tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/facial-reconstruction-20065/articlesfacial reconstruction – The Conversation2021-07-16T12:27:47Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1602482021-07-16T12:27:47Z2021-07-16T12:27:47ZSchool posts on Facebook could threaten student privacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411310/original/file-20210714-19-dej2pc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3780%2C2467&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Images of students on school Facebook pages could fall into the wrong hands. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/girls-using-portable-computers-royalty-free-image/907538626?adppopup=true">Sol de Zuasnabar Brebbia/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Like many of us, schools in the United States are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2018.1504791">active on social media</a>. They use their accounts to <a href="http://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/qpu8v">share timely information, build community and highlight staff and students</a>. However, <a href="https://educationaldatamining.org/EDM2021/virtual/static/pdf/EDM21_paper_276.pdf">our research</a> has shown that schools’ social media activity may harm students’ privacy.</p>
<p>As a researcher who <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=nxVowRQAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">specializes in data science in education</a>, I and my colleagues came to the topic of student privacy unintentionally. We were exploring <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-021-00589-6">how schools used social media during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, specifically March and April of 2020. In the course of this research, we noticed something surprising about how Facebook worked: We could view the posts of schools – including images of teachers and students – even when not logged in to our personal Facebook accounts.</p>
<p>The ability to access pages and pictures even when we were not logged in revealed that not only could schools’ posts be accessed by anyone, but they could also be systematically accessed using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-018-0307-4">data mining methods</a>, or new research methods that involve using computers and statistical techniques to discover patterns in large – often publicly accessible – datasets. </p>
<p>Since practically all U.S. schools report their websites to the <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/">National Center for Education Statistics</a>, and many schools link to their Facebook pages from their websites, these posts could be accessed in a comprehensive manner. In other words, not only researchers but also advertisers and hackers could use data mining methods to access all of the posts by any school with a Facebook account. This comprehensive access allowed us to study phenomena like violations of students’ privacy at a massive scale. </p>
<h2>Risks are present</h2>
<p>The easy access to student photos that we encountered comes despite <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/opinion/zuckerberg-privacy-facebook.html">broader concerns</a> about individuals’ privacy on social media. Parents, for instance, have <a href="https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/12493">expressed concerns</a> about teachers posting about their children on social media. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man looks at a computer screen filled with dozens of faces." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411298/original/file-20210714-27-gifc5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411298/original/file-20210714-27-gifc5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411298/original/file-20210714-27-gifc5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411298/original/file-20210714-27-gifc5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411298/original/file-20210714-27-gifc5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411298/original/file-20210714-27-gifc5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411298/original/file-20210714-27-gifc5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Photos of students that schools post on Facebook can be easily accessed by corporations or law enforcement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teens-using-social-media-royalty-free-image/873335348?adppopup=true">ljubaphoto via iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span>
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<p>Fortunately, our search of news coverage and academic publications did not reveal any harms that have come to students because their schools posted about them. However, there are a number of possible risks that identifiable posts of students could pose. For instance, would-be stalkers and bullies could use the postings to identify individual students. </p>
<p>Also, there are newer threats that students may face. For instance, the facial recognition company <a href="https://clearview.ai/">Clearview</a> collects internet data – and social media data – from across the World Wide Web. Clearview then <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/05/27/clearview-ai---the-facial-recognition-company-embraced-by-us-law-enforcement---just-got-hit-with-a-barrage-of-privacy-complaints-in-europe/?sh=1d4b202917f5">sells access to this data to law enforcement agencies</a>, who can upload photos of a potential suspect or person of interest to view a list of potential names of the individual depicted in the uploaded photo. Clearview already <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/business/clearview-facial-recognition-child-sexual-abuse.html">accesses identifiable photos</a> of minors in the U.S. from public posts on Facebook. It is possible that photos of students from schools’ Facebook pages could be accessed and used by companies such as Clearview.</p>
<p>Even though we are not aware of these things actually happening, that is not reason to not be concerned about it. At a time when our privacy is often threatened in surprising ways, as technology journalist Kara Swisher writes, “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/24/opinion/location-privacy.html">only the paranoid survive</a>.” My fellow researchers and I think this cautious view – even a paranoid view – is particularly justified when it comes to students as minors who may not provide their explicit permission to be included within posts.</p>
<h2>Millions of student photos available</h2>
<p>In our study, we used <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/">federal data</a> and an <a href="https://www.crowdtangle.com/">analytical tool provided by Facebook</a> to access posts from schools and school districts. We use the term “schools” to refer to both schools and school districts in our study. From this collection of 17.9 million posts by around 16,000 schools from 2005 to 2020, we randomly selected – sampled – 100 and then coded these publicly accessible posts. We determined whether students were named in the post with their first and last name and whether their faces were clearly depicted in a photo. If both of these elements were present, we considered a student to be identified by name and school.</p>
<p>For example, a student in a Facebook post whose photo includes a name in the caption, such as Jane Doe, would be deemed identified.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="example-fb-img" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411567/original/file-20210715-27-zkvivf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=874&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students’ identities can be easily obtained online via school postings on Facebook.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We determined that 9.3 million of the 17.9 million posts we analyzed contained images. Within those 9.3 million posts, we estimated that around 467,000 students were identified. In other words, we found nearly half a million students on schools’ publicly accessible Facebook pages who are pictured and identified by first and last name and the location of their school.</p>
<h2>Assessing the risks</h2>
<p>While many of us already post photos of ourselves, friends and family – and sometimes our children – on social media, the posts of schools are different in one important sense. As individuals, we can control who can see our posts. If we want to limit it to just friends and family, we can change our own privacy settings. But people do not necessarily control how schools share their posts and images, and all of the posts we analyzed were strictly publicly accessible. Anyone in the world can access them.</p>
<p>Even if one considers the potential harm of this situation to be minimal, there are small steps that schools can take that could make a notable difference in whether that potential is present at all:</p>
<h3>1. Refrain from posting students’ full names</h3>
<p>Not posting students’ full names would make it much more difficult for individual students to be targeted and for students’ data to be sold and linked with other data sources by companies.</p>
<h3>2. Make school pages private</h3>
<p>Making school pages private means that data mining approaches similar to our own would be much more difficult – if not impossible – to carry out. This single step would drastically minimize risks to students’ privacy.</p>
<h3>3. Use opt-in media release policies</h3>
<p>Opt-in media release policies require parents to explicitly agree to have photos of their child shared via communications and media platforms. These may be more informative to parents – especially if they mention that the communications and media platforms include social media – and more protective of students’ privacy than opt-out policies, which require parents to contact their child’s school if they do not want their child’s photo or information to be shared. </p>
<p>In sum, schools’ Facebook pages are different from our personal social media accounts, and posts on these pages may threaten the privacy of students. But using social media doesn’t have to be an either-or proposition for schools. That is to say, it doesn’t necessarily come down to a choice between using social media without considering privacy threats or not using social media at all. Rather, our research suggests that educators can and should take small steps to protect students’ privacy when posting from school accounts.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joshua Rosenberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When school officials post photos about students on Facebook, they may be inadvertently enabling data mining firms and others to use the information for other purposes, new research has found.Joshua Rosenberg, Assistant Professor of STEM Education, University of TennesseeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1278442019-12-02T14:11:21Z2019-12-02T14:11:21ZHow art and technology helped bring faces of the dead to life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304076/original/file-20191127-112499-1cv5azx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Je'nine May/UCT</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Facial reconstruction is best known as a forensic tool that can help identify human remains and reconnect them with families for burial or memorialisation. The technique has a potent claim on our imaginations.</p>
<p>These images are usually produced when other identification methods have failed. It’s usually a last resort with very high stakes. This is perhaps why, when forensic depictions lead to recognition in spite of their own technical limitations, it can feel like a miracle, providing an essential, often long-awaited, piece of an investigative puzzle.</p>
<p>Facial reconstruction becomes most culturally visible when it is applied to <a href="http://archaeologicalmuseum.jhu.edu/the-collection/object-stories/who-am-i-remembering-the-dead-through-facial-reconstruction/the-facial-reconstruction-process/">archaeological research</a>. Depicting past people enables viewers to imagine them as individuals rather than specimens. The facial image becomes a powerful and complex medium, fostering connections between historical events and personal lifeways, and re-establishing a degree of personhood. </p>
<p>This research is facilitated by advances in imaging technologies, and benefits from interdisciplinary input. In turn, it creates new opportunities for the retrieval of previously unknown or suppressed knowledge that reshapes our understanding of the past.</p>
<p>What has become known as the <a href="https://www.news.uct.ac.za/features/sutherland/">Sutherland Reburial project</a> offers a unique opportunity to reflect on the objectives of recreating faces from skulls. The project involved creating facial depictions based on <a href="https://theconversation.com/skeletons-and-closets-how-one-university-reburied-the-dead-126607">human remains unethically acquired</a> by the <a href="https://www.uct.ac.za/">University of Cape Town</a> in the 1920s. </p>
<p>The project has become a platform to ventilate the unfinished business of human remains discovered from <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/khoikhoi">South Africa’s unpleasant past</a>. It has also set a precedent for repatriation and restitution initiatives. The most critical is the involvement of direct descendants with links to the farm where the majority of these remains were exhumed, and their specific request to “see the faces” of their ancestors. Giving us their permission with their instruction, they collaborated in producing scientific knowledge for the benefit of the source community in Sutherland.</p>
<p>The project has also demonstrated how science, art and technology converge in contemporary facial reconstruction and depiction.</p>
<h2>How it’s done</h2>
<p>At the start of May 2019, the project was undertaken by <a href="https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/research/centres-and-institutes/institute-of-art-and-technology/expertise/face-lab">Face Lab</a>, recognised as an international leader in craniofacial research and analysis, with an entirely digital workflow. </p>
<p>Facial reconstruction interprets the details of the skull to recreate face shape through modelling of facial soft tissues, estimating the shape and size of facial features and using methods developed over a century of scientific and artistic collaboration. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304425/original/file-20191129-95250-l5foxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The human remains do not have to be handled by Face Lab, who work on scans of the remains.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Face Lab, Liverpool John Moores University</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12024-006-0007-9.pdf">Current methods</a> have shown that shape can be accurately recreated with less than 2mm of error for approximately 70% of the facial surface.</p>
<p>The surface details of a face, known here as “texture”, are a matter of interpretation. Eye and hair colour, skin tone, wrinkles, scars and other marks, and some aspects of the ear cannot be reliably predicted from the skull alone. <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1004224">Genetic phenotyping</a> is making some advances here, but not without <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/nyregion/dna-phenotyping-new-york-police.html">significant controversy</a>.</p>
<p>Yet these details are essential for creating a plausible face, so we must make a reasonable attempt, restricted by what can be justified by the available data. </p>
<p>In Face Lab, we refer to the final result as a “depiction” to distinguish between the process of recreating face shape – informed by anatomical standards that apply across all populations – and the highly interpretive process of adding surface details. The final depiction should employ visual strategies known to optimise recognition, but also infer ambiguity where necessary. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304424/original/file-20191129-95272-cnvu6r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some of the many faces reconstructed during projects at Face Lab.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Face Lab, Liverpool John Moores University </span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our job is therefore to predict the “most likely” in-life appearance of an individual by attending as closely as possible to the specific, not the average. Producing the right sort of face, with the features in a certain proportional and spatial relationship to each other, determined by a skull’s own architecture, is what narrows the search for an unidentified victim in a forensic context. </p>
<p>Refining individualising detail – a gap between the upper teeth, prominent ears, a crooked nose or asymmetric eyes – increases the chances of successful recognition.</p>
<h2>In the lab</h2>
<p>Face Lab worked with 3D digital models of the Sutherland skulls produced from CT scans, which provided excellent surface detail along with internal information that refined feature prediction and allowed estimation of missing jawbones (mandibles). This was necessary for three individuals in this group. </p>
<p>Where bony fragments were missing or damaged, reassembly was a necessary first step. The more bone is absent, the more qualified the final result.</p>
<p>Face Lab employs a 3D modelling programme with a haptic (touch-sensitive) interface. This process non-destructively mimics a manual sculpting process, enabling optimal preservation of fragile or damaged bone by building up the soft tissues of the face in virtual clay. Rendering the various layers transparent to view the underlying skeletal structure at any time during the process enables continual evaluation.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=594&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304426/original/file-20191129-95207-ta9e52.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=746&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A reconstruction of a woman called Saartje in the Sutherland Reburials Project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Face Lab LJMU/UCT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304427/original/file-20191129-95215-1uzzgng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A reconstruction of the face of Cornelius Abraham in the Sutherland Reburials Project.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Face Lab LJMU/UCT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Extensive visual research guided our final presentation choices for the Sutherland faces. This was supported by information from within the team, including ancient DNA which confirmed biological sex in some cases, as well as kinship and geographical origins. </p>
<p>We chose to present these people as they most likely would have appeared at their approximate age at death. The environment in which they lived and their likely lifestyle – harsh weather, basic diet and physical labour – would have affected their appearance. Older adults would have likely had more heavily wrinkled skin than contemporary people of the same chronological age.</p>
<p>Clothing was suggested based on contemporaneous archival photographs taken in the same broad geographical area. Adding a sepia tint introduced an element of colour in keeping with 19th century photographic techniques and visually situates them in the period in which the majority lived. </p>
<p>They are historical interpretations produced with forensic fealty.</p>
<h2>Unnerving reality</h2>
<p>Presenting the images to the families evoked complex emotions, from intense curiosity to guarded apprehension. The level of realism was clearly unnerving, but ultimately compelling. </p>
<p>The faces were ciphers for a process of recognition that was about being seen and heard. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/304423/original/file-20191129-95242-1p4tptq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Showing the families the facial reconstructions of their ancestors previously buried on Kruisrivier farm in Sutherland.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Je'nine May/UCT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a place where indigenous histories are conspicuously absent, the Sutherland families believe that having these stories brought to life in a tangible and dignified way fosters meaningful connections between the past and present, and for future generations.</p>
<p>Local heritage practices in South Africa have not taken advantage of what these techniques can deliver. The Sutherland Project is one model of what opening up institutional processes and analyses to those affected by historical crimes might look like. </p>
<p>Informed by how humanitarian values might contribute to historical redress initiatives, the Sutherland project poses ethical questions that have specific local expression but are globally relevant. </p>
<p>The biographies this process was able to reconstruct, embodied in these eight faces, are highly specific. But they stand for the experiences of many others over many decades, who have been lost to history, but from whom we have a great deal left to learn.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathryn Smith receives support for her doctoral research from the National Research Foundation. The Sutherland Reburial project was supported by the National Geographic Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Caroline Wilkinson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Through science, art and technology, we are able to reconstruct the faces of the dead based on their remains. The researcher who did this work for descendants in Sutherland explains the process.Kathryn Smith, Visual/forensic artist, PhD researcher, Liverpool John Moores UniversityCaroline Wilkinson, Professor at School of Art and Design, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1061912018-11-06T17:19:01Z2018-11-06T17:19:01ZWorld War I: the birth of plastic surgery and modern anaesthesia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244092/original/file-20181106-74763-t94fws.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reconstructive surgery carried out between 1916 and 1918.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wellcome Images</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The metrics from World War I are horrific. In all, there were <a href="https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/wwi%20lesson.pdf">37m military and civilian casualties</a> – 16m dead and 21m wounded. Never before had a conflict brought such devastation in terms of death and injury. In response, during the four years of the war, military surgeons developed new techniques on the battlefield and in supporting hospitals which, in the war’s final two years, resulted in more survivors of injuries that would have proved mortal in the first two.</p>
<p>On the Western Front, 1.6m British soldiers were successfully treated and returned to the trenches. By the end of the war, 735,487 British troops <a href="http://www.greatwar.co.uk/research/books/british-official-history-volumes.htm">had been discharged</a> following major injuries. The majority of the injuries were caused by <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-shock-of-war-55376701/">shell blasts and shrapnel</a>. </p>
<p>Many of the injured (16%) had injuries affecting the face, over a third of which were categorised as “severe”. Historically, this was an area where very little had been attempted, and survivors with major facial injuries were left with major deformities that made it difficult to see, breathe easily, or eat and drink – as well as looking horrific. </p>
<p>A young ENT (ear, nose and throat) surgeon from New Zealand, <a href="http://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/haroldgillies">Harold Gillies</a>, working on the Western Front saw attempts to repair the ravages of facial injuries and realised that there was a need for specialised work. The timing was right, because the military medical leadership was recognising the benefit of establishing specialist centres for dealing with specific injuries and wounds, such as neurosurgical and orthopaedic injuries or victims of gassing. </p>
<p>Gillies was given the go ahead, and by January 1916 was setting up Britain’s first plastic surgery unit at the <a href="https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/units/3680/cambridge-military-hospital">Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot</a>.
Gillies toured base hospitals in France to seek suitable patients to be sent to his unit. He returned expecting about 200 patients – but the opening of the unit coincided with the opening of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-battle-of-the-somme-marks-a-turning-point-of-world-war-i-60741">Somme offensive</a> in 1916, and more than 2,000 patients with facial injuries were sent to Aldershot. Treatment was also needed for sailors and airmen suffering from facial burns.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-battle-of-the-somme-marks-a-turning-point-of-world-war-i-60741">Why the Battle of the Somme marks a turning point of World War I</a>
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<h2>A strange new art</h2>
<p>Gillies described the development of plastic surgery as a “<a href="https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exposing-the-face-of-war/">strange new art</a>”. Many techniques were developed by trial and error, although some mirrored <a href="https://tzmvirginia.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/zizsser-rats-lice-and-history.pdf">work</a> that had been done <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18286429">centuries previously in India</a>. One of the main techniques Gillies developed was <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/magazine_faces_of_battle/html/6.stm">tube pedicle skin-grafting</a>. </p>
<p>A flap of skin was separated but not detached from a healthy part of the soldier’s body, stitched into a tube, and then sutured to the injured area. A period of time was needed to allow a new blood supply to form at the site of implantation. It was then detached, the tube opened and the flat skin stitched over the area that needed cover.</p>
<p>One of the first patients to be treated was Walter Yeo, gunnery warrant officer on HMS Warspite. Yeo sustained facial injuries during the Battle of Jutland in 1916, including the loss of his upper and lower eyelids. The tube pedicle produced a “mask” of skin grafted across his face and eyes, producing new eyelids. The results, although far from perfect, meant that he had a face once again. Gillies went on to repeat the same sort of procedure on thousands of others.</p>
<p>There was need for larger facilities for surgical and postoperative treatment and also rehabilitation of the patients, together with the different specialities involved in their care. Gillies played a large part in the design of a specialist unit at <a href="http://qmh.oxleas.nhs.uk/news/pioneer-gillies-and-queen-marys-featured-britains-/">Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup</a>, southeast London. It opened with 320 beds – and by the end of the war, there were more 600 beds and 11,752 operations had been carried out. But reconstructive surgery continued long after hostilities ceased and, by the time the unit finally closed in 1929, some 8,000 military personnel had been treated between 1920 and 1925.</p>
<p>The details of the injuries, the operations to correct them and the final outcome were all recorded in detail, both by early clinical photography and also by detailed drawings and paintings created by Henry Tonks, who although trained as a doctor, had given up medicine for painting. Tonks became a war artist on the Western Front but then joined Gillies to help not only in the recording of the new plastic procedures, but also with their planning.</p>
<h2>The only real advances</h2>
<p>The complex facial and head surgery necessitated new ways of delivering anaesthetics. Anaesthesia generally had advanced as a speciality during the war years – both in the way it was administered, and also how doctors were trained (previously, anaesthetics had often been given by a junior member of the surgical team).</p>
<p>The survival from operations requiring anaesthesia was improving, although techniques were still based on chloroform and ether. The Queen Mary’s anaesthetic team developed a method of passing a rubber tube from the nose to the trachea (windpipe), as well as working on the endotracheal tube (mouth to trachea) whch was made from commercial rubber tubing. Many of their techniques remain in use today. As an <a href="http://homepage.eircom.net/%7Eodyssey/Quotes/History/Keegan_Soldiers.html">Austrian doctor wrote in 1935</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nobody won the last war but the medical services. The increase in knowledge was the sole determinable gain for mankind in a devastating catastrophe.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge the assistance of Norman G Kirby, Major General (Retired), Director of Army Surgery 1978-82.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106191/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Kirby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Medical advances were the only positive things to come out of the Great War.Robert Kirby, Professor of Clinical Education and Surgery, Keele UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/906932018-02-23T04:58:01Z2018-02-23T04:58:01ZChildren with facial difference have a lot to teach us about body image<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207203/original/file-20180221-161923-1axu1ki.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The film Wonder tells the story of a boy with severe facial defects.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543472/mediaviewer/rm178017792">IMDb/Lionsgate, Mandeville Films, Participant Media, Walden Media</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The recently released film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543472/"><em>Wonder</em></a> is based on the true story of Auggie, a boy born with a severe facial deformity. The film picks up at the point where Auggie, having been home-schooled by his mother, attends a regular school for the first time and must negotiate the varied reactions – not just of his new peers, but of their parents and the other adults.</p>
<p>Auggie was born with <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/treacher-collins-syndrome">Treacher Collins syndrome</a>, a genetic disorder that affects the development of the skull, jaw and cheekbones and causes facial defects and hearing loss. People can be born with facial differences, or they can be acquired through trauma, burns or treatment of facial tumours.</p>
<p>Either way, these differences can have as big an impact on life as loss of a limb or a chronic illness. People often associate plastic surgery with enhancement of beauty, but a more common aim, especially for surgeons who work with children, is to restore facial appearance to the point where a normal life becomes possible.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ngiK1gQKgK8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Auggie has had 27 surgeries to help him see and breathe.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Much more than just a loss of attractiveness, a facial defect affects every aspect of daily life, because faces are so important to us as social beings. And yet, despite significant challenges, children with facial difference tend to score better on perceptions of body image than their “normal” counterparts. </p>
<p>By studying how people with facial difference overcome their challenges, we may not only find ways to help other such children, but also learn how to help all young people be comfortable with how they look and who they are. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-dont-know-what-causes-most-birth-defects-78592">Why we don't know what causes most birth defects</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>The wonder of faces</h2>
<p>Try to draw someone’s face. Unless you’re a skilled artist, it’ll be difficult to produce an image that actually looks like that person.</p>
<p>This is because within the very narrow parameters of facial features (eyes, a nose, a mouth) faces are so different we expect to be able to recognise a particular face in a crowd, possibly having seen it only once and from a different angle. With more than 7 billion people in this world, it’s truly extraordinary that everyone’s face is unique.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=924&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207207/original/file-20180221-161935-11c0act.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1161&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It’s very difficult to capture another person’s face in a drawing, because of the nuances of human perception.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course it’s not the face itself that’s extraordinary, but our ability to perceive it. We are programmed to effortlessly identify the most subtle differences between faces in a way we are not for other shapes or body parts. </p>
<p>This is one reason why, despite all the advances in plastic surgery in the last century, from microsurgery to face transplantation, our surgical efforts to reconstruct faces still sometimes appear inadequate.</p>
<p>Our sensitivity to subtle differences in facial appearance contributes to the challenges people like Auggie face each day. Faces are the primary means through which we navigate the many minor social exchanges of daily life. </p>
<p>Studies show that, in casual interactions, people <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1982.tb00855.x/full">tend to have certain responses</a> to those with a facial difference, such as standing further away, or to the side. These changes are subtle, but full of social meaning.</p>
<p>A more pervasive problem is unwanted attention in public spaces, from rude and intrusive comments to invasive curiosity. In <em>Wonder</em>, when Auggie first walks across a busy schoolyard, conversation stops as faces turn to him. Psychologist <a href="https://slideheaven.com/facial-disfigurement-problems-and-management-of-social-interaction-and-implicati.html">Frances MacGregor</a> has elegantly described this unique problem faced by people with a visible difference: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The ‘civil inattention’ that is normally conferred by strangers on one another and that makes it possible to move anonymously and unhindered in public spaces is a right and a privilege most longed for by facially disfigured people who […] are victims of intrusions and invasions of privacy, against which they have little or no protection.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Facial difference and body image</h2>
<p>Given the challenges of looking different, and the important role of the face in identity, it might be expected adolescents with facial difference would score poorly on measures of body image and well-being.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1597/15-167">research done in the UK</a> has shown when a standard body image questionnaire was administered to adolescents with cleft lip and palate or a craniofacial condition like Auggie, those with facial difference actually scored, on average, better on some measures of body image than their “normal” counterparts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207202/original/file-20180221-161932-1wfcx5b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children with a cleft palate generally score higher on body image tests than those who have ‘normal’ faces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There may be several reasons for this. Studies <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144503000056">consistently find</a> that the severity of a visible difference is a poor predictor of its psychological impact. Much more important is the quality of a person’s social skills. People with facial difference often develop strategies for smoothing over social awkwardness, such as ways of introducing the issue into conversation early and quickly moving on, or using humour to deflect attention. </p>
<p>Better body image scores may reflect greater social maturity and a comfort in their own skin, which adolescents who have not had to face such problems have not yet achieved.</p>
<p>On the flip side, children without a visible difference don’t score as well on body image measures as children who actually do. This and a wealth of other research indicates that, in the age of social media, selfies and consumer culture, we’re facing <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41972951">a rise in body image dissatisfaction</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/social-media-can-damage-body-image-heres-how-to-counteract-it-65717">Social media can damage body image – here's how to counteract it</a>
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<p>Australian teenagers <a href="https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/what-we-do/research-evaluation/youth-survey">consistently rate</a> body image as one of their greatest concerns in life – above bullying, drugs and a range of problems that might be thought more important. </p>
<p>Body dissatisfaction is a key risk factor for eating disorders, and a key symptom of a condition known as <a href="https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/body-dysmorphic-disorder-bdd">body dysmorphic disorder</a> (BDD). People with BDD develop obsessive concerns with particular aspects of their appearance, including features others perceive as normal.</p>
<p>They <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00266-017-0869-0">often seek surgery</a> to correct their perceived problems and, not surprisingly, are rarely satisfied with the outcome. They can undergo multiple cosmetic operations, often from a series of different surgeons, before their condition is recognised. Plastic surgeons have anecdotally reported seeing increasing numbers of <a href="https://www.surgery.org/media/statistics">young people seeking cosmetic procedures</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/body-dysmorphic-disorder-and-cosmetic-surgery-are-surgeons-too-quick-to-nip-and-tuck-74234">Body dysmorphic disorder and cosmetic surgery: are surgeons too quick to nip and tuck?</a>
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<p>An important and unanswered question concerning BDD is whether it’s an isolated condition or one extreme of a <a href="https://journals.lww.com/psnjournalonline/Abstract/2010/07000/Psychosocial_Predictors_of_an_Interest_in_Cosmetic.11.aspx">spectrum of behaviour</a>. Body dissatisfaction in young people could have serious consequences for their mental and physical health.</p>
<p>Researchers will now focus on how children and adolescents <a href="http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/hls/research/appearanceresearch.aspx">cope with facial and other differences</a>, and how the knowledge gained can be applied to help others with a facial difference. This will inform ways to better <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxNhE0iGkzo">educate young people</a> to feel better about how they look.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90693/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Penington receives funding from the Jigsaw Foundation. He is chair of the scientific committee of the Australasian Foundation for Plastic Surgery.</span></em></p>People with facial difference often develop strategies for smoothing over social awkwardness, such as ways of introducing the issue into conversation early or using humour to deflect attention.Anthony Penington, Professor of Paediatric Plastic and Maxillofacial Surgery, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/453822015-09-08T03:42:21Z2015-09-08T03:42:21ZGiving faces to South Africa’s missing children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93883/original/image-20150904-14653-1vm9xw0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For many children who are victims of crime, their remains are only discovered some time later as a result of perpetrators concealing the crime.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Five years ago, when an unidentified skull needed a face, a forensic artist would use general UK and North American population data and put pencil to pad or mould a 3D facial reconstruction using clay. </p>
<p>These days, the latest developments in 3D technology and computer graphics mean that the <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073899000262">facial reconstruction</a> no longer has to be performed manually. Forensic artists at the South African Police can now use South Africa specific data for their cases rather than North America or British data.</p>
<p>Although forensic sketches are still used, computer software that generates 3D images of a reconstructed face have become the preferred method. The use of computer technology also means more precise and objective <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073814005106">age progression techniques</a> are used to predict a missing person’s appearance, based on their age. </p>
<p>Recently, our <a href="http://www.fsijournal.org/article/S0379-07381500161-9/pdf">research</a> has provided data on the craniofacial proportions, facial growth and tissue thickness of all South African children between the ages of six and 13. These tissue thickness values are important as they provide a more realistic representation when a facial reconstruction is done to aid in determining the identity of the victim. </p>
<h2>The challenge in solving a cold case</h2>
<p>A significant number of child homicides are <a href="http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/91/8/12-117036.pdf">underreported</a> because the perpetrators conceal the crime. As a result, the remains of many children are only discovered some time later.</p>
<p>When skeletal remains of a child are found, the police’s forensic artists can use facial reconstruction to help identify the remains. This reconstruction can also be placed in the media to make the public aware of the case. </p>
<p>Facial reconstruction uses the relationships between the facial features, subcutaneous soft tissues and underlying bony structure of the skull to recreate the face. It fuses artistry with forensic science, anthropology, osteology and anatomy. </p>
<p>For children of European ancestry, facial reconstruction was based on European standards. A study on white British and North American children suggested similarities across some regions of the world for children of European ancestry. </p>
<p>In South Africa, facial reconstructions for black children were problematic because until recently forensic artists only had the facial soft tissue thickness data for children of European and American descent. Previous research has shown that tissue thickness data from other regions of the world cannot be used to adequately reconstruct faces of Black South Africans. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/12chapter7.shtml">Coloured</a> children also pose a problem – there are significant differences between the tissue thickness of adult black South Africans to a coloured sample. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93497/original/image-20150901-25717-eueq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93497/original/image-20150901-25717-eueq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93497/original/image-20150901-25717-eueq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93497/original/image-20150901-25717-eueq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=258&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93497/original/image-20150901-25717-eueq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93497/original/image-20150901-25717-eueq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/93497/original/image-20150901-25717-eueq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=325&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Age progression by a forensic artist of a cold case involving a missing South African child from age three to six.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Supplied</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The dilemma with missing children</h2>
<p>In cases where the remains of the missing child have not been found, forensic artists use ageing techniques to project how the child’s face would have aged during the time they have been missing. Many of these cases rely only on old photographs of the missing child. </p>
<p>The challenge in such cases is that changes in the face and head of the child as a result of facial growth in their prepubescent and pubescent years complicate the age progression. This impacts on the prediction of the child’s facial features. Previously, forensic artists used photographs of the parents of the missing child to project how the missing child might have aged but this was criticised as being too subjective. </p>
<p>Although excellent studies around general growth were conducted in South Africa, facial growth and facial changes during growth were not specifically addressed. As a result, no data on the craniofacial dimensions and facial growth changes in South African children were available until this year. </p>
<p>Our research describes patterns of facial growth in primary school children using craniofacial indices and face shape changes at various ages by means of geometric morphometric analyses. </p>
<p>This means that more precise and objective <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073814005106">age progressions techniques</a> can now be used performed to predict a missing child’s current appearance. These methods provide growth patterns which can be used by the police to predict, using an earlier photograph, what a missing child might look like years later. </p>
<h2>Not one size fits all</h2>
<p>Although the data set will primarily be used to tackle crimes against children, it can also have wider application. </p>
<p>It could be used in reconstructive maxillofacial surgery and orthodontic treatment and diagnosing syndromes based on facial dysmorphology such as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This is because it is specific to South African children and documents the changes in their face shapes at various ages.</p>
<p>Most importantly, however, providing data on craniofacial proportions, facial growth and facial soft tissue thickness of South African children between the age of six and 13, reflects progress in this field. It will greatly improve the reliability and validity of craniofacial reconstructions and age progression of missing children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/45382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nanette Briers received funding from the National Research Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and therefore the NRF does not accept any liability in regard thereto.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maryna Steyn receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.</span></em></p>New data which details how South African children age and their faces grow will prove invaluable in finding missing children.Nanette Briers, Senior Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, University of PretoriaMaryna Steyn, Professor; Head of the School of Anatomical Sciences, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.