title: ? 2020
cellophane, fabric paper, paint.
this piece aims to display and showcase a part of the Australian bushfires of 2019-20. inspired by the coloured sky, smoke and ashed trees all are seen to come together as one in a collage. Aiming to invade an intimate space, like the media can be seen as doing such actions. this interactive piece is something to experience and target the emotions experienced during the Australian fires. fragments of this target time have been captures and come together to display as one. displayed inside the window of a family living room where they once sat watching as the hills from their view, their home, their land was burning at a rapid paste.
The Assignment:
Studio proposal Powerpoint,
in-class prototype:
the final up close,
the final from a distance.
Updated Ideas
Due to the current situation of COVID-19, I like many others are having to find new ways of either redoing or reinventing our original designs. For myself, I am trying my hardest not to have to completely change my idea, and I believe that everything should be fine. since I am back at home and not in Paris or at school, I like all my classmates are very limited to materials, space and helpful thinkers/critiquers (aka the blessing of the tech lab team)
- Do one painting like my prototype on the main window in my living room. / paint the view of the outback that you can see from my living room window / what the view of the fire coming over the mountains looked like from my house.
- Paint on orange cellophane on a window
- have new reports playing in the background
- do a large landscape painting
- make a collage painting combo out of printed newspaper and media prints
- somehow create an online simulator of a room with a painted landscape, foggy appearance and orange tinge.
view of the fire from my house
living room window,
Workplan
week 10: begin testing and experimenting new ideas finalised new idea
week 11: work on and expand on the project
week 12: finalise the project
week 13: work on the book
week 14: finalise the book
Ideas for the book
- burn edges
- orange tint
- grey smoke like a smudge
- incorporate nature, gum leaves, burnt bark etc…
- importance of title
- strong cover- intriguing for an unaware viewer (convince someone to want to pick the book up)
Ideas previously found in bookstores in Paris,
Starting New Idea
testing colours
colours in room
painting on cellophane
week 12 update:
this week I played around with adding more tree paintings. I think that I might add two or three more to add a bit more coverage while still having certain sections open to see through and look at the view of the mountains. obviously this is very different to what I had originally wanted to do for my final, however, I think that for given the circumstances that we are in and with the limited materials I have had I think that this has turned out to be rather ok, and an overall interesting experience to be going through.
final video
feedback
- cut out media and leave the sound.
- have more silence
- post on social media
- more stills
- capture the outside life
- focus on the video sounds
final thoughts
—
Social Media and the Impact it Had on Australia’s Bush Fires of 2019-20
December of 2019 was, for most families around the world, a time of happiness spent together enjoying the holidays and looking forward to a white Christmas. Meanwhile, many Australians, including myself, were preparing for a black one. The Australian bushfires of 2019-20 were a tragedy for most, affecting many nationwide with a loss of houses, loved ones and animals. Although there was a lot of bad from this tragic event, there was also some good. That is, thanks to social media and the awareness that we can spread and gain from it.
Unlike other media sources such as television and newspapers, social media has a reach that is unlike any other. The question is, how has social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter affected the Australian bushfires of 2019-20, regarding the global reach of coverage and awareness? This paper aims to investigate the ways and workings of these platforms, how they are different from other media sources, and to understand the impact in which they had on this tragedy.
Throughout these Australian bushfires, I was taking down notes and analysing how and when the media started to pick up and spread around the globe. By using my data which I have observed and collected alongside other data, I hope to find out what caused this international growth of media coverage. These next pages will explore and go through the ways and workings of social media, starting with the timeline of these bushfires, posts that were spread around Australia, and comparisons between other fires around the world. The platforms they were on, and the spike of international awareness, what caused it? How it happened, and a discovery of the inner workings of this digital age.
Australia is known for being dry and has had to grow accustomed to annual fires. Starting back in September of 2018, eastern Australia had experienced its driest September ever. Since then Australia’s Weather Bureau predicted three months of droughts while fires were beginning to spark up. Once October rolled around the annual bushfire season, officially started. After only a month the death toll had risen to a total of three, with a state of emergencies declared on November 11th in multiple states.
As the situation continued to grow and worsen, it is not until December 8th where for the first time US firefighters were deployed to Australia. Throughout this period, Australia was reaching its hottest days, reaching tops of 44 degrees Celsius. One would think that with such events like this taking place in not only one state but the whole country’s the media coverage must be going off about Australia, which it did nationwide, however globally not so much.
In comparison to the California fires, and the amazon fires the way both of those events spread throughout the world was social media was like wildfire. Nevertheless, when it came to Australia, such actions were not arising until January 1st of 2020. Once social media celebrity Kylie Jenner made several posts on her Instagram story about the events in Australia. After said post, many more celebrities and social media influencers were then taking to their profiles, starting to raise more awareness as to just how catastrophic these events are. This leaves us to query that because big named celebrities were not affected by such events is it not relevant and worth mentioning? Are events only relevant and known when people of a certain status are affected, and influencers mention them?
After doing further research, I have learnt that I was not the only one who was feeling this way and since making these observations. I discovered that many others were feeling the same way. Taking off to these same social media platforms, there was a lot of pain, anger and frustration coming from many hurting Australians. As displayed in the following tweets below. The same question was lingering round in regards to our help, our media support?
Sitting back and thinking about it leads to another view of the need and desire of attention we all have from living in a digital world. We all crave this verification and attention from everyone. However, is this the same? In comparisons to other events, this one is nothing but the same. People are dying; animals are dying, a country is on fire and burning at a rapid paste. Is it so needy to ask for help during a crisis? Social media, A still rather new element to this world with over 3.8 billion users online, representing half of the globe, there is no wonder why everyone wants to have a say and when doing such, having a broad social reach is essential to succeed. When someone puts something out to social media, they are voicing out to the whole world. Social media algorithms are a way of sorting posts in a user’s feed based on relevancy instead of publishing time. Social networks prioritise which content a user sees in their feed first by the likelihood that they will want to see it.[1]
Therefore meaning that the chances of someone living in japan or Mexico is less likely to see posts that are according in other countries like Australia. Sure this makes sense for especially with language barriers; however, there should still be some reach that connects us all. A reach that is able to inform everyone on major events taken place around the world. That reach, however, is influencers and celebrities. The average influencer tends to have around 1 million followers and celebrities, depending on how well known they are, they could have anywhere from 1 to 180 million followers, which means that they have a large following and can use their voice for good, depending on what they say and how they chose to influence their followers.
Although Australia is a rather large county, our population is not. According to Australia’s population as of March 2020 is at 24.4 million.[2] On the other hand, California and California alone is almost at 40 million. Now given the size and population, this is quite a factor to be taken into consideration. With Los Angeles being home to the majority of the world’s most known celebrities, it is no wonder why the media coverage there is unlike anything else.
What about the amazon? The amazon has a population of 30 million, which lies in-between both Australia and California; however, I believe that last time I checked, there weren’t any celebrities living in the amazon? Nor a significant media coverage, so why did the media burn up about this? This graph from NBC news best displays the amount of damage and puts the numbers down.[3]
Although awareness was spread through many different outlets, the most common was seen to be through viral photos and videos. In particular, an image captured by photographer Matt Abbott of a kangaroo trying to escape, as a house is seen burning down completely engulfed by flames, caught the attention of the issue. Despite being commissioned by the New York Times, most people first saw this image and encountered it “in the wild” through social media platforms. Many images and videos were seen of bright burnt orange skies in Australia and yellow ones over in New Zealand; likewise, being able to go viral without any publications or sponsors. On the other hand, a different view of the fires which resulted in quite a number of viral videos, which are seen as cute yet terrifying at the same time, were those of all the countless Australian wildlife battling these tough times in the burning bush.
The shock and distress which these visuals fuel can speak louder than any journalist, it was during this time where regular people, as well as celebrities, were starting to organise multiple fundraising efforts, aiming to help Australia and raise awareness about this turbulent time. One fundraiser in particular which was able to reel in attention was a Facebook campaign by Australian comedian Celeste Barber. This fundraiser was able to raise more than 50 million dollars for the country’s firefighters. All within a course of two weeks, with over a million people donating, this campaign rapidly exceeded the original goal of $30,000.
The tennis world also had their eyes on Australia as it hosts the first Grand Slam of the season. One of Australia’s primary tennis players, Nick Kyrgios was seen to be taking to his social media platforms such as Twitter where he was proposing a fundraising effort. Thankfully, His voice was heard, especially amongst other teammates. Tennis stars such as Roger Federer and Serena Williams contributed to his campaign, and soon enough within a single day, a total of $5 million was raised.
Big named brands were also to be donating millions of products to help those who were most affected by the fires, many provided food, personal hygiene items, and other essentials to food banks across the country. What this did do was that it then also offered paid leave to all the volunteering employees, trying to help out their community.
Many Small business owners were also trying their best to raise money for Australia. One owner, Sarah McClelland, created a company by selling science kits for children on her website, Little Bins for Little Hands. After seeing the nations struggle, Sarah introduced an Australia-themed item to her online store, which she then proceeded to donate all of the proceeds from its sales to a non-profit that helps Australian animals. When interviewed, she explained that in this day and age, you no longer have to be a celebrity to make a difference. This would probably not be the case without the spread of social media.
Without this modern digital age and the world of social media, would we have been able to have created fundraisers, support those who are affected and inform such a vast majority of people on events and spread the word? Well, in the click of a button, you can although Social media platforms weren’t designed and created with the intention of charity and organising in mind.
With a world population of 7.8 billion and half of them being social media users, it is no wonder why media algorithms are set in place. Why the spread of specific events are shared more than others, and why celebrities are more so inclined to voice about issues which are more relatable and effecting themselves. Saying that, it has also been made apparent that the social media community, once together and informed on such events, we can come as a community and make an impact on others. To help those in need, and create a change for the better.
“Australia’s Bushfires: Influencers Rally for a Good Cause – Meltwater Blog.” Meltwater, January 30, 2020.
“Australia Population (LIVE).” Worldometer. Accessed March 23, 2020. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/australia-population/.
Ball, Siobhan. “People Are Spreading Awareness about the Australia Fires on Social Media.” The Daily Dot. The Daily Dot, January 3, 2020. https://www.dailydot.com/layer8/australia-fires/.
Barnhart. “How to Rise Above Social Media Algorithms.” Sprout Social, March 26, 2020. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-algorithms/.
Calma, Justine. “What You Need to Know about the Australia Bushfires.” The Verge. The Verge, February 13, 2020. https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/3/21048891/australia-wildfires-koalas-climate-change-bushfires-deaths-animals-damage.
Chiwaya, Nigel, Jiachuan Wu, and Robin Muccari. “This Is How Big Australia’s Wildfires Actually Are.” NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, January 8, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/australia-wildfire-bushfire-size-2020-n1112006.
Hadden, Joey. “Australia’s Bushfires Are Ravaging the Country. Here’s How It All Happened.” Insider. Insider, February 5, 2020. https://www.insider.com/when-how-australia-bushfires-started-in-2019-2020-1.
La Freniere, Natalie. “Celebrity Influence on Today’s Society.” Medium. Medium, April 30, 2018.
Rannard, Georgina. “Australia Fires: Misleading Maps and Pictures Go Viral.” BBC News. BBC, January 7, 2020.
Roy, Eleanor Ainge. “Australian Bushfire Crisis: Global Figures and Media React to ‘Climate Emergency’.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, January 2, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/02/australian-bushfire-crisis-global-figures-and-media-react-to-climate-emergency.
Sokolov, Misha. “Social Media as a Force for Good: the Case of Australian Bushfires.” The Drum. The Drum, February 18, 2020.
Vinall, Marnie. “The Australian Bushfire Crisis Has Shown the Best and Worst of Social Media .” Mumbrella, January 21, 2020. https://mumbrella.com.au/the-australian-bushfire-crisis-has-shown-the-best-and-worst-of-social-media-613660.
[1] Barnhart. “How to Rise Above Social Media Algorithms.” Sprout Social, March 26, 2020. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-algorithms/.
[2] Australia Population (LIVE).” Worldometer. Accessed March 23, 2020. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/australia-population/.
[3] Chiwaya, Nigel, Jiachuan Wu, and Robin Muccari. “This Is How Big Australia’s Wildfires Actually Are.” NBCNews.com. NBCUniversal News Group, January 8, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/australia-wildfire-bushfire-size-2020-n1112006.
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