22nd OCTOBER
OUGD403MESSAGE & DELIVERY - PART1
RESEARCH.
We were first asked to think of 10 News stories that you can think of from the last year.
NOTES TAKEN FROM SESSION
22/20/2012
This task was to help us prepare for the upcoming brief in which we are instructed to collect a newspaper the following day. Choose a story from with in this specific paper to base you research brief on. We were advised to pick something that was not too sinister in ethos as we are going to be researching deeply into this story for the next 4 weeks.
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The next day I bought the 'i' newspaper from the train station and looked through in while on the train.
'i - THE ESSENTIAL DAILY BRIEFING'
I spotted 2 different stories that interested me straight away and would give me alot to work with when researching:
1) - BULUGAR WHALE 'SPOKE' TO HIS TRAINERS - Noc the talking whale learns to imitate human speech in attempt to 'reach out' to human captors.
2) - ARMSRTRONG STRIPPED OF HIS 7 TOUR VICTORIES - Sports rulers rather attack critiques than dopers.
I have decided to go along with the 'Lance Armstrong Doping allegations' story and the fact that he has been stripped of many championship wins.
I have chosen this because as a former Sports Studies student I have a bit of knowledge in the science side of drug is sport. I have also been a sports competitor in my time and can understand the fact that Athletes will do what ever it takes to win even if it means using illegal substances.
I have never used drugs and I am strongly against doping in sports, however i am very familiar with that feeling of doing anything possible to get the edge on your competitors and the 'you have to win' mentality. Therefore looking into this fine line between legal and illegal would be interesting.
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To gain more knowledge on the background of this issue, I have scoured the internet to look at the main parties that play apart in this story.
This is information that I have narrowed down from articles on Wikipedia.
MY GATHERING OF BACKGROUND INFORMATION
However he is accused of serious intimidation of many fellow cyclists that have attempted to speak out about doping in their profession. Christophe Bassons even quit due to this intimidation and out right bullying that took place by others (including Armstrong).
This might be an interesting to look at the 'two sides' that Lance Armstrong may possess:
THE HUMANIST & THE CYCLIST
MY GATHERING OF INFORMATION
MAIN DRUGS ARMSTRONG IS ACCUSED OF TAKING
I have quite a bit of background knowledge on doping drugs used in sport, i think that this would be quite and interesting and fun thing to try and demonstrate visually.
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26th OCTOBER
OUGD403
RESEARCH BRIEF
POWER CRIT.
During the group power crit, I presented my chosen research subject and explained why I had chosen this particular story. I spoke about the different roots i wish to go down and further investigate.
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I decided to look at what drugs are prohibited in sport as listed by the World Anti-Dopeing Agency (WADA).
http://list.wada-ama.org/prohibited-in-particular-sports/prohibited-substances/
The substances listed on these webpages are just categories! When you click on each substance, some of the categories contain at least 65 variants of each drug type.
I also wanted to look into the types of substances athletes take that are not considered illegal. I think it would be interesting to look at how the simple and everyday things compare to their extreme opposites in drugs and doping.
Substances, food and drink I used to consume while at the highest level of my footballing career:
RAW JELLY - Gives a large hit of sugar straight to your blood stream. The body reacts to this by releasing insulin into the muscles therefore energising them.
BANANAS - The 2 types of sugars in bananas are called glucose and fructose. Glucose is an easily digestible sugar which quickly gets into your bloodstream and rapidly releases energy. The fructose sugar is absorbed into the blood stream at a slower rate therefor providing a steadier and more lasting release of fuel.
SNICKERS BAR - Contains fast-acting carbohydrates that help release rapid energy delivery. They also have a high glycemic content to help ensure that a body is fuelled properly when energy is needed.
LUCOZADE - As well as helping rehydate, Lucozade contains electrolytes that replace minerals and salts the are lost through sweat. The electrolytes in Lucozade Sport help replace salts and minerals lost through sweating.
REDBULL
PSP22 ENERGY DRINK (powder)
PEANUT BUTTER
As well as things that you eat and drink I think it might be interesting to look at things that may also be seen as 'edge gainers' such as clothing and equipment. There are also other personal things that help individual athletes gain an edge through mental preparation. Things like lucky underwear or certain routines that, if are not followed ritually, could be blamed for a loss or poor performance.
