Welcome to my blog which documents my journey through the creation of an investigative feature on the rise of artificial wave pools and their impacts on surfing.
I am a Journalism student at Bournemouth University and have made this blog as a part of my final year Multimedia project.
At the time of writing this first post, I have already made leeway with the project. I have pitched my idea to my tutors and had various trains of thought which has lead me to where I am now. So I want to share my mindset with you.
I always wanted to base my project on surfing, I have been a surfer myself since I was a kid and have a passion for the sport and culture. I needed to decide what about surfing I wish to investigate. Having good prior knowledge about the on goings in the sport helped a lot.
Originally I focused my thoughts on how commercialisation has impacted the sport and this was what I pitched to my tutors. After research and undertaking the first interview or two for my project, I realised this idea was too broad and didn't allow each angle in the project to link together.
One angle for my original idea, was on the rise of wave pools and their role in commercialisation. Surf media outlets have been an advertising hub for new wave pool technology recently and although the idea of surfing in a pool is an exciting one, I wanted to delve deeper and understand what impacts they are having socially, environmentally and economically.
Having spoke to my tutor, she agreed a change in idea was good. So my project now focuses on the rise of artificial wave pools and their wider impacts. The next step was to go about sourcing the right interviews for each element of my project.
So this is where I am at and I will be posting on the blog as I progress through the steps of piecing this project together.
Above: If you're unfamiliar with artificial wave technology, then check out the video of 12x world surf champion Kelly Slater at his own wave pool. (Credit: Vimeo/Kelly Slater Wave Co.)
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