Freshers life at York St John – Vox Pops
The first week of Semester 1 2016 I was on the York St John University campus, speaking to several students about their expectations of student life and how those expectations compared to the reality of living the life of a student. This include how they’re budgeting their student loans to how they’re finding lectures and how overwhelming the entire process of growing up and moving away from home has been so far.

The process involved in creating my finished artefact began with researching audio vox pops, including BBC Academy tips on recording vox pops [x]. It also included going out around campus with a sound kit and approaching York St John students, this was done in pairs. Myself and another student took turns recording our questions to collect a fair range of results. In order to interview students I had to ask their permission, ensure that all participants signed release forms and were aware of the purpose of my vox pop. I had to be aware during this time to not disturb classes taking place or enter locations like Fountains Library. This process then involved editing my audio files in Adobe Audition to create my finished artefact, I felt this artefact incorporated all the elements often included in audio vox pops [x].

I chose this specific artefact for my portfolio because I felt it captured a personal element of student life as my vox pop interviewees discussed holding down part time jobs in order to get through uni comfortably. Students also discussed learning how to budget and shop around in order to save on spends. The personal element was also reaffirmed by students discussing missing family, learning to cook and how attending a university like York St John can be quiet but also homely and ‘chummy’.