KONY 2012
1 2013-08-12T10:28:03-07:00 Gabriel Peters-Lazaro 3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0 610 7 WATCH US LIVE AT 2013 FOURTH ESTATE SUMMIT - ON NOW: http://spr.ly/live_5 To learn more about our work: http://spr.ly/pp_5 To become a member of Fourth Estat... plain 2014-10-24T18:20:27-07:00 YouTube 2012-03-05T20:13:33.000Z video Y4MnpzG5Sqc Nonprofit Invisible Children Alexandra Margolin 7dce2caa0446e9a40e6f5f2e9ea7ffd920231440This page has tags:
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- 1 2013-08-05T11:47:02-07:00 Gabriel Peters-Lazaro 3bc3965831120bc593545fef6d0da73657e21ea0 “It’s Called ‘Giving a Shit!’” yomna elsayed 15 Who Gets to Decide What Constitutes Politics? structured_gallery 2015-01-25T23:33:21-08:00 yomna elsayed 8508c5b4231ef0586c839c1d6e354950c1246c49
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- 1 2013-10-23T10:31:19-07:00 Sangita Shresthova 497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7 Participation Sangita Shresthova 7 split 2014-01-02T10:59:57-08:00 Sangita Shresthova 497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
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- 1 2013-11-05T14:55:34-08:00 Sangita Shresthova 497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7 "Watch a 30 Minute Video, Become an Activist" Sangita Shresthova 1 plain 2013-11-05T14:55:34-08:00 Sangita Shresthova 497a02d289c277275bc5ece441097deedf8135e7
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“Watch 30 Minute Video on Internet, Become Social Activist”
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Kony 2012, Invisible Children, and the Paradoxes of Participatory Politics
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In Spring 2012, Invisible Children (IC), a San Diego-based human rights organization, released Kony 2012, a thirty minute video about child soldiering in Uganda. IC anticipated that the video might reach half a million viewers over a two month campaign. Instead, it reached more than 70 million viewers over the first four days and over 100 million over the first week. The video’s rapid circulation was heavily fueled by high school and college students, coupled with church groups. By comparison, America’s highest rated television shows reach 40-45 million per week, and Hunger Games, the top Hollywood blockbuster that week, drew 15-20 million viewers. Inspired by the video’s own celebration of the power of social media to change the world, IC's young supporters had demonstrated the capacity of grassroots networks to shift the national agenda.
But, Kony 2012 drew sharp criticism from many established human rights groups and Africa experts, questioning everything from IC’s finances to its “white man’s burden” rhetoric. IC was especially challenged for being out of sync with current Ugandan realities and promoting responses some argued might do more harm than good. Critics have seen Kony 2012 as illustrating the kinds of institutional filters and ideological blinders that have long shaped communication between the Global North and South.
Kony 2012 quickly became emblematic of a larger debate concerning attention-driven activism. As the controversy surrounding the video intensified, the filmmaker, Jason Russell, had a highly public meltdown itself captured on video and widely circulated online. Cut off from the besieged leadership, many young IC supporters lacked the skills and information needed to defend their positions or for that matter, to reflect more deeply about the complexities they were encountering within the larger debate around the campaign. IC’s approach demonstrated enormous “spreadability” (the capacity to “spread” its messages) but limited “drillability” (the ability to “drill” deep into the issues.)
Using our four year plus of researching Invisible Children as an extended illustration, this chapter will introduce the core concept of participatory politics. As we do so, we take seriously the critiques leveled against the Kony 2012 campaign, but we also take seriously what participation in the movement meant to young people around the world for whom circulating and commenting on this video might have been their first expressions as citizens. While many “traditional” civic organizations enable youth to participate based on an apprenticeship model, many of our examples here exhibit a more participatory model, in which young people are taking control of and shaping their own modes of engagement. In this model, learning takes place not only vertically, from expert to mentor, but also horizontally, from peer to peer. Such sites often blend the distinction between interest-based and friendship-based networks that have informed other work in the Connected Learning tradition: Young people may enter based on shared interests, may work towards collective goals, yet in the process, they become integrated into rich social communities that often motivate and reward their continued participation. Invisible Children is a fascinating hybrid of these more established and emergent models: locating many of its chapters in schools and churches, yet creating ample opportunities for learning through participation.Media Referenced in Chapter 2
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Documentary
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Documentary has become omnipresent and complicated with the proliferation of personal recording devices. It's simple categorization is difficult as it bleeds into a number of different maker practices. Nevertheless, the documentary format is generally one concerned with documenting real people and events; and then organizing that material into a logical, storytelling format.There are a number of potent usages for the documentary format. In particular, documentary is vital for a campaign or organization that involves a number of live events or direct actions in public space. The unexpected spontaneity, the sense of danger, and the energy of a public, political event are often inexpressible in words. So the documentary format allows a rich portrayal of the incidents and what it'd be like to be there. Moreover, the documentary format often involves interviews (either formal or on the street) which provide greater context and perspective to an event.Among the groups, there is a range of varying types of documentary techniques from simple documentation to nuanced storytelling that involves fictional scenes as well as real-world footage. Coming Out of the Shadows is a classic example of a basic documentary structure. The one minute thirty second video immediately throws the audience into the action of the protest. The video then introduces one of the main organizers, who provides context through an interview, as the video develops an basic arch for the rest of the protest action.Invisible Children's Kony 2012 video on the other hand is extremely complex in its use of documentary video, found footage, personal media, digital illustrations, and staged protests. The effect is that it creates a complex series of rhetorical relationships that often jump from global to personal perspectives and across socio-cultural boundaries. Additionally, the staged youth protest near the end of the documentary borrows from music video techniques to inspire young audiences and provide them with an image of themselves if they decide to join the cause.