Today I started to do some research on what is critical design, how do designers define the term to understand more. As the brief we had today was very long and full of examples and information so it was very overwhelming to grasp. I started to do my research and the two names which came up in every article was Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby. I read the section about they explain what they do and what they believe critical design is. They define critical design as “Critical Design uses speculative design proposals to challenge narrow assumptions, preconceptions and givens about the role products play in everyday life. It is more of an attitude than anything else, a position rather than a method. There are many people doing this who have never heard of the term critical design and who have their own way of describing what they do. Naming it Critical Design is simply a useful way of making this activity more visible and subject to discussion and debate” Dunne and Raby are not graphic designers, both studied at the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London—Dunne in industrial design and Raby in architecture and, later, computer-related design. Their approach to everyday objects are critical and with using technology they create interesting work.
Their famous works include:
Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming (The MIT Press, 2013)
“Speculative Everything offers a tour through an emerging cultural landscape of design ideas, ideals, and approaches. Dunne and Raby cite examples from their own design and teaching and from other projects from fine art, design, architecture, cinema, and photography. They also draw on futurology, political theory, the philosophy of technology, and literary fiction. They show us, for example, ideas for a solar kitchen restaurant; a flypaper robotic clock; a menstruation machine; a cloud-seeding truck; a phantom-limb sensation recorder; and devices for food foraging that use the tools of synthetic biology. Dunne and Raby contend that if we speculate more about everything reality will become more malleable. The ideas freed by speculative design increase the odds of achieving desirable futures.”
Design for an Overpopulated planet: Foragers, 2009
Foragers is about the contrast between bottom-up and top-down responses to a massive problem and the role played by technical and scientific knowledge. It builds on existing cultures currently working on the edges of society, who may initially appear extreme and specialist guerrilla gardeners, garage biologists, freegan gleamers etc. By adapting and expanding these strategies, they become models to speculate on what might happen in the future.
Critical design to me seems like something that as desingers we need to challenge about society, this could be social cultural, environmental, political. I believe we live in a society where being a consumerist designers doing work for corporate companies and corporate work will bring you loads of money however as a designers role as well as creativity and aesthetic it should also be to change something or raise awareness. This topic links to my third year thesis as my dissertation was about role of graphic design in society and how it has an effect on social reproduction. It was a very interesting topic and I have always been interested in socioligy so I wanted to bring two elements together and also learn about effect of graphic design on society, the main focus point was how graphic design reproduces culture. We are part of the system where we reflect the accepted values and belief in society with most of our work. Some designers don’t challenge they contribute to the system by creating work which reproduces social class inequality, gender issues, racism, homophobia and other issues which should be challenged. So when I was in the lecture, I knew this project would be something I would enjoy and be interested in. I wanted to see what critical design means to graphic designers specifically. As critical design is different for each design medium. As seen above, Raby & Dunne focuses on everyday objects.
When I was researching for critical graphic designers, I found an exhibition which most articles always give as an example. The exhibition is called “Form of Inquiry” Forms of Inquiry: The Architecture of Critical Graphic Design presents a group of contemporary, international graphic designers who base their work in critical investigation. The exhibition features works that have originated as self-propelled inquiry, either professional or personal, and have been developed into a myriad of media and forms. The exhibition expands as its travels, continually emphasizing local research and sites for exchange.
Couple of works which I found so interesting, they were focusing on different issues such as Kasia Korczak focuses on the aspect of home for foreigners.
Korczak explains the idea behind the image as how we all argue about where we belong around the dinner table. Korczak says “As foreigners living in foreign lands, we are often asked to choose between national identities, despite the various terminologies of identification being skewed, if not altogether faulty. On the one hand, there is ‘immigrant’, implying, almost de facto, a desire for integration as the key determinant for success in a host country. On the other, there is the romanticised and somewhat passé term ‘émigré’, an evocation of whitened knuckles, gripping an increasingly fossilised sense of ‘home’. Either way, we lose.” I think this was very interesting to me as because I focused on the same issue last project for the RSA, the way immigrants were being treated on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram. Immigration is a huge topic which every immigrant has a story where they were asked to pick which country like the most. I remember when I was younger when I would go back to Turkey, my grandparents would ask which country I like the most Turkey or England? My answer would be Turkey as I missed my family in Turkey I still felt like I belonged there whereas as I grew up, my answer changed I now call Uk my home because this is where I feel like I belong. I find the idea behind Korczak very inspiring and empowering.
all possible futures
All possible futures, curated by Jon Sueda. The exhibition highlighted the critical, speculative graphic design work of influential women designers. Self-initiated projects and commissioned works, all of which were carried out with a high level of autonomy, were displayed. The works illuminated the working methods and potential of critical graphic design; the accompanying book All possible futures offers further insight into the individual works.
Examples of Critical design.
Model World Maquette, Jurgen Bey
“Recurring themes include future-focused provocation like in Dunne and Raby’s lunchbox with space for food and space for the resultant excrement responding to the implications of non-electricity-based energy sources or reflecting upon design as a process itself as with Jurgen Bey’s “Foam Matters: Model World Maquette” offering functionless furniture made from Styrofoam.”
This project has been the most challenging one so far, I believe this could be related to man factors which are linked to me but also to external factors. First of them is the we are still living in a pandemic, we are all still doing online lecturers and working from home which effecsts the creative process in a lot of ways. As we are all struggling in our own life due to the pandemic and living in this new normal, we are still trying to be creative and create work that will be up to the standards of being in our final grade but also working towards our degree. However, I believe I have struggled many times, I’ve hit creative blocks felt like I wasn’t going to deliver anything at the end but I did manage to create work that I liked and felt like it answered the brief. I chose a brief that I knew I would be interested in working on, as from last year I knew I was leaning towards social design and it just caught my attention however I didn’t consider that this is not the normal times and everything is 10x harder. I felt negative at some parts but I always just tried to figure out whether it was ideation by contacting my lecturers or asking my peers for help. I knew this wasn’t the normal life and I was allowed to struggled and feel a bit lost.
The brief wanted to identify a societal divide and I chose a topi that was very close to my life, immigrants. As being part of an immigrant family I knew the struggles and I saw the horrible tweets and comments being made on Twitter so I knew what I wanted to communicate and I knew how some people need to change their perspective on group of people in society. I focused on an exhibition to create an empathy through art and design. Through words and poems where people will be targetted for their actions. Using peoples feed to create an personal exhibition sounded good as it doesn’t create the other side as enemy, I was just displaying their words back to them. showing them that they have posted this tweet online and anyone can access it.I thought this would be powerful than telling them they are mean or that they are wrong. I believe this would have positive impact on users as it would make them question for a second. As people who are closed minded, no matter how much you say they will just turn a blind eye so my throwing facts at them wasn’t going to change how they feel. I don’t know how much can an exhibition change someone but at least it will make them think. I used social media as a tool, I used the negative side of Twitter to work against it. It is still related to Twitter but this time I used their hateful comments to create an exhibition. I based my posters my visuals on real accounts, they are real words posted from a real account I used their @ to show that they are existing, they are there and if you search them you can find it. Of course they were fake account with no real name so whoever that is thought no one will see what they say. Tagging users to posters made it real like those words belong to people or groups of peopLe who think this way about a group of people who are running away from a war. All my work is created through research, I researched who are these people, why are they saying that, what made them turn a blind eye, why do they follow these people. Also, I tried to understand Twitter, the algorithm how it works why it works the way it does what does it try to achieve. Along the way I found out facts that made me realise how important is to double check when you are tweeting. I realised how crucial it is to check the posts, the facts search for the evidence just because it fits to my opinion doesn’t mean it is right. I think it was very beneficial for me as a person as well. My outcomes can be easily created into a real life project and I think it would be way more powerful if it was. Physically seeing these words on walls and experiencing it will be powerful. I believe targeted exhibitions could be challenging to do but if it does work it would so different.
Overall, I am very happy with the outcomes and I think it was a very hard brief but I responded using my style and things that I believe that were important. I think there are few things I could improve on and improve but I still have time in future.
Once I created the branding style and the posters, I was ready to move onto the creating the website mock up to show how the people can access the exhibition. The exhibition will be a link on Twitter and also a website. Once the user clicks on the link they will be directed to this page you can see below on the left. The screen will in style of the brand, the logo and the date, time the exhibition will be live. The next step is for the user to sign up which you can see the layout on the right. I used very simple minimal design. All black and white with boxes as guidelines. The user signs up to the exhibition by their name, user name and just what they think about immigration. These are very easy steps to follow and I wanted to keep the design very simple. The next step is a crucial part of the exhibition where I tackle fake account issue of Twitter.
Fake Account filter
The filter I created is once the suer signs up with their name they have to go onto this stage where we verify the authentic accounts that belongs to real people. I have decided to do this by using the phone number and sending them codes as most websites use this method. I thought Twitter already has the email confirmation which people can make several emails which is not the best method.So, I decided to go with phone number, the reason is it’s way more safer and everyone only have 1 phone number it would be hard to find new ones. By this way I will be filtering out fake accounts, bots and other accounts. Once the user recieves the code they enter automaticaly they are verified. I also added the black tick feature, this will work as an e-ticket as well as raise awareness to the exhibition. People will be intrgied to why some accounts have black ticks nd they can drawn to the exhibition. The black tick would be the ticket to show you have visited but also verification is a issue and funny thing peopel always want on their account. Some peopel buy twitter following so they can recieve an verify tick. I thought this would be a good way to play with the Twitter feature and make it work for my exhibition.
Once the account is verified they can enter the exhibition once it is live. The first room they will view is the Room 1, the page will have a information box that tells why they are viewing the room. The space is created from their Twitter feed and that also it gives them information about how they can use the hashtag to tweet about it. I also added the feature racist comments will be deleted as I thought it could defeat the point if people share negative things again so the horrible comments will be filtered out. The information box will then disappear and the under can zoom on and move around the room to read the tweets. I just think if this was in real life it would be so much more impactful, i can see this project being in real life and creating a chill atmosphere where a targeted exhibition to focus on immigration. Imagine a massive room with high walls, covered with things you have said about other people on social media, you don’t think people actually see it but it could be like as if they are being told to you, you are surrounded by the negativity you have created. I believe this project would work in real life really well.
Once the user can move onto the second room, this will be by the arrow that will appear after some time, it will be a one way system to the user will need to go to the next room. They can click on the arrow, then will shift into the second room.
The second room is dedicated to celebrate immigration and migrants living in UK. The information feature at the bottom once the user clicks it comes up with something created for the immigrants and they can add their names or relatives so we can create a billboard full of peoples names. I thought about this idea towards the end I thought I need to do something more than names on walls in the exhibition it needs to be something visible to everyone who didn’t visit or like it needs media attention to it can raise awareness. I thought about imagine seeing your mums or dads name on a billboard where you surprise them, it can be thank you and it can celebrate their existing. I believe sometimes they are unnoticed how our dads and mums migrated to a different country, left their home friends to create a better life for us. I think it would be a nice thing to add onto the campaign and it would create a positive image for the immigrants and aimed at them to make them appreciated. Once the user adds names they will receive an email, they can then carry on looking at the exhibition space. When they exist the room they will move to the next page they are given more information about twitter and how much misinformation is shared on Twitter. I thought if I finish off like this it will also be educational with facts and a moving shocking factor.
I realised I need a section where it gives information about the second room like it did with the first one as users can be confused to what are these names on the walls. I added a info box which tells them who are the names belong to and why are they there. I think people could understand from the contrast and the poem on the wall. You can see the change of mood and the styles which is very clear for the user. Overall I am very happy with the result I thought I wouldn’t be able to create something that looked realistic on XD but with the transition features and auto animate you can literally move it look like it’s moving. You can watch the website video below I have attached the youtube link. I used very simple design system to allow the user to easily follow the guides and move about in the exhibition. I think there is only two rooms which makes it a bit short but if I had time I would create a bigger space with more art work and even more installations which reflect what it means to be a migrant in UK.
I first found a typeface that I felt would fit well with the visuals, I wanted a bold weight typeface which has small details which made it unique. These were the few typefaces I had in mind for the visuals. Some have few details on them which makes it different and theres also one called Bee four which is stretched typeface that is very popular graphics projects recently. I’ve seen it on the many visuals so I don’t want to use it. The Changa typeface reminds of computer comes and technology aesthetic to it which I like, there’s small details on the O and S as it’s not so round and it has sharp corners which I think looks nice.
TYPEFACE
This is the typeface I want to use for the project, Ii think it has good variations which can be used for different types of layouts. I decided to use the extrabold and medium in most visuals and digital outcomes.
Inspiration/mood boards
These are my inspiration and mood board I created for the project, It focuses on typography and other ways which I liked and could potentially use for my project. Each have strengths to what it communicates and I especially like the blur effects on the posters below. It allows you to be interpret it in ways and I think it could be a good way to communicate my project. I want to be experimental as I like typography and i want it to be visually strong.
Pentagram – Words by Voice
A large format installation that uses typography to express words of social justice. I think these installation are beautiful and the layout of each poster is so unique and it experimental with different techniques and layouts. I was looking for inspiration and I knew Pentagram always has amazing work and I came across this exhibition installations they have designed. The installations are typographic posters visual in the London Design Festival, speeches, quotes and notes from inspirational powerful people such Nelson Mandela, Muhammed Ali, Eleanor Roosevelt and more. I really like the design and they have also used black and white as the colour scheme and I think i also made the right decision. As you want people to focus on what those words are saying as they are the most important rather than the colours to be main focus. It’s just as powerful just as black and white anyway.
Pentagram – ‘The Architecture of Closed Worlds’ Book
This is a book designed by Pentagram, the reason I chose this as an inspiration was because oft he way bold beautiful typefaces on the page, it look like a structure, it sits heavily on on the page bu it still works with the photograph and text. I liked the typafaes but as the bold vibrant colors which are for a colour coded bar-graph in the book so the readers cna easily follow.
Pentagram – Exhibitionism – The Rolling Stones , Exhibition design
This is an exhibition design created by Pentagram to explore the 50 year career of The Rolling Stones. The exhibition has variety of rooms which focuses on their style, early fame, their big shows everything related to their career. But photo of the image drew me into the project as I loved the way typography sits on the sides leading you to the photograph of the band. the the text above leading towards the image as well. I think it look simple and beautiful, the white on black cis powerful, the weight of the typefaces is bold and crowded it fits the whole wall. I really liked this image as in m earlier designs I imagined a room like this, tweets on the walls leading up tp the next door. This was a huge inspiration for my exhibition design.
Visual development
Quotes and phrases I found on social media directed towards immigrants in UK. Some are from tweets under videos or news posts. Some are popular meme sayings that circulates around the social media. They are all hateful and negative towards immigrants. Some are also assumptions and misconceptions such as ‘they abuse welfare system’ when potentially there is no/little evidence that they do.
They steal our jobs
Close the border!
We have enough scroungers, potential terrorists
Migrants abuse the welfare system
Go back home!
Visuals development
i started off with placing the quotes on the page and I was playing with the sizes, weights and then I kept decreasing the tracking. The more it did the quote started to lose its clarity and it became very hard to read. I liked this effect, it started to squeeze together and kind of made a box shape. It made me think through out the project I said our twitter feeds and accounts are in eco chambers, we stick to our box and we don’t really let anyone in from other ideologies. So, I linked this to anti immigrant viewers who are posting these tweets, or saying these things about people they are all close minded most likely and they wouldn’t let anyone tell them different. Once the gaps between each letter closed off the words lost it’s clarity and it was muddled up. I liked this visual language, showing off the types of users in words by losing the gaps between letters. Below you can see an example, I used the type face Changa, bold in -54 tracking./kerning. I wanted to experiment on this idea, as it looked strong on the page.
The quote above is the second example of working on the tracking using quotes from Twitter pages. I picked them up from real accounts under comments section. I again decreased the tracking to lose clarity and I think it looks good I want to now add it onto posters or billboards. The reason I am using the quotes are so it catches peoples attention who are using these quotes as it fits to their beliefs but also people are don’t agree with it as they would want to find out information. The visuals below I feel like it could be increased more so it is harder to read.
The posters below are one of first designs I created using the quotes and the visual style. The on the rght is using the quote ‘they steal our jobs’ which is used most commonly by people. I layered the text so it would make it hard to read and crowded so it becomes so bold. The quotes is the centre piece as it would have easy eye hierarchy for the reader. The other information is on the borders in egain same typeface, I used the exhibition and the date as well as that it is powered by twitter. I think i should add few more information and also experiment with the layout. I don’t know wehther layering the text works as it just doesn;t add mcuh as theres too much black in the middle. However , I do like the bold heavy type as the centre piece it is communicating the message. The poster on the left is again using quotes i found from twitter but placed at the bottom half of the page. With this layout I wanted to ocmmunicate the black and white the divide on the page as the text side is all lack and the tracking is low so creates bpx whereas the other half is all white. This always the text to get the attention on all white paper. I like the way text looks there is still some gaps but I think reader must also be bale to read what it is says so they understand. At this point, I feel comfortable with the project however there is still loads of decisions to be made. In couple pf days we have a group tutorial and I think i have some work i could show.
Group Tutorials/SEAN
Today we had a group tutorial with Sean to discuss our visual languages and I attached the pdf below. The tutorial was very positive and he liked my visuals as he said it works well with the concept.I told about my idea of targeted exhibition for each user as they will sign up with their account. He said that idea is really good and it would have more impact. He also asked where I got these quotes from and I said its from twitter accounts so he suggested i should add the user@ so the audience also knows they are real tweets. This is a really good idea as i know they are so the viewer should also as it would make it more real and create a stronger impact. I wil take his suggested and develop some posters with the @.
I did more changes on the posters earlier and this is one of the final posters. I used the quote once without layering as it has more impact like this. I also decreased the size you can clearly see the quote against the white and it has more a box feel. The tracking is decreased more and it created a box. I also added the the date in a larger size on the left so it is important for the users to know. The logo and hashtag is place do the right. I think the layout is structured in many ways and the attention is in the centre. I believe it is very powerful and I liked the final result. The hashtag is #myhome for users to share their experience and thoughts about the exhibition. This poster can be digitally on the twitter page and also instagram accounts. In addition it can be on printed.
These are also other development posters, the one on the right is another variation which can be used in many ways. The type is placed on the centre to catch the eye and I like this one in particularly because I used the layered style to create the box and it fitted perfectly. The quote feels like it has bene stretched and it ends at the bottom. The other parts of the poster are again placed on the corner I like this style as it just creates like a box, it creates borders on the page. The other texts are smaller but still readable. I added the @ of the account o the right as Sea suggested I really like the result. I also wanted to add something different to this poster I used the word ‘why?’ in very light grey as it’s a blur, as a question to provoke a conversation. I like this little addition as it makes a difference to other posters and it’s a small detail. I placed the logo on the top left. The poster on the left is the developed version, I like this layout much more it is still in the same style as creating a structure on the page. I am very happy with the result.
The posters below are another variations, but they focus on the twitter to question the spread of the misinformation. You can instantly make the connection to that symbol below to Twitter. The idea behind this poster is to focus on constant act of retweeting, people sharing information constantly, there is no consideration whether is it true or not. Whether it will hurt peoples feeling or not. I wanted a busy , too much thing on the page to create the feeling. I used the symbol as it is directly linked to Twitter. The layout on the right is more unstrcutured it overkaps dates. It looks more lose whereas the layout on the left is more steuctures and i like the box shape it creates on the page. The information on the corners. The layout on the left is initial idea and the right one is more developed. I felt stuck between the two and decided to go with the left one. It looks better on the page and it feels more busy. On the right, you can clearly see its the symbol as its too big. I want to develop the one on the left.
Final poster
This is the final poster, I added few things and changed some parts. I added the hashtag as that is a key part for social media, in addition I added a question ‘why are you sharing that’ this is to provoke the viewer and the act of retweeting. I believe it worked really well. The whole centre is covered in the symbol the text is on the corners. I like this effect, the poster makes a difference next to the the ones which are more structures and has way more white space.
Logo development
For the exhibition logo, I wanted a short word to sum up the exhibition but also not give too much away. The few words I was thinking was home or hatred as these are the two the exhibition focuses on or where is home?as the main concept is being at home. I used the same style as extrabold typeface as low tracking to fit in with the consistent branding and visual style. I believe it works well with other visual elements. I want something simple and easy to understand. I believe it works
Final logo
These posters below are also other designs I wanted, however I decided the design on the left I should create a billboard as it is very powerful and short. So i will develop that as a billboard but the poster on the right. I wanted an informative design which focuses on a myth and then some information about the reality. This was the first initial idea I was thinking of as a grapp style, the white section is like the exaggerated assumption it islarge on the page in side ways, but then the reality in light grey in short smaller size. However, I felt like it deosnt work quiet as well. I still like the idea of graph but it just didn’t look right.
This was the final layout I liked and felt like it worked. It is the same layout style as the other posters but it was easier to read this way and when its next to each other the contrast makes it more powerful. I used the same tracking kerning technique and placed the logo etc on the top right. It is a very simple poster focused on myth and reality. I believe the simplicity is the more powerful side.
Billboards
These are the billboards designs which I will be creating a mock up later. I added a ‘this is my home’ to also include the immigrants voices as well but in light grey to show lack of power and clarity. I really like these designs.
Designing the exhibition. VOMA
Once the posters were done I focused on the virtual exhibition. I found a virtual exhibition called VOMA, I used there designs to show off how my exhibition would look like as you can see images of the each room below. The exhibition is so easy to use you click on the circles to move on and click on the art work for more close up. It looks very real you can also go outside etc. It is very realistic it was very interesting.
My idea to have the tweets and posts covered on the walls of the exhibition. It will be a ike twitter wall focused on each user. You can see the development on the images below. I used quotes from loads of different accounts and if you are a user who are against anti immigration and don’t spread negativity you will see a room which is mixture of tweets from other accounts. There will be a filter which sorts who sees what. That will come in later.
Exhibition Room 1 – the twitter feed.
This is the final exhibition room 1, it has text covered on the walls which makes it very powerful. The text is layered so it is hard to read and overlapping which is the same style as other visuals.
Room 2 Exhibition – Celebrating Immigrants.
This exhibition focuses on the immigrants, it has immigrants names written on the walls to focus on them and give them power and voice. This style is completely different to the other room, its the contrast which is the purpose. I carried on using typography as the main element as I was going to do a photography series however speaking to David he said you have a strong typography visual it doesn’t need photographs you should focus on the type again to show off the immigrant section. So I opened the kerning, now the words are easily readable and more elegant. I used colours to celebrate the migrants and they are in fact my friends and families names which is also very interesting as it makes it very personal. The colours are like blurs and splashes of colour. I wanted this room to be vibrant and joyful. I also wanted to add a small section of a poem from Warsan Shire, a young British poet from Somalian origin, in one part of her poem she wrote ‘you have to understand that no one puts their children in a boat, unless the water is safer than the land’ I found this so powerful and heart breaking. I wanted people to feel something when you read and try to create empathy, by celebrating these names on the wall but also questioning their behaviours. Art, design or poetry could be a useful way to try to get people to feel more empathy towards another.
I wanted to do some research on exhibitions focused on imigration for inspiration. I found so many good projects that I found so interetsing anf powerful. I believe thi sia very imporatnt processto research as it can give you ideas but also knowing what already exists makes you stay away from cliche or things already been done. I found exhibitions in USA but also social media campaigns and personal proejcts which aim at photography. There is also a project whcih aims at negativity on social media which I found so intersying.
When Home Won’t Let You Stay, 2020
This is an exhibition in America in 2020 named ‘when home wont let you stay’ the name is frm a poem focused on immigrants. The exhibition is focused o migration and what movement measn to people. This is one of the installations in the exhbitipn which shows the movements from countries. I found it so poweful and interetsing. This installation clearls communicates the message, it was created by Raeena Saini Kallet. When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art considers how contemporary artists are responding to the migration, immigration, and displacement of peoples today. We are currently witnessing the highest levels of movement on record—the United Nations estimates that one out of every seven people in the world is an international or internal migrant who moves by choice or by force, with great success or great struggle. When Home Won’t Let You Stay borrows its title from a poem by Warsan Shire, a Somali-British poet who gives voice to the experiences of refugees. Through artworks made since 2000 by twenty artists from more than a dozen countries — such as Colombia, Cuba, France, India, Iraq, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States — this exhibition highlights diverse artistic responses to migration ranging from personal accounts to poetic meditations, and features a range of mediums, including sculpture, installation, painting, and video. Artists in the exhibition include Kader Attia, Tania Bruguera, Isaac Julien, Hayv Kahraman, Reena Saini Kallat, Richard Mosse, Carlos Motta, Yinka Shonibare, Xaviera Simmons, and Do-Ho Suh, among others. I find the exhibition powerful, it shows movement in all sorts of ways through different mediums that makes us question things for a second. This massive installation is beautiful visually but also captures movement in a simple elegant way.
I want to focus on typography as I believe it fits the brief and my project the most but using another medium would also be very powerful such as photography.
Sole Revel – Nari Ward, 2020
The installation below is the most recent work from Ward’s signature shoelace series. By enlarging the imagery of footsteps, the artist evokes an anonymous presence, eliciting ideas of bodily gesture, mass movement, and migration. The title, Sole Revel, offers a joyful lens through which to view the work as a hopeful emblem of the power in uniting in solidarity. i find this so intriguing and I at first didn’t realise it was small footsteps to me I thought it was like on two big ones as it’s harder to recognise due to laces but I think thats whats interesting about it as well . It is smart and communicates migration in some might say a simple way.
#MIGRANTSPECIES
This project is focused on empowering immigrants by allowing them to create a poster with their details. The website is so easy and visually very bright and joyful. The colours are bright and fresh which makes you feel like you are celebrating something The project is called Migrant Species. The home page is a question which says where do you come from which you can then add your name or your relatives. This is then created into a bold typographic poster with your background. The poster also has a hashtag which people can use on Twitter. They can change the colour system on the side depending on their choice and then save it. I have created a poster seen below, green and blue colour scheme with bold weight typography it is so simple but it shows the message it is personal to me. i also searched the hashtag on Twitter to see what other people have created and what they have said about it. You can see the screenshots below on the right. Users can share something that is personal to them and then share it online. It is e very easy and i think it catches peoples attention as posters are visually appealing and bold. It is a way to celebrate your background with a nice visual poster I think it works really well. This is bot the only project that allows you tot create a poster I have found other campaigns which again allow you to create your own personal items and then can be shared on social media. It is a very smart and clear idea. Like i said earlier, I really like the design system and how simplistic it is. The colour schemes are vibrant and intriguing which it can symbolise countries as well as it has common flat colours which is also a good idea.
Michal Iwanowski – Go Home Polish, 2018
This is another work which i really conected with in many levels. As immigrants are awlays told to ‘go home’ as one of the main things that circluate around social media it ‘go back home’ whenever the conversations are about immigrants, asylum seekers. Iwanowski focuses on the concept of home. He actually lives in Cardiff which was so intesting, his idea stems from the graffiti he saw on a wall which said ‘go home polish‘. I think that is the most common phrase immigrants hear daily, whenever it is something related to them or an inconvenience happens which people don’t agree with instantly ‘go back home’ is thrown at them. He then decided to take a journey back home which is polish but his home is also Cardiff. He decided to walk to Poland. He photographed his journey and his experiences on his way. Below you can see the trailer for the film, his journey to Poland. i found it fascinating but also makes you question the word home. Who can decide whether this is your home or not? who gives people power to tell them to leave their homes and go back. I believe this is an idea that immigrants will never be seen as part of this country, no matter how long they have lived here or even born here. You will always be a foreigner and an outsider.
he also shares his conversations with people on the way, he talks to people about home and what they think home is to them. He walks to Poland on foot so he takes thousands of photographs of what he see son the journey but also p of people. The writing below is Iwanowski’s experience when he was at a small village and his conversation with her lady that works in a restaurant. It tells a bit about her and their journey of two homes as she was married to an english man. She moved to Chippenham for him and she tells a short funny story about how he gave her a coat in the airport when she landed. It is a heart warming memory of him and a lady he meets on the way to Poland.
Excellences & Perfections – Amalia Ulman, 2014
This is a project created by Amalia Ulman about the way social media effects our perception of women, femininity and perfectionism. She created this work in 2014 but she predicted the future as her work relates to us more than ever. Perfectionism is a huge issue on social media as people want to be perfect in every way. The looks, their life, the things they own and the photographs. They are so many perfecting filters for your selfies, there editing apps which perfects your photos colours, angles etc. Everything needs to fit into an aesthetic value which is determined by your likes and retweet. This aesthetic value is also created by the user so that is also an issue and interesting factor. These users are now called ‘influencers’ and well known celebrities. However, I believe celebrities have always been at the top since the beginning this is not a new thing that just evolved but I believe this new concept of ‘influencers’ had a huge effect on people and how we see it. I think this is is because they are normal people like us, they are just people which made us want to be likw them whereas you know you cant be a celebrity just through posting photographs.
The digital artist spent four months curating an Instagram profile that documented the life of a wannabe it-girl trying to make it in LA. We watched as Ulman’s story unfolded, climaxing with a (fake) boob job and public apology. At the point when almost 90,000 followers were invested in Ulman’s life, she announced that it had all been a hoax. The performance piece was titled “Excellences & Perfections” and it was an art world sensation. Not only had Ulman shone a light on social media’s ability to dupe, she had also created what critics heralded as the “first Instagram masterpiece”. In 2016, the piece was included in a group show at the Tate Modern, Performing for the Camera, making her the first social media artist to enter into a top institution. Today, Excellences & Perfections stands up as more relevant than ever, foreshadowing our increasingly unhealthy relationship with Instagram and dubious notions of ‘truth’ online. As a new book is released (published by Prestel) detailing the work, we look at how Ulman’s performance impacted the internet we experience today, but also how it predicted it.
Whatdiversitygivesus.com
This is another project which focuses on diversity in America. A website which allows you to fill in the blank section with any ethnicity or word that you have a question about America. This is very useful and clever as if people have any judgements and assumptions on a particular group living in in America they can find out facts and history of how they have been there. This is like a answer to all the people saying ‘they do nothing for our country’. This is again like other project to empower but in an educational way that gives information about certain topics. I think this is very easy way to educate and give information to people have assumptions about certain group of people living in America. The design of the campaign s very simple and bold. The website opens up the main page which is the question below Then you can type in or it gives you things automatically. Then you click ask and it takes you to another page. I really like this idea and it can easily be expanded with other materials a such as turned in to an app and poster visuals.
I think this research has been so beneficial to me and my project. I was able to develop my knowledge and it gave me so many ideas and concepts which I could potentially do. I feel very inspired and I want to create something as powerful as some of these works. The next step I feel like I should work on my visuals and decide on the visual language.
This week I really struggled with my brief and moving my idea forward, I had the idea what I wanted to focus on and communicate but I was just struggling deciding on how to move it forward, what to make out of it how could I create this into social media movement. I had a meeting with Sean, however I didn’t find him very useful as I was overthinking each idea and I needed someone to give me clear guide lines. The next day I had a short meeting with David to discuss my ideas, he told me I’m trying and thinking of too many things at the same time he said you have the idea the concept just research on it and focus on one area. From our chat, I felt more confident and he gave me few things I should research on that would develop my idea. I focused more on the misconceptions and researched into what are the publics assumptions and misconceptions (see the post named ‘immigration and misconceptions‘) vs the reality. I realised I was too early on and the reason I wasn’t moving forward because I wasn’t doing enough research. However, after more research into my concept and social media I have more knowledge on the causes of these misconceptions and general knowledge about how social media works such as algorithms.
This is one of my mind maps focused on visuals and potential outcomes for the brief. The mind map focuses on how to visualise the message but also the outcome such as social media campaign or an app. The main concept was ‘myth vs reality ‘ as I was focusing on misconceptions that was the myth and the reality was the factual information that shows those misconceptions are just myth that is created by people. It was aimed at vocalising these misconceptions but then educating the users to change their opinions. I thought I could create this with strong typographical visuals it’s all focused on words, I thought about visual language focused on blurs and clarity, with typography or potential photographs for more powerful visuals as I liked the project Humans of New York that was so powerful and influential. I then thought how can these visuals elements have a place on social media, if I was goung to make something social media related a movement etc I would need a hashtag as then it will spread quickly. As seen on examples such as #metoo and black lives matter. I found examples such as VSCO and Groupon. They created campaigns such as #blackjoymatters where young users submitted photographs on VSCO and shared them on official page to raise awareness and show off the modern black essence. This was good campaign which I believe works really well it raises awareness and shows off talents that lacks voice. I also found Groupons campaign called #PassTheMic, this campaign included lives on Instagram stories and Podcasts with Black powerful people to give them power a voice talk about black lives matter and also other issues that are significant in the society.
I was also thinking about what to include in the social media campaign, I thought about billboards, human stories again to focus on lack of empathy on social media. to execute this i would do photographs and stories of immigrants lives. Then these can be shared via a hashtag, other users can share their story either about themselves or relatives. I also thougtha bout an app which gives answered to misconceptions this idea was influenced by one of the projects focused on migrants in America . The project focused on diversity and called whatdiversitygivesus.com I will be focusing more on this project on later post but basicllay the idea is the question is what has the …. done fo America anyway? the blank bits can be filled with muslims. mexicans, africans or any other ethicnity you have which then the website gives you information of your question. The question it self reminds of a misconception such as like they do nothing for our country so it breaks it by using facts and information on related question. I believe this is educational but also very easy way and clear way to educate someone with an assumption. The design is so simple and clear to the point. So I had the idea I could do an app which answered assumptions and misconceptions related to immigrants in Uk. This app could be used in school students as well, they could share their findings on social media.
The concept:
After a lot of research and mind maps I decided what I wanted to do for this project, since the first day I knew I was strongly aiming towards anti immigration and how since Brexit there has been a divide between groups in society. I want to focus on misconceptions aimed at immigrants in UK. From my earlier posts, I did in depth research to what are people assuming about immigrants and how their assumptions are very exaggerated compared to the real figures. I saw one of the key researches these misconceptions are circulating aorund social media is throigh spread of misinformation. It creates a negative image of asylum seekers and immigrants in UK. I saw spread of these misconceptions divides the society creating tense and hatred. To answer this brief I decided to create a virtual exhibition, it was on one my ideas on earlier mind maps but I moved away from the idea as I thought I needed have a plug in or a platform design for this brief. But after a lot of thinking, I realised I want to answer this brief in my own my style I don’t have much experience with algorith designs or plug in designs so I thought I could answer it through my way and I believe it works in many different ways.
I want to create an exhibition because I believe in a world were there is a pandemic, people are leaning more towards exhibitions and design to get there mind off things. The exhibition will attract both sides of the divide focusing on them in each section. I want to also develop this virtual exhibition into a social media campaign involving Twitter. In addition, it could be something real one day, as I have read that Twitter does want to work on the spread of misinformation and hatred on their platform. Also, using a hashtag As many people believe hashtag movements are not useful as it doesn’t give direct results or changes as it just creates a lot of engagement however I believe with the examples I listed before it can be very powerful and it’s now a key part of our life as we are as users expected to raise awareness to things and share when we see it. It gets people talking which is the first step for an issue to rise to the ground. It needs to be talked about so something could be done. As you can see I already started to visualise the idea below on the mind map.
Exhibition : The exhibition will focus on the idea of misconceptions related to immigrants. I will be using Twitter as my main social media platform. Below you can see a mind map which I created about the exhibition, I was thinking about how the exhibition will look visually but also what will be included in it. How can I show these misconceptions and horrible tweets are effecting peoples lives and spreads hatred on social media. I belive this idea will work because an exhibition is something both groups will be interested in, it will attract more audience as it doesn’t have to relate to one group of people. You can be members of any divide but still enjoy seeing an exhibition. In addition, I believe in a Pandemic we are currently living in, people are looking to do more things to fill their time at home and leaning towards art and design. This is help the accessibility as more people can join.
For this exhibition my intial outcomes were:
Moving posters with information.
Posters
Billboard posters
Exhibition Layout
Exhibition artwork inside – Photographs.
Branding materials – logo, colours, typefaces
The exhibition I wanted to design had 3 rooms 3 sections which focuses on different divides. The first room is focused at anti immigration users with their misconceptions, it will be a room full of typography a twitter room, tweets covered on walls aimed at the one side of the divide like eco chambers. The second room will be aimed at the immigrants, how these words on twitter effect and have an impact on their life, how it dehumanized a certain group in society, I could show this by photography and people stories. Then room 3 will focus on information and the reality, real facts about the living conditions of asylum seekers and immigrants in society. It will be a like a one way system where each room connects from start to finish. I believe this will be interesting and people can see the impact of their words on peoples lives and finish off with the real facts which they could leave with questions about their opinions. This was the initial idea which needs to be developed with visuals and I need to look at the brief go through the criteria.
This is second mind map which is more like a guide to what I need to do for my project. I know I want to create an exhibition so I need to research into exhibitions aimed at diveristy and immigration in the past. Typographt installations and plitical exhibitionjs which can givem mea new idea. I had a short meeting with Katie today who is a graphics post graduate, she designed a similar project las year focused on efffects of social media so David recommended we shoud speak to her. Speaking to her was very beneficial because she has so much knowledge on social media and algorithms. She recommneded we do lots of research on social media so we understand what is already done and needs to be done. I also had a second meeting with her about myexhibition ideas as she said shell willing to chat again if we needed which is so nice as she can also understand how stressful it is to work in a pandemic through online tutorials. We had a chat about how I was struggling as i feel like I don’t feel connected to university and lack of motivation. She was understanding and she gave me loads of tops as she had to do their major project last year in lockdown. I believe it is very challenging times for everyone and especially if you are doing a creative course it is hard to feel inspired and motivated.
As we were chatting she asked which group of immigrants I would focus on and I said I’m Turkish so I have more knowledge on Turkish immigrants stories and experiences. So i would focus on them and she said ti would be good to research Turkish design culture. It could give me ideas for the visuals too. I thought this was such a good idea as initially since the day I had this idea on immigrants I knew I wanted to focus on Turkish immigrants as thats my background but it got lost in the way. The next stage I believe in my process is research exhibitions focused on immigrants and any projects that target migrants experiences. I believe this would be a good to see what approach people take.
However, after some thought I realised I don’t want this exhibition to divide immigrants as this is not the purpose of this exhibition. All the things tweeted about them is usually just directed at all of us unless there is specific event. It is always directed at all of us rather than a small group of ethnicity, generally all immigrants are seen as one and it doesn’t matter where you come from. So in my exhibition I wanted to focus on all immigrants, so they can all connect to it in some way with the things they see. As I was looking at colour schemes and types focused on Turkish culture in UK but something didn’t fit in to the project. I decided I want to keep the colour scheme black and white. As there is two sides, the divide is between black and white, the black is the myths, hateful comments, misconceptions whereas the white is the other side. It is the most clearer way to communicates two sides.
27/11/2020 Group Tutorials
This week we had a group tutorial with Sean, to show our visual ideas and the progress we made. I felt like at this stage I was very sure of my concept but lacked the visual development which was very stressful. However, David said we should turn up to the tutorials with whatever we have. I explained Sean about my concept and my ideas and he was positive about it, he suggested how will the exhibition look and how will people access it which is something I need to think about in. The next stage I think is to start thinking about the visual development but also decide on how would the exhibition accessed.
In this post I researched what has social media platforms have already done and want to do in future to work on issues such as bullying, trolling, misinformation. I especially focused on Twitter and Instagram as they are what I want to focus on for my project. One of the main issues on social media is misinformation especially on Twitter. Twitter is the platform now people use it as the news. People talk on twotter about every single issue you can image, political personal environmental everything that is an issue or any event people will be talking as thats the point. If snapchat or instagram is down the first place you look at is on Twitter as someone must of tweeted something in few seconds. It’s where there’s constant flow of information good or bad. Twitter for the past few years has now seen social media movements some people call this ‘hashtag movements’. One of biggest example is #metoo movement in 2017, this social movement that is against sexual violence and sexual assault. It advocates for females who survived sexual violence to speak out about their experience. Women were encouraged to wrote their strory as a tweet and tag #metoo to show that they have also experienced and share it. The movemnt instantly turned into a massice social media campaign all around the world. There was women in Turkey, Mexico, USA just wolrdwide spread. This was a chance for women who have experienced this to share their story and be heard. Many influencial artists, politicians, writers also joined in and quickly it became ainternational movement. This then turned into physical protests, marches, speeches. Then another very strong and powerful movement #BlackLivesMatter, this was hashtag was also very powerful for poeple o share informaiton especially in the protest in 2017 but also 2020 during May. It spread across the world in couple of days and it allowed people to share information when protests were happening, if people were hurt you knew about it, if people needed somewhere to go or any kind of information it was like as if you were there in that protest live. The circulation of information was quick and instant you didn;t have to live in America to join, this allowed protests to happen in UK and other parts of the world.
#metoo movement on Twitter.
This was how it all began on Twitter and it spread through countries and more celebrities and women from all over the world got involved.
Twitter during these movements or elections realised they need to stop the misinformation from spreading especially after 2016 Trump Elections. This new feature would fall in line with other measures Twitter has been taking to slow the spread of misinformation on its service, including a recent change to how retweets work. On October 20, 2020, Twitter began to prompt anyone who goes to retweet something to share a quote tweet instead. In addition, Twitter also rolled out a series of new policies ahead of Election Day in the U.S., to further guide its handling of misleading tweets. Beyond just labeling misinformation, it applied more aggressive warnings and restrictions on tweets from U.S. political figures, including candidates and campaign accounts, as well as other U.S.-based accounts that met certain thresholds in terms of followers, or tweet engagements.
I believe the new feature would look like this and it would notify people before letting them post. There is also another feature like this on Twitter, before retweeting an article the feature asks the account to make sure and read it before sharing. These are good featyres than can make social media a better place for all users. So for my project I realised I could do something that is different to plug ins or other features. I don’t have much experience with algoarithms or social media platofrms however leanring more about the lagoriths could give me an new idea and a new path for me to follow. I started to do some basic research on Twitters algorithms by using my account, seeing different features that it focuses on misinformation and hateful speeches. These are some screenshots of the settings, privacy and other features. With this, I also learnt new features on Twitter that i didn’t know about.
There are features like mute words, you can pick a word you wan to mute then you wont see nay tweets about it on your feed. This could be a good way for people to block out some things they don’t want to see such as negative content. You can also block accounts which is also a way people deal with hateful things. There is a safety section, which if it the account holder activates it, it will mark media you tweet as containing material that may be sensitive. I think this feature means you can mark your tweets sensitive which warms other users before viewing your tweet.
The algorithm is always changing, for each social media networks they all have differetn algorithms they work with and create their feeds. Twitter has had few chnages in the past couple of years. Twitter, like many social platforms, doesn’t share a full breakdown of its algorithm. However, a Twitter blog post from 2017 helps highlight a few other things to keep in mind when planning your content for Twitter:
Recency: How recently a Tweet was published.
Engagement: Has to do with how many Retweets, clicks, favorites and impressions a Tweet has received.
Rich Media: The type of media you include in your Tweet, such as images, videos and GIFs.
Activity: Refers to how active a user is. For example, how long its been since the user was last on the site, how many followers they have and how much they use the platform.
These are the ways twitter feed is organized:
The algorithm ranks these tweets with engagement, the amount of likes retweets it gets which then goes to the top of the feed. It might not necessarily the newest tweet but it is the most popular. So this means its reverse chronological order.
“In Case You Missed It” feature is where the Twitter algorithm presents older Tweets from accounts you frequently engage with. It doesn’t always show up, because it’s meant to only contain a small number of the very most relevant Tweets that you might have missed since your last visit, ordered by their relevance score.
However, you can make your feed a real time feed where you see the tweets with time order, I recently discovered this feature through my research on algorithms. The star at the top right side of the screen, if you click it allows you to change it to real time feed. You can see the image above, ‘latest tweets show up as they happen’. I think it’s good to have a flexibility as it allows people to create a personal platform where they feel more comfortable.
Fake Accounts
I believe from my research earlier, fake accounts is a problem on Twitter which feeds into anti immigration and hateful speeches circulating on Twitter. I wanted to see if Twitter had any features they are planning to bring on. In 2018, Twitter has shut down up to 70 million fake and suspicious accounts since May, according to the Washington Post. As you could see from the misconceptions post, there are loads of fake accounts posting hateful comments and spreading it on Twitter. They could be doing this to increase their engagement and become popular. Most of them are very extremist on other politics or other issues. The extreme fake accounts get reaction from people by posting hateful rumors or comments under people tweets which people react to then it gets to be seen on more feeds. It’s like a cycle due to the algorithms that benefits from popularity and engagements.
Del Harvey, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, said that it was now erring more on the side of “preserving safety” rather than supporting free speech at all costs. They started to take action since Brexit and Trump elections in 2016. Twitter has the email confirmation section where you can confirm your account however many people today have loads of different emails which means you can have several different accounts. I think this is something I could work on in my project.
Instagram Algorithm
In one of the articles about instagram it says they are also working on the issues that are rising from the platform such as hate comments and trolling. Instagram is working on AI powered algorithm that will start warning users when they’re about to post a “potentially offensive” caption for a photo or video that’s being uploaded to their main feed, the company has announced. If an Instagram user posts something that the service’s AI-powered tools think could be hurtful, the app will generate a notification to say that the caption “looks similar to others that have been reported.” It will then encourage the user to edit the caption, but it will also give them the option of posting it unchanged. This makes the users in charge of their post still and allows them to rethink that comment however this might not make a change for the real bullies who are so determined to post negative hateful things. Allowing the user to be in charge still is I believe is still a good way to work on it however like I said I don’t know whether it will have an impact on a some group of people on instagram.
I wanted to research more into empathy as I believe it could be a key cause for the increased hatred and division in society. We can see this clearly on social media and being stuck in our echo chambers. I wanted to explore both sides and learn more about them. The anti immigration users are using hatred words to spread the idealogy that the UK should closee the borders and shouldn’t let refugees in to the country as they believe they are a damage to the economy and society. The idea that they are a damage stems from the thought of the receive loads of money whereas the other groups in society such as veterans are homeless. It’s like if you help them then you can’t also help the other group which is a common idea, I could see this in my own culture as well in Turkey there are a lot of societal divisions and daily I can see it on social media. Political divisions allows people to loose their empathy to the other group, it creates them as the enemy as they don’t agree with the thoughts and beliefs. I thought the brief is asking me to increase social collectiveness and bring people together using social media. I could create this by increasing empathy, if people stop seeing the other side as the enemy or the ‘others’ ‘terrorists’ it could improve their connection. In one of the articles, I found a project called “Humans of New York” Humans of New York began as a photography project in 2010. The initial goal was to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers on the street, and create an exhaustive catalogue of the city’s inhabitants.” The project focused on public and sharing there stories and enhancing the diversity of the city how we all live together. The project was so big that it expanded to other countries such as Iran, Kenya , Ukraine, Mexico and more. The series has photographs and small paragraph of their either their life story or something that they want to share.
I decided to create a project that focused on increasing peoples empathy by sharing stories of immigrants but also allowing the anti immigrant users to understand and realise how hurtful their comments, tweets can be. The next step is to decide how I will create this whether an app, or social media campaign etc.
“One can reduce empathy, but one can also promote it, learning positive associations with another group,”
In this post, I want to research and find an answer to what is the root cause of this societal divide, what is making people have these misconceptions towards migrants in UK. For this, I first looked at Twitter, searched acocunts, looking through comments on certain tweets who are againsnt immihrantions, what are people thinking what are the reasons they are against ot hating on these people. Spending some time investigating and trying to understand users was actually beneficial as I was starting to see some patterns in behaviours and opinions. First of all, I know misinformation is one of the biggest reaons why people have certain opnions about other groups in society. I believe social media is like our little rooms of all the people we like and agree with, we follow them, like their tweets retweet as we agree with it. However, we never follow people who don’t think like we do, this is Eco chambers. We see the world from our perspective and we want to because thats what we believe in. So the first thing I did was look at Nigel Farage’s twitter account. I don’t follow him as I don’t agree with his political views but maybe I should come out of my chamber as well. I saw that he tweets a lot of about immigration. But one post really caught my eye. There are screenshots below.
This is a video that was shared about the conditions in the migrants camps in Kents. It was between the police and the migrants. Nigel Farage, tweeted this video wihtout any credit to the real source and used the title as ‘they all want four-star hotels and a trip to Anfield”. This is a unrealistic and false image created about the sitation that is happenin in Kent. As we can see this from the account who has the origical source tweetd back explaining that his portrayal was false. This thread made me think about how these things spread on social media. The video Farage tweeted has thousands of retweets which means thousands of people will watch he idoe and believe that those migrants are acting the way hes making it out and will neevr know the real situation. He was spreading hate and untrue story without any evidence himself. Some else had to tweet back and fact check his tweet. This is a very simple example of how misinformaton spreads, people can word things differently as it fits their ideaology and release it on social media. I then looked through comments on Farage’s tweet.
The images above are screenshots of the comment section from Farages tweet. Most of the tweets are from his supporters, replying back to him saying horrible things about the migrants in the camps. The one that caught my eye was the ‘we have enough scroungers and potential terrorisits’. These people who are leaving their home and coming into a country for a safer life are seen as terrorists. I realised that the account tweeted this was a fake accoint with name actual name. It tweets racist tweets about anything that they see on social media. As you can see from the account name, it doesn’t show any real person. With a tweet that has misinformation you can see the hate tweets and people haven’t even checked whether that video actual is what hes saying.
This made me question, why are people hating on other people on social media or feel the need to tweet these horrible and some inhumane things about group of people are in danger. Is it the media portrayal of these people or is it directly about the social media users? I started to question the lack of empathy on social media, empathy means as the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. Are we as social media users losing our empathy skills because of social media?
I found an article that focuses on technology and empathy, in the article it says that Emile Bruneau, a neuroscientist at MIT, has demonstrated, people especially fail if the larger group embodies an ideology or cultural trait they disagree with. In fact, you might empathize well with your friends, but if you have particularly strong associations with your “in group,” you will have decreased empathy for those you feel are not in your group. So this means, if a group of people who have different opinions to us we usually lose our empathy skills, as they don’t think like us. This is very interesting as again
“There is also too much information for us to take in. Our brains can’t handle the barrage of emotionally draining stories told to us, and this leads to a negation or suppression of emotion that destroys empathy. The natural response is to shut down our compassion , because we are emotionally exhausted.”
I believe lack of empathy is a big deal and a potential reason for all the hate speeches on social media, bullying and trolling. As people forget that they are commenting on a real persons life, which is why the comment section is seen so negative and some people choose to close theirs. Focused on my topic, immigrants can be seen as the enemy due to the politicians making them out to be so people feel the need to show their opinions on the comments section. However, one thing I have noticed is the comments who are very cruel and hateful are usually right wing fake accounts which you can see examples above, they are focused on nationalism and they are always posting anti immigrant posts.
I think focusing on fake accounts on my project would be beneficial as it feeds the divide, these fake accounts could be run by group of people, politicians etc, they attract peoples attention from both sides means they get more engagement and they circulate around the feeds. Engagement is a huge issue about Twitters algorithm, the more clicks and likes a post gets it will appear on top of peoples feeds. This is a way most news accounts such as The Sun, always use exaggerated misleading titles on their posts as by this way it catches peoples eye, they click on the link to read the article. This increases their engagement on social media and articles are more popular. As there is competition between accounts as well. This causes misinformation or people retweeting posts without even reading just because of the title. However, the actual content could be not what the title is saying. This feeds into the misinformation circulating on Twitter.
On one of the articles I read, it said you can create empathy by sharing stories, if people can connect to your life then maybe they can feel empathy towards you or towards a group. This gave me ideas of maybe I could include immigrant stories or experiences which will make the other side learn more about them and maybe develop some empathy. As maybe the issue is we don’t realise how much we have in common, we ‘re always told about how different we are, our culture, the language, life style etc but we must have common interests, ideas, hobbies even. If both sides of the division realise they are similar in some way this could bring them together. I want to focus on the lack of empathy and also find ways to bring the two sides together.m
I think I want to to more research on fake accounts on Twitter to see if I was incorporate that into my project as I’m still trying to figure out what to do and develop my idea on immigration.
Busra Yildiz 