as appropriate
  3. A 500-word document describing considerations for each main part of the website, the content structure, tone of copy and why you chose to include certain elements.
optional: write your own brief
Subject to approval!

You have the option to write your own brief. The project needs to be in keeping with the nature of the given briefs, i.e. you are to create a website to support people. Read the briefs above carefully to understand the nature of content you are to create and include in your website. Plan a site to offer help, support and guidance to a select group of people, for a specific need.

To work on your own brief you must submit your brief proposal in writing by week 3, 6/3/20. It can then be revised if needed, and given final approval after which work can proceed.

brief prompts
deliverables
  1. A site plan to outline the information architecture (this can be in form of a tree chart diagram or a well structured written document)
  2. A website with at least five pages presented online, containing: text, images/video as appropriate
  3. A 500-word document describing considerations for each main part of the website, the content structure, tone of copy and why you chose to include certain elements.

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