SCS6079 Digital Practices MA Digital Media & Society

Workshop activity

Time to get started :) — let's work together to begin your planning for content. At this point, you should be clear about your brief and have begun to consider your site's goal and target group. If not, you can use this method to finalise your decision.

Before starting on content production, it's best to brainstorm and explore all possible angles. Mind maps are great tools to capture early ideas and to make note of the various angles and details. At this point, there are no bad ideas ~ only ideas!

Get opinions from others at any stage of your project, as much as you can. This can be us, your teachers, or your fellow students in the classroom. Ask for feedback and let it guide your work.

topics to explore

choice of topic ✱ sociological angle ✱ target group ✱ mission/goal/message ✱ types of content ✱ media types ✱ tone of voice ✱ digital context ✱ design direction ✱ assumed web use (device/app)

handy tool

The best mind and site maps are often sketched on paper - and if you prefer that, please don't let this sway you! If you'd like a digital tool, LucidChart will be worth checking out. Use your academic email to unlock more features.

• Lucidchart

to-do list = homework :)

1. make a final decision on your project brief
   Make note of the title of the brief itself + start to think of a new title, one that might become your site's name or tagline.
2. create a mind map of possible content
   Brainstorm time! Jot down all of your ideas, no matter how far fetched or silly. Best to make notes as some ideas might lead to others.
3. review the mind map, ask for feedback
   With your own notes in hand, ask around for other people's input. Ideally, this would be your target group - but you can also help each other out, a second opinion is always useful.
4. create a draft version of the site map
   Review your site map taking on board any feedback, make note of the stronger ideas and aim for a logical approach to the structure of your content, in view of your site's goal.
5. plan for content production
   Make notes on ideas for media, such as photos to take or edit, as well as textual content. Keep in mind you will now have 3 weeks to focus and work on your content before we resume our site building sessions.

NOTE: have a look online for inspiration ~ check out these examples by MindMaps Unleashed ↗.
And to give you an example you can relate to ;) - the following mind map and site map, created in LucidChart, are for this very site.