Link to audio: https://drive.google.com/file/d/187jGaibPIvnqeBYkfb_cUoXj1PWu1jSt/view

As I reach the end of the process, I now must reflect on the work I did… and the work I aspired to do.

To recap, I intended to focus my project on the innovative popular music of the 1960s. With each informal essay, I was hoping to essentially tell the story of how Art Rock came to be – beginning with Bob Dylan’s innovative Folk Rock albums and continuing down the line with The Beatles, who were directly inspired by Dylan’s albums. This way, instead of just serving as a substitute for Wikipedia, I would be able to uniquely connect each essay – thus generating more interest than if I were just to post a bunch of random info about the artists I like (even if that is why I chose this topic to begin with).

John Lennon

Artwork by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum – link here

Where I failed in progressing this project effectively was in my inability to remain consistent in terms of both producing content and maintaining a social media presence. This mainly came down to my lack of confidence in these areas. It has also been down to the fact that procrastination remains a prominent sticking point in my UOW journey.

Thankfully, autoethnography is carried out largely with the intention of conveying a “path-work of feelings, experiences, emotions, and behaviours” (Wall, 2006), which gives me more to talk about than just the work I didn’t do.

In hindsight, I believe that I would’ve been better served by the YouTube format. That way, my hypothetical audience would be able to take in my content in a way that is more accessible both physically and mentally. I also should’ve more properly considered the power of social media. Although I had formed a plan to create a Twitter account (along with an idea concerning Reddit), this never came to fruition. If I ever were to do this again, my number one goal would be to make sure to construct a detailed plan before pitching the project. 

I would also make sure to not have as many other UOW subjects going on at the same time.

Reference

Wall, S. (2006) An Autoethnography on Learning about Autoethnography, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, P.g. 5