Rip.Mix.Feed – Pray For Humanity
In light of recent and tragic worldwide events, I decided to incorporate the flag photo filter idea from Facebook into my Rip.Mix.Feed project. Recently, Facebook provided a transparent photo filter of the French flag to demonstrate solidarity to the people of Paris after the devastating terrorist attacks on November 13th. However, the social media giant was also widely criticized for including only the option to support France when people in Beirut had experienced terrorist bombings only the day before Paris. This was not to mention other significantly tragic events in Syria, Nigeria, Kenya, and Burundi that have been occurring this year, possibly among several others.
Images such as this one were passed around Facebook in a call for recognition of these countries’ strife. Through my Rip.Mix.Feed project, I wanted to play with the idea of layered filters over my own current Facebook profile picture. This project shows that images can be simply manipulated with web tools and that the ease in which filters are created should provide no problem for a social media company like Facebook to incorporate. Instead, it points to the fact that companies like Facebook and major news sources are responding more to audience demands and consumption based on web analytics than they are appeasing to equitable coverage of global news.
Here are the images of my own profile picture that I created using flag images retrieved from Wikipedia Commons, Google Drawings (utilizing the image transparency feature and layering media over top of one another). Creation of your own media may challenge dominant narratives that are provided to us. May we constantly reflect on the information that major media provides us, our careful reactions to major news even when it’s fear-inducing, what actions we are taking as a result our reactions, and may we continually question this until our reality is a world of empathy, understanding, and care for all human life.
References
Barnard, A. (2015). “Beirut, Also the Site of Deadly Attacks, Feels Forgotten” in New York Times online. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/16/world/middleeast/beirut-lebanon-attacks-paris.html on Nov 17 2015
Flag of Burundi [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Burundi.svg
Flag of France [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_France.svg
Flag of Kenya [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Kenya.svg
Flag of Lebanon [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Lebanon.svg
Flag of Nigeria [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Nigeria.svg
Flag of Syria [Photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Syria.svg
Hanusch, F. (2015). “Disproportionate coverage of Paris attacks is not just the media’s fault” in Newstatesman online. Retrieved from http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/media/2015/11/disproportionate-coverage-paris-attacks-not-just-media-s-fault on Nov 17 2015
Lindsay, S. (2015). (Photographer). Victoria Olson [Photograph]. Retrieved from private Facebook profile.
Matekane, T. (2015). (Photographer). Facebook Asked Me [Photograph]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153741372388699&set=a.10150940871033699.439682.564063698&type=3&theater
This is such a powerful message, Victoria. The mention of how audience is determining what is shown in the media (and the link to the article on this topic) is sometimes very discouraging. Even journalists themselves are frustrated with this reality. There seems to be so much inaccuracy within what we as the audience hear about and what actually happens around the world. After I viewed your project, I was lost for some time in all the areas and issues it touches on. I have included a few items I came across while reflecting on this issue and have included several of them here. Please don’t feel that you need to read all or any of them as some are quite lengthy, I just wanted to include them in case you were interested.
How readers determine not only what is presented in the news, but how it is represented is interesting as well. This article from a couple months ago:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-34213693
touches on some technology influences I thought you might find interesting.
This article discusses recent changes in journalism:
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/jomec/jomecjournal/3-june2013/Carlson_Change.pdf
It is long but the topic of legitimacy on pages 6 and 7 were interesting.
Some of the more positive influences of the interaction between audience and news/media is discussed by Markham Nolan in this video:
https://www.ted.com/talks/markham_nolan_how_to_separate_fact_and_fiction_online?language=en#t-308155
Hi Rochelle,
Thanks for the extra resources. I am actually doing a project that touches on filter bubbles and metadata for another class and will likely be using this tragedy’s media sources as a case study for it. I have saved your links for that! 🙂
Thank you Victoria; a very thoughtful post. Like so many, I too was struck by Facebook’s lack of inclusion. The image you referred to hasn’t made it to made feed, though. It seems these days that the information we get is indeed filtered by perceived audience demand as opposed to reality…or at least impartial reporting.
Hi Mary,
Thank you. I respectfully disagree that the image hasn’t made it to feed. I don’t think it needs to be presented in another format to tell the story; in fact, I think that would make the message somewhat redundant. Paired with this post, it tells the story just fine.
The article I shared in the post suggests that audience consumption is actually more responsible for media slants than is impartial reporting. There are algorithms that collect metadata (clicks, placement, time spent on page, etc) and based off of that, media outlets follow which stories will be the most consumed. Not saying that’s right, by any means, but it demonstrates that our own readership needs to shift to not be so ethnocentric, but to be more inclusive in nature.
Sorry Victoria!! I missed a typo there. It was supposed to say “made it to my feed” as in I hadn’t seen it the multi-flagged image on Facebook yet. I agree, I think it tells the story well indeed, especially paired with your post.
Ah! That makes more sense then!!! 🙂 Thanks for clarifying!
Yes, great post, Victoria. I commented on Facebook on this issue a few days ago (basically arguing that while, of course, the life of a French person is no more valuable than a Lebanese person, the media operates on proximity, and elements of French culture such as eating at a restaurant or going to a rock show are a lot closer to our experience than life in Beirut is). Anyway, very thoughtful using all those flags, and you also have the Apple symbol there on the computer in front of you adding another layer of METness!
Hi Randy,
Absolutely – thanks! I agree that there is the culture of sameness between their nation and North American life, which is the reason this all started. We have also normalized terrorism in the Middle East and that desensitization results in a lack of readership and consumption of those pieces of news. It’s too bad, because that act in itself perpetuates an expectation for sameness in media consumption.
Victoria,
Thank you, as you have really inspired me and given me the hope you ask for. I recently had a heated argument with a colleague about the whole French flag thing – about a day before other people started saying stuff on Facebook, and I was shocked to learn that this person felt there was nothing wrong with the French flag image. I tried to point out that terrorism was everywhere but we couldn’t even have the conversation and it ended badly.
I love the power of your image, and hope you have posted it on FB. This is a very evocative post.
Hi Rave,
Many thanks. I’m highly disappointed by how many people are reacting poorly on Facebook, in regards to several issues, but especially those that are stemming from these attacks. My Facebook profile is a place that I’m generally quiet; I don’t spew and overshare political allegiances, but the trail of my beliefs is rather found by what I “like”. This is one topic where I’ve been struggling to be an observer, and I suppose this project was the result of it. Thanks again for the kind words.
What a great and powerful message and project Victoria! While I’m not an avid Facebook user, I have seen discussions regarding the French flag and the minimal mention of the other tragic events that took place. I completely agree with one of your comments in that it is important that our own readership shift such that it becomes more inclusive and broad (not so Eurocentric as you mentioned). Readers have far more control over what it presented to them than they realize, and I would hope that as people demand for more accurate and inclusive information, we will become better educated about the events that are occurring in our world.
Hi Rachel – thanks! The challenge comes with recognizing the fact and then understanding which news sources may be credible or well-balanced. My worry is that the corporate control of news media is based on these algorithms and analytics, and that some journalists are actually powerless within their jobs to provide balanced reporting. How do we identify which news media is actually reporting on more than what will garner the most clicks?
Hi Victoria:
Very important message indeed. I also appreciate the need to be critical when receiving information from any media as there usually is an agenda hidden from us. Thanks for the well-articulated reminder 🙂