"Kony 2012" gone viral

Since march the 5th a film made by the organization Invisible Children has gotton nearly 50 million views on You Tube. This film "Kony 2012" aims at raising awareness worldwide and stopping Joseph Kony the leader of the LRA, a rebel group in Africa by the end of this year. The film want's to do this by making Kony famous, giving him celebrity status and making him a household name which in turn will force governments, mainly America to capture him. The film certainly has achieved it's virality but also has put the organization under scrutiny. People argue that what they state in the film is untrue and that stopping Kony will not stop the LRA.

Although it is bringing the situation to light and using social media's power to do so, The video has been viewed nearly 50 million times on youtube in 4 days, #Kony2012, #Kony, #Uganda, #LRA have become worldwide trends on Twitter, the campaign has been the talk of newstations/papers/articles since.

Here is the film..

What Kony 2012 does right:

- Uses social media to gain a worldwide audience fast

- Created an immersive film

- Involves people in the campaign, by allowing them to sign up for the pledge, get an action kit and so on.

- Using and making Kony a celebrity to make him known and aid in his capture.

- Used huge worldwide celebrities and politicians to back the campaign, spread the word and get their fans involved for example Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Bono, George Clooney.

- Using creative, artistic methods and peoples talents throughout the campaign

- Being Inspired and doing what they believe is right, the founders went to Uganda found a story and were shocked and promised friends they made their that they would help. They also were inspired by the arab spring and how Facebook fueled it.

- Hard work, The organization have been preparing for this campaign for years.

What Kony 2012 does wrong:

- Not intirely true statements. The LRA are not in Uganda anymore, they are in CAR, DR of Congo and South Sudan.

- Catching Kony does not mean an end to the LRA, poverty and inequality are major problems at the root of the conflict.

- Aimed mainly at an American audience

- Putting American 'advisors' on the ground in Uganda. The LRA are not in Uganda, the people may not want them there and they may have alternate motives such as oil and being near somalia.

- An aim of the film overlooked was getting america to join the International Criminal Court

- Local people are just as scared of their army as they are of the LRA.

How this effects our project and what we could take from it:

- Have correct and accurate information

- The power of social media and it's advantages and disadvantages

- Catching Kony may not be the solution

- Kony 2012 is mainly targeted at an american audience and getting the american government or army to stop Kony, we can raise awareness in Ireland and Europe and maybe see what European governments can do.

- America should join the International Criminal Court

- Kony 2012's creative methods and using peoples talents was sucessful

- Getting existing celebrities and politicians to back the campaign

- immersive and engaging content

- user/audience involvement

Links, references and more information:

http://kony2012.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

http://www.warchild.org.uk/news/kony-2012-our-response

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news

http://www.channel4.com/news/kony-2012

Twitter: #Kony2012, #Uganda , #LRA, #Kony, #stopKony, #invisiblechildren

Possible ways of telling the story using the web(part two)

Html5 scrolling page

example one:

http://www.starvedforattention.org/

The story appears as you scroll down the page, media such as video is also included.

example two:

http://www.head2heart.us/

This page scrolls across to tell the story when arrows within the image are clicked.

Html5 comic style

http://www.bifter.co.uk/issue/12/

This is a website that displays a comic book like a comic book. With next and previous buttons, with attractive style and visuals made with HTML5.

Html5 interactive website

ROME "3 dreams of black"

http://www.ro.me/

Like with the wilderness downtown this is an interactive music video that was directed by chris milk.

Explanation below.

Possible ways of telling the story using the web(part one)

Mapping Technology

Telling a story through maps, location of characters, images and text. For example We tell stories, "The 21 steps". Umapper is one example of how this can be created.

Membership Website

A website that allows the user to join, the story is told through many mediums such as video, images, text, social media etc. Example "Conspiracy for good" website.

Social Media

Use of social media to tell a story. "the Hyp replacement" is an example. It is about four characters who live in the same area in Brooklyn, New York. The main story is told on the website through a series of short chapters in a 3rd person narrative. The characters each have different social media accounts one is on twitter, another on tumblr, another on blogspot, and another on YouTube. These accounts are incorporated and embedded into the main story. Prose + social media = The Hyp Replacement

http://thehypreplacement.com/2010/01/january-1/

Storytelling URL's

Using the url of a webpage to tell a story, and lead you to an answer.

http://www.this-is-the-story-of-a-woman.com/

HTML5 interactive websites

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

Personalizes the experience by incorporating google maps images of where you are from into the video. You can also write and draw a postcard to yourself. It also uses pop up windows very cleverly.

to be continued..

Notes on Paul's Meeting

1. Website to look up We Tell Stories -> Penguin 6 Writers -> 21 Steps

2. Using Google skins could have an inter-textual jump
- linear sequence then jump into Google maps go to chracter or place then skip out and continue the story.

- Another way of using the map you could go to someones house or a garage and pin point where they were last seen

3. Need to nail down storyboard - look into Celtx for script writing

4. Find a strand in the story that connects to Cork in some way. Eg part of the story could be a volunteer or builder that build a hut and LRA tore it down.

- Main thing is to find a strand in the story that in some way connects Cork to Uganda

5. Story doesn't have to be true but must be effective

6. Use maybe a wrap around story - use Google maps to jump in and out of different stories and locations (maybe)

Responsibilities

Linda: Analytical Phase & Linear Content

Lauren: Interactive Content & Evaluation Phase

Update to project proposal

Since the original project proposal there have been updates.

The original document stated "The primary aim of the project is to raise awareness of the problem of children being recruited into armed forces in African countries, these children are known as child soldiers. "

The update specifies which African countries the project aims to raise awareness of and why.

Countries:

- Uganda

- South Sudan

- Democratic Republic of Congo

- Republic of Central Africa

Why:

- the LRA are active in these countries (explained below)

- the LRA abduct children and force them to become soldiers

LRA (Lords Resistance Army)

The LRA, Lords Resistance Army have been terrorizing the country of Uganda for the past 23 years. The LRA left Uganda in June 2006 when the Juba Peace Talks began. Ever since the peace talks fell apart in 2008, the LRA has been active in the border regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Joseph Kony is founder and leader of the LRA. Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The LRA are an unbelievably brutal rebel group. They abduct children and indoctrinate them into their ranks and they murder, rape, beat and mutilate men, women and children. Under Kony's leadership the LRA has displaced 2 million people, abducted 60,000 including 30,000 children. It is estimated that more than 90% of the LRA’s troops were abducted as children. It is normal that children being introduced into the group are forced to murder their own parents.

Documentary's watched and more

I have watched documentary's related to child soldiers and the LRA

- Invisible Children

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3166797753930210643

This is a documentary based on Uganda and its trouble's with the LRA and how it effects the children. It gave a good insight into the history and situation in Uganda.

- Tony

http://invisiblechildren.com/frontline-tony-documentary

When the previous documentary "invisible children" was created, the creators followed it up by starting a charity/activists company called invisible children. They created another documentary called "Tony". This is about a Ugandan boy called Tony and his story.

- People & Power - The LRA and Sudan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdnXLCiFTw0

This is a documentary on the current location of the LRA, the history of the LRA and mainly how the LRA have and may effect Sudan.

- Waltz with Bashir

I purchased the movie Waltz with Bashir, which we are going to watch mainly for design aspects of the project.

http://waltzwithbashir.com/