The Visual Web
Group Proposal: Ashleigh, Melanie, Nicola, Paul and Anna
What is our feature about?
- We'll be examining how, internally, the images we post online contribute to our sense of self, and
- How, externally, they impact how we are viewed by others
The issue: The web is becoming increasingly visual. New online platforms are being set up to facilitate image sharing (e.g. Pinterest), and existing social networking platforms (e.g. Facebook) are tailoring their layout to suit a more visual user-group.
Existing research: There are several academic papers and publications that deal with the ways that social media shape an individual's identity and sense of self. However, few of these focus on the image, and most are targeted at an academic audience. We want to introduce the issue to ordinary citizens.
Our approach: to combine investigative research with personal experience, through extensive interviews as well as personal journeys into the world of image sharing.
Content Development
Perception by others: For this section, we will have several investigative articles on the implications of image sharing. Our current ideas include:
- How widely seen pictures of kids on the net (courtesy of prominent mummy bloggers) will affect the kids in the future, and how others perceive them
- How photos uploaded to Facebook can have a negative impact if seen by the wrong person
- How images that go viral (e.g. memes) impact the people featured in them.
Use of online medium: We want to be creative, innovative, and play with the internal self vs. external perception juxtaposition. Current thoughts include:
- Opening page with clickable doors/windows looking inside/outside which link to either self-construction or external perception content
- High level of visual content
- Interactive elements such as comments and encouraging users to submit photos to particular gallery series.
Publication
THE VERGE: A US based website that covers "the intersection of technology, science, art and culture." The site states that its mission is to offer in-depth reporting and long form features as well as news, product information and community content. We'll also promote our feature through social media channels, both through our personal accounts, those that we will set up for our feature, and ideally of those involved in our feature.
Target users
Young (20s), current social media users who are interested in developments to do with technology and culture. They’re of a high intellectual level, are engaged with society and inquisitive about current trends, and engage with media regularly on multiple platforms. We've chosen this audience as the content of our feature is their reality: they regularly contribute to their online identity through images either consciously or unconsciously.
Our roles
(Insert Paul in that picture) We'll all be involved in research, writing, and uploading, but we do have some specific roles. However, as a team, we'll help each other, and the roles will probably overlap. These are the roles: Mel - video content manager, Paul - writing editor, Ash - photography and graphics manager, Nicola - "tech girl", Anna - project manager.
Connect with us!
Email: agru9221@uni.sydney.edu.au
Website: yourvisualweb.blogspot.com.au
Location: University of Sydney
Phone: 0435 378 148
Facebook: facebook.com/TheVisualWeb
Twitter: @The_Visual_Web