Public vs Private
How might activists assess risks, especially those concerning privacy and security, as they share their stories online? In a widely shared critique of so-called “Twitter Revolutions,” The New Yorker’s Malcolm Gladwell argues that online activists do not face the same kinds of risks as previous generations faced in their struggles for civil rights. Yet, we are finding that there are high risks for, say, undocumented who post videos coming out via YouTube or American Muslim youth who use social media to think through their identities in the Post-9/11 era. Many of these risks emerge as these youth make choices about the bounds between publicity (“coming out,” “speaking out”) and privacy, which are similar to more mundane choices confronting all youth in the era of Twitter and Facebook.
Real World Example:
"Coming Out of the Shadows" utilized the documentary format of interviews combined with more cinema verite protest footage. The interviews help to contextualize and emphasize the vulnerability and risk that these protesters are taking to expose themselves in public spaces, to “come out of the shadows”. The emphasis on (in)visibility within immigrant reform protests plays out in an interesting tension with video as some protesters prefer to keep their identities hidden while others want to share their story in order to humanize their situation.
Ask Some Conversation Starter Questions.
Here are some questions you can ask to get a conversation about remix started in your community:What do you share publicly and what do you keep private? How do you decide?
Do you have a public social media outlet where you share you thoughts? Why or why not?
Do you decide to keep some things more private to yourself or a small circle of friends?
What is the advantage of sharing more about yourself with a broader public?
Have you ever experienced any consequences from sharing something publicly?
Can sharing personal information about yourself help get people to support you when you take action on a particular issue? Do you have an example of when this happened to you or someone you know?
Looking to Start Your Own Conversation?
If the HitRecord Public vs Private video and information contained here inspired you to action, you may want reach to the original call for submissions that inspired this video to be made in the first place. While the deadline for submissions has expired, you are always free to create your own responses to it!
