Artefact Insights – Post A

Hayden – Sustainable Footprint

Comment

The concept of Hayden’s digital artefact is an in-depth look art humanities impact on the environment and what effect human consumption will have in 10 years time on biodiversity. The target audience is aimed at young adults studying at university and to educate them on the topic and the effect it has on the planet. The digital artefact will be on twitter as it allows different forms of media, as well as a place to post information and spark discussions.

In my comment, I firstly expressed my interest on the topic. As someone who loves the environment, I want to follow along with this project to see how I can reduce my footprint and make my living more sustainable. As for a link to the BCM 325 weekly lectures, there is a topic mentioned in Week 3’s Soundcloud podcast which mentions “Anthropocene“. This is an unofficial geological form of time. It’s used to describe the most recent period in Earth’s history when human activity started to have a significant impact on the planet’s climate and ecosystems. I also did some external research and found NASA has published many articles about global warming, the environment and our impact. By looking into the lecture and the NASA website, I think it gives extra insight into properly understanding definitions and previous historical impacts. I think Hayden could look into ways we could reduce our carbon footprint and become more sustainable and what implications it may have on our future.

Grace – Inside the Ugliness of Fast Fashion

Comment

The concept of Grace’s digital artefact is looking into the future of fast fashion, specifically the website “Shein”. They want to look into why this brand is known as one of the worst fast fashion brands as well as the topic as a whole and how it is evolving in the present, near and far future. Their target audience is consumers within the fashion industry and to educate them to “bring new light”.

As for my comment, I was very surprised to hear that many mainstream brands such as Shein, Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing and Zara were all fast fashion brands. Although the project is about the future, I think in their video essays they should research into the history of fast fashion, where it began and why. I linked to a paper I found which is an analysis of the fast fashion industry. It states that “The history of ready-made clothing is closely aligned with Britain’s Industrial Revolution and grew popularity in the late 1600’s and 1700’s”. I also referred to Week 4’s Soundcloud podcast as it offers insight into “Ethical Foundations of Futures Studies”. It mentions that “Futures Studies asks questions about the ethical foundations of its research: “Why, for example, is a sustainable society better than an unsustainable one?”. I think that with my suggestions and research into the history of fast fashion, I could help shape Grace’s digital artefact and bring more education to themselves and their target audience. I actually learnt quite a lot while writing my comment so thats a bonus.

Taylor – The Future of Me

Comment

Taylor’s concept for the digital artefact is to work on their own career goals and career path. They plan on doing this through multiple blog posts addressing the development and future direction of their previous blog “Listen Loud”, the importance of undertaking internships and work experience and why volunteering is the key to industry networking.

I have a few critiques for this digital artefact (not in a bad way). In particular, I noticed there was a lack of background research linking to the BCM 325 moodle book, essentially, there were no links to the subject lectures. However, I suggested incorporating this more into their digital artefact starting with the Week 5 Soundcloud podcast which talks about “Think Tanks”. A think tank is a research institute or policy centre, which conducts research and lobbies or advocates to government and businesses on a topics including military strategy, economic, social and cultural policy as well as technology, health, education and so on”. I believe this is relevant to Taylor’s digital artefact as they are talking about the future of work, business and different communities surrounding that niche. I also pointed out that for their blog topic on work experience, I would be interested in hearing what the future of work might look like now that we are currently going through a global pandemic and how it may effect them and their future. This was accompanied by a link in the comment.