Project Report

Reflective conclusion

To start with, I think the visual response I produce according to my project reflects the aim of my essay. Although I would like to produce a few more posters, I think that the 8 images I presented really summarise successfully the synthesis of both theory and practice. The outcomes show strong satirical elements that combined with the digital process I used really help to communicate the representation of the netiquette. I wanted to transmit a really serious message but at the same time, the use of humour helped to achieve a well-balanced message. I decided to go for a purely digital process in my practice according to the theme of my project ( Social Media), it would be accurate to use a digital approach would be most suitable on this particular module. Although I mainly worked using photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, I also had the chance to produce a couple designs using screen print. If I would have more time for this project, I would definitely try to produce more prints and perhaps create a zine whereas I could place all the prints in it. On the other hand, I'm not really that disappointed because the designs were meant to be shared on social media as part of the project ( Although after some group tutorial I decided to ditch the uploading part due to putting myself at risk with the Leeds Art University policy about offensive content).

I feel like my research process started poorly at the beginning, due to the change of direction during the summer, but I could manage to move forward soon and pick up an even better idea and approach for COP 3. I also struggled during the first month when researching the question and the specific subjects. The problem was, as usual, my insecurity when collecting information. I get lost a couple of times during my research process because I tried to absorb too much information and I didn't know where to stop research and start writing. At the end, I managed to narrow down my ideas and being more selective when choosing texts, books, etc. Moreover, my methodology was mainly secondary research (Qualitative). I wanted to do some primary research too (Questionaire ) but I kind of feel insecured when I knew some of the questions I would ask could be seen as offensive and once again, interfere with the college policy .

Overall, I think that my project was well executed although some more experimental development could have been considered. Furthermore, I think my essay answer the question and it was informative about modern social issues brought by social media. On the other hand, my practical work summarises the intention of my essay according to my subject, although the digital process was the dominant element on my practice, I managed to test and produce images in other formats (screenprints). To end with, if I could extend this project, I think I would choose something more interactive with the audience as I first planned to. Perhaps I can create an online identity where I can freely upload these type of images and to actually see people reaction on the internet, rather than just in a college environment. I may keep pushing this practice and upload in social media once I have a good amount of work.

Visual Response

I intend to produce a series of poster based on the netiquette established by the ERC (The Ethic Resources Center) . My practice's aim is to raise an awareness about the bad ethical behaviour online , whereas I transmit to the viewers the consequences of these actions. My approach when communicating my ideas is through satire , due to its effectiveness where the viewer may experience a sort of sense of guilt hidden between the humour characteristics. The idea of my artwork is to establish an engagement link between the context and audiences through posters, where the subjects can be easily related to daily online behaviour routine from different users. I do think using satirical humour to communicate ideas is the best way to combat real world issues for two reasons: it communicates spontaneously and it helps to fasten the capability of identifying contextual intentions.

I wanted to produce a series of poster format illustration using satire to express and share my concerns about modern social online behaviour. When producing these posters, I intend to use visual metaphors and symbolism to get attention and keep the audience thinking about the message within the image. As Holcroft approach, modern advertising relies on visual metaphors. When I create these image, it is really important to know that the elements used on the visual metaphor are easily recognisable and familiar concepts with the public, therefore I'm assuring the audience get the message without further examination .The second part of my process when creating visual metaphors is to assure that the supporting text is added in a fun way when combined with the visual element on the image. Another important factor is that these messages I'm trying to transmit must be from everyday experiences. Not necessarily experienced in person ,but from the news from the T.V, radio or the internet. At the same time, I have to be careful with adding details. Too much detail and the audience may not being able to interpret the image because of the 'visual noise'.Furthermore, the over excess of visual details should be considered as well. This is another decision I made when decided the style of my posters. I decided to use a very simple shape based elements, simplifying the information shown on the image and avoiding 'visual noise' for a better and quicker understanding of the message.Therefore, the use of simple shapes helps with the satire approach ,making it easier to absorb the message within the image. On the other hand I tried to based my colour palette according to the different messages in each image. For instance, on figure number one , I tried to shows the dangers and responsibility that one has in their hand when interacting in forums , emails or social media platforms. The red on the background could be seen to show risk and danger when paired with a pistol image. Trying to combine elements and colours according to the message in question helps to communicate more effectively an idea. Another example of an effective visual metaphor can be found on figure number 2. The literal representation of the social media trendy word 'Troll' helps to identify the meaning of this character by making it obvious to the audience. This is a perfect example of what I suggested previously in this section (It is important to use easily recognisable and familiar concept with the public). 

Development

John Holcroft and Pawel Kuczynski had been a main and important influence to my practice, in a professional and personal level. Although Holcroft's has been working mainly digitally, its work resemble a screenprint effect bringing back some old traditional feel-like style.Holcroft's style is based on advertisement from the 50's and that it is why his artwork can be considered retro- art. This style is characterized by its minimal, curvy shapes and muted colours. Retro style used nowadays reinforce the satirical aspect of the image from my point of view, as it definitely adds a funny touch to any design. The context behind his artwork treats social concern and modern society behaviour. Often , Holcrofts show the viewers how society depends so much on technology nowadays , moderns human's greed and injustice in the working sector.The use of a clever and sharp satire in their artwork provided me a better understanding of the use of humour to combat real social issues . I do think that having explored satire through the past three years had add a fresh addition to my practice and improved my storytelling and the way I generate ideas.

I wanted for my visual response to be both, fun but at the same time critical with serious social issues. Definitely, Holcroft and Kuczynski have influenced my direction on my project.  

(John Holcroft) 

(John Holcroft)

(Pawel Kuczynski)

(Pawel Kuczynski)

Research Process

To start with, at the beginning of the course I decided to follow the same direction from my previous cop projects and expand my knowledge within the social/technological context due to my interest on modern social issues. I found very intriguing and interesting the relationship between technological developments in modern society and how much impact is affecting technology on a daily basis to mankind. However, this time I wanted to solve the problem from an ethical and moral perspective.  My research process started by investigating and exploring the ethical theory from different sources ( Philosophers); Jean-Paul Sartre, Niccolo Machiavelli and Socrates. The three of them had been my starting point in which  I identified a potential subject for further development. In the technological aspect of my research, I explored themes such as public shaming, social media, freedom of speech and online behaviour. My intention was to examine how the moral and ethical values had been translated into the modern world through social media. In order to do so, I started to explore one branch of Philosophy (Existentialism), which due to its late appearance in history, I thought it will be more helpful and interesting to analyze social media from its point of view. 

Existentialism has a broad range of different concepts that can be used to study human behaviour in modern society, but due to its complexity and variety, I decided to just focus on Authenticity and Freedom within the existentialism context. These two concepts has shown me that modern society can be examined and based on an existentialist point of view. After the first month research, I decided to ditch Niccolo Machiavelli because his theories found on 'The Prince' were meant to be used and applied on politics and a more aristocrat audience rather than society and regular people, therefore, I decided that it was not the best theory to triangulate with a social and technological context. Although Machiavelli also explored some aspect of society, for this specific project and question its studies would not be accurate to analyse society due to his social class preferences as I wanted to explore a more standard social class rather than politicians and kings and queens. 

Group tutorials provided me a chance to share my project and research progression with my colleagues. According to the feedback, the content I wanted to explore it was interesting and engaging with the audience, because of its contemporary nature, people in the group could see connections with their own experiences in social media and therefore , I could get more personal and honest feedback about the topic. After a few sessions, the group and tutor provided me with a good amount of source materials and example of study cases that later on I would use on the progression of my project. 'So You've been publicly shamed' by Ron Jonson was one of the books that soon enough it would become one of the pillars of my projects, whereas I took and used some of the examples to help me create and build my study case section on my essay. 

How different countries deal with Online Abuse

China

With more internet users than any other country – 688 million, according to the government’s last count – China provides fertile ground for online abuse.

The most notorious form is the so-called “human flesh search engine”, by which internet users club together to identify and then publicly humiliate online targets who have been accused of anything from corruption to infidelity or animal cruelty.

Russia

The problem with online abuse in Russia is often not so much that the authorities do not take it seriously, but that they may actually be behind it.

Even in cases where abuse comes from non-official sources, the legal framework can act as an aggravating factor. Gay rights activists cite the controversial 2013 laws against “homosexual propaganda” as contributing to an environment where online and real-life harassment of gay people is encouraged.

Russia has no specific laws on online abuse but the phenomenon is theoretically covered by standard laws against threatening violence or murder. For cases of revenge porn, Russians are often reluctant to go to the police, with just a handful of cases each year.

UK

Online abuse in the UK can be broadly broken down into two categories. The first is the more targeted abuse that is directed towards someone often by a partner, ex-partner, colleague or classmate. Noone’s group places revenge pornography as well as stalking into this category. “It’s very targeted, very persistent, potentially extremely dangerous and can have a very powerful impact,” she says.

It is often women, victims of domestic abuse and LGBT people who are the victims of these targeted attacks. “There’s quite a hidden LGBT element in terms of revenge porn,” adds Noone, who says attackers will sometimes threaten to post pictures “outing” someone to family and friends unless blackmail demands are met.

Colombia

Colombian internet users face the same issues as those elsewhere – harassment, stalking, revenge pornography and blackmail, largely aimed at women. But in the South American country, which has been plagued by long-running conflict, the situation is complicated as this abuse sometimes comes from paramilitary groups who threaten to take the abuse from the computer screen to the victim’s home.

Olga Paz Martinez, coordinator of the Take Back the Tech project in Colombia, says such online violence is often directed against women’s rights campaigners and in particular those who speak out about sexual violence against women

The situation in Colombia is also complicated by a deeply-rooted cultural machismo, which prizes hierarchical notions of gender and traditional family roles. In some cases of abuse against women who have spoken out against sexual violence, says Paz Martinez, the victim’s husband has been contacted and told to “make your wife shut up” or the abuse will continue.

Sweden

Shortly before Christmas in 2012, nearly 30 pupils were arrested during a full-scale riot outside a secondary school in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second city.

The spark for the brawl was an Instagram account, “Sluts of Gothenburg”, set up that week by two girls aged 15 and 16, which asked people to send in photos of other local teenagers along with allegations about their sexual history.

About 200 photographs, of both boys and girls, were published on the account. Many of the pictures were accompanied by names, and most included accusations of promiscuity.

At their subsequent trial in June 2013, the two girls were found guilty of defamation, sentenced to juvenile detention and community service, and ordered to pay 15,000kr (£1,450) compensation to each of 38 victims identified by the court.

The case, which attracted massive media attention, is perhaps Sweden’s best-known incidence of online abuse and harassment – and a rare example of successful prosecution by police and judicial authorities battling, campaigners say, inadequate legislation and technology they do not fully understand.

Australia

Australia has broad criminal laws that could be used to prosecute individuals for online abuse, but a consistent problem raised is education across the board.

The most important federal law that covers this area is an offence in the Criminal Code that makes it illegal to “menace, harass or threaten” using a carriage service. This has been used to punish serious cases of abuse on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

There is also a plethora of state and territory laws that can operate in different circumstances. In some states, such as New South Wales, making threats is an offence in itself. Although mere words won’t generally be considered assault, in some very serious cases they have been found by courts to be sufficient to constitute an offence.

US

In 2014, the journalist Amanda Hess chronicled her efforts to engage with the American criminal justice to end two cases of cyberstalking. The first time she went to police, in 2009, it was after a reader began issuing graphic rape threats online and then escalated this to phone calls; the police refused to do anything unless the man making the threats showed up at her apartment.

Research into online abuse by Pew in 2014 said that 40% of people had experienced some form of harassment on the internet – and that young women were among the most commonly targeted groups.

In June 2015, the US supreme court decided in favour of Anthony Elonis, who posted graphic depictions on Facebook of his desire to kill his estranged wife, saying they weren’t a crime if he didn’t intend to follow through and the trial hadn’t established Elonis’ intent.

Prof Danielle Citron, an expert in law and online harassment, told Fast Companythat there was an small upside to Elonis’ win: “It implicitly suggests that threats online are no different [than threats made via other interstate communication methods]” – which was not the case before the decision.

Citron suggested a few solutions, including making sure that laws are technology and platform agnostic; allowing prosecutors to present to judges and juries a totality of the abuse; and increasing penalties for those convicted.

What is Netiquette ? Etiquette in Technology

Online etiquette is ingrained into culture, etiquette in technology is a fairly recent concept. The rules of etiquette that apply when communicating over the Internet or social networks or devices are different from those applying when communicating in person or by audio (such as telephone) or videophone (such as Skype video). It is a social code of network communication.

Communicating with others via the Internet without misunderstandings in the heat of the moment can be challenging, mainly because facial expressions and body language cannot be interpreted in cyberspace. Therefore, several recommendations to attempt to safeguard against these misunderstandings have been proposed.

Netiquette:

The word netiquette is a combination of ’net’ (from internet) and ’etiquette’. It means respecting other users’ views and displaying common courtesy when posting your views to online discussion groups.

As you become involved with online discussion groups, you will find that each group has its own accepted rules of behaviour. Many of these have come about because of technical limitations.

For example, on an email discussion list - where not everyone may have seen past messages - it's considered polite to quote from a message you're replying to, so your response has context. It's also considered polite to keep those quotes short and relevant. On a web-based forum, however, where the original messages are visible to all, quoting is often unnecessary.

Basic Rules

1. Refrain from personal abuse. You may express robust disagreement with what someone says, but don't call them names or threaten them with personal violence.
2. Don't spam. That is, don't repeatedly post the same advertisement for products or services. Most sites have strict and specific rules about who is allowed to post ads and what kind of ads they are.
3. Write clearly and succinctly. On a site that has many non-native English speakers, avoid using slang they may not understand.
4. Remember that your posts are public. They can be read by your partner, your children, your parents, or your employer.
5. Stay on-topic, especially when you're new. Don't post about football in a hair-care forum or about hair care in a gardening forum!
6. Don't expect other people to do your homework for you. If you're looking for technical help, for example, don't ask questions you could easily answer yourself by reading the manual or online help provided with the product. When you do ask for help, include details of what attempts you've made to solve the problem. It will save time and also show people that you are making an effort to help yourself.
7. Do not post copyrighted material to which you do not own the rights. Sites vary in how strict they are about this, but as well as facing the possibility of legal action by the rights holder, you may also get the site sued.
8. The site's owner, perhaps assisted by one or more moderators, has the final say in enforcing the rules.