1. How did you use new media technologies in the construction, research and planning and evaluation stages?

2. Use of microblogging platform Tumblr to present work in an electronic format. A “microblog” is one that is much simpler than other blogging platforms but has more limited capabilities. However it was ideal for what I needed to do. Allowed me to embed videos from sites such as YouTube and SlideShare as well as link to documents on Adobe Acrobat and upload photos direct from my computer. There are seven categories for posting including text, audio, video, photo, chat, link and quote.

3. Use of video sharing website YouTube. Allowed me to watch relevant videos for the research stage instead of waiting for them to come on a music channel. Much more efficient. Also allowed me to upload my own videos including several drafts of the main task which meant that I could evaluate my progress on my blog as I went along with visual aids. Allowed me to embed videos on my blog in order to display them alongside my evaluation of them. Used this a great deal in the research stage even to just make small comments on what inspired me about some videos. Also meant I could easily show the video to members of my audience and receive feedback and inspiration from them along the way. I also used it to upload vlogs and embed these.

4. Use of SlideShare,a site that is very similar to YouTube but is used to share PowerPoint presentations online. Unlike Adobe Acrobat the uploaded presentations remain in presentation form (allowing the viewer to advance from slide to slide at the click of a mouse and access interactive features). These where then embedded onto my blog using the video post tool and the embedded object is viewable from the blog site. Although any animations were not viewable on my actual blog there is a link to the site where these can be viewed. It also gives the viewer the option of viewing the presentation is full screen. I have used this at all stages of the project but most particularly during the research and planning stages.

5. I used this site as a way of documenting my ideas and inspirations quickly and effectively as I think it’s important to show all elements of planning, even those that I did not use in my final construction. It was also an invaluable organisational tool for me. I also made use of a site called SpicyNodes which, although not as popular as the other two, was of invaluable use to me. It allowed me to create mind maps and present these to my blog readers in an interactive and user-friendly way. Like the other two the mind maps where embedded into my blog using the video posting tool. This was an especially important tool in presenting to the reader my thought processes across the project. I used these for planning however this exists in all sections of the project.

6. Using this site allows my viewers to zoom into the files, which was particularly useful for viewing the magazine adverts that I annotated by hand and scanned into the computer as the writing wasn’t as clear as it could be. Acrobat.com- this is an online application provided by Adobe that allows its users to upload files to the internet and share these should they choose to. Although the site’s primary use is aimed at groups being able to collaborate on documents online, I used it to upload pictures and PowerPoint presentations and link these to my blog.

7. During the editing process I used two applications: Adobe Premiere Pro to edit any video footage and to combine this with the photographs used for the stop motion; Adobe Photoshop to edit any photographs used as well as to construct the ancillary tasks. These were both fully capable to complete the tasks that I required them to do and their tools were invaluable during the construction stage. Especially when making the ancillary tasks I could not have done many of the techniques I did without Photoshop including the blurring of the backgrounds on the DigiPak front cover and the magazine advert.

8. Also used Windows Live Movie Maker to make some of the vlogs. Very simple but good enough for these.

9. Used iPhone apps for YouTube and Tumblr to allow me to upload and showcase work on the go. The recording capabilities of the iPhone also allowed me to produce podcasts and voice over’s for videos to a relatively high quality standard, certainly one that was good enough for what I was doing, and upload these to the computer quickly and simply.

10. During the feedback stages I used YouTube and the social networking site Facebook to allow me to receive feedback virally. It meant that many more people could see my work than if I had just shown it to focus groups however, this had a poor response rate and works better for marketing than feedback.