tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/video-818/articles
Video – The Conversation
2023-06-02T13:34:11Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/206886
2023-06-02T13:34:11Z
2023-06-02T13:34:11Z
The Wes Anderson recipe – a detailed guide on how to recreate the director’s aesthetic
<p>Wes Anderson’s films can often be boiled down to a single striking image. This approach began for Anderson the moment he had Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3X5tBagGP0">step off the Green Line bus</a> in his third film The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).</p>
<p>This visual-led approach to cinema has spawned many fans who seek out the Anderson look everywhere in life. </p>
<p>The Instagram page <a href="https://www.instagram.com/accidentallywesanderson/">Accidentally Wes Anderson</a>, which was founded in 2017, became incredibly popular for its photographs of real-life places that coincidentally fit the aesthetics of a Wes Anderson film. For instance, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpvMRj9uyn5/">a Milanese metro train</a> is Andersonian in its symmetrical design, pastel blue walls and bright yellow handrails. </p>
<p>In recent months, a new trend has sprung up on social media where people are romanticising the everyday in the style of Anderson’s films. This was started by Ava Williams, who posted a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@avawillyums/video/7219665093867474218">video of a train journey</a> on TikTok with the line “You better not be acting like you’re in a Wes Anderson film when I get there”. </p>
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<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/tiktoks-wes-anderson-trend-why-the-quirky-directors-style-is-ripe-for-social-media-parody-205314?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">TikTok’s Wes Anderson trend: why the quirky director’s style is ripe for social media parody</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/swarm-donald-glovers-new-show-is-a-dark-meditation-on-fan-culture-from-a-decidedly-black-female-perspective-202389?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Swarm: Donald Glover’s new show is a dark meditation on fan culture from a decidedly Black female perspective</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/lord-of-the-rings-rings-of-power-a-cheats-guide-to-middle-earth-before-you-watch-the-new-show-189644?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power – a cheat’s guide to Middle-earth before you watch the new show</a></em></p>
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<p>With a new film on the way, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FXCSXuGTF4&ab_channel=FocusFeatures">Asteroid City</a>, social media is now sure to be flooded with more attempts at Anderson mimicry. But what we see with the current slew of pastiches is that they aren’t all successful. </p>
<p>The Wes Anderson style these media-savvy users are attempting to recreate is an elusive aesthetic that only emerges from a specific combination of features.</p>
<h2>The ingredients of a Wes Anderson Film</h2>
<p>Thinking of Anderson’s aesthetic in terms of a combination of features makes his style analogous to a recipe. </p>
<p>When baking a cake, simply listing a few ingredients isn’t enough, the correct quantity of each is needed. Numerous <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17400309.2016.1172858">film scholars</a> have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17400309.2012.628227?journalCode=rfts20">identified the major features</a> (ingredients) of Anderson’s style. These include:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>head-on camera angle<br></li>
<li> tableau shot<br></li>
<li> symmetrical framing (including centred framing)<br></li>
<li> top (birds-eye) view<br></li>
<li> still camera or foregrounded camera movement<br></li>
<li> slow motion<br></li>
<li> montage sequence with a soundtrack (especially rock or quirky instrumental music)<br></li>
<li> harmonious colour palettes. </li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>But to imitate Wes Anderson, you need to combine these ingredients in the right quantities. His typical combination of stylistic traits first emerged in his third feature film, The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).</p>
<p>This film is notable for its consistent use of tableau shots, where characters are formally arranged in the same plane facing the viewer. Such images are immediately recognisable because they create a striking composition and a dramatic effect.</p>
<p>Take the sequence where Anderson introduces us to his “cast of characters (22 years later)” (as the title card reads). The characters are all introduced while looking into mirrors. Here the camera takes the place of the mirror, which means that these characters look directly into the camera.</p>
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<p>These tableau images are further strengthened by a static camera and by centred framing (the characters are positioned in the middle of the frame), which add symmetry and stillness to these shots.</p>
<p>Anderson creates different combinations of these tableaus. </p>
<p>The film opens with a static symmetrical tableau shot of a library book (called The Royal Tenenbaums) which is filmed from overhead (a birds-eye view), with the camera pointing directly down on the library counter. The opening shot, therefore, combines no less than five features: a head-on camera angle, tableau shot, symmetrical (centred) framing, a top (birds-eye) view and a still camera. </p>
<p>The uniqueness of Anderson’s style is not present in these features in isolation and only emerges when they are combined in a specific configuration.</p>
<h2>Margot stepping off the Green Line bus</h2>
<p>Another notable combination occurs when Margot meets Richie (Luke Wilson) as he disembarks from his sea voyage. </p>
<p>Margot exits the Green Line bus and walks towards the camera, which means walking towards Richie (who is located behind the camera). This shot again comprises a head-on camera angle, tableau shot and symmetrical (centred) framing. But this time it is combined with a moving camera (the camera tracks back to keep Margot in frame) and she is filmed in slow motion, complete with Nico on the soundtrack singing These Days.</p>
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<p>Anderson’s consistent use of tableau shots throughout The Royal Tenenbaums (and subsequent films), in combination with several other stylistic features, add up to create a unified style. </p>
<p>The specific traits that he combines in his films are not arbitrary. Instead, they all serve similar functions: they draw attention to themselves and they distance the spectator from the characters. </p>
<p>Anderson rejects classical (invisible) storytelling techniques and instead adopts a reflexive type of filmmaking where the audience’s act of seeing is limited to a form of distanced, clinical observation of oddball characters inhabiting quirky story worlds.</p>
<p>So, if you want to present a snippet of your day online in the Anderson way, you should think about the story you’re telling and how to carefully and thoughtfully combine the eight ingredients that make a true Wes Anderson shot.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206886/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Warren Buckland 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>
To imitate Wes Anderson, you need to combine all his ‘ingredients’ in the right amount.
Warren Buckland, Reader in Film Studies, Oxford Brookes University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/187630
2022-07-27T11:45:15Z
2022-07-27T11:45:15Z
Four ways your TV subscriptions could change because of the cost of living crisis
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476120/original/file-20220726-17-yg44de.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=324%2C534%2C4317%2C4002&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Streaming platforms are facing a tougher economic outlook</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkok-thailand-february-07-2019-women-1306307449">sitthiphong / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>UK households are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62057950">cancelling</a> streaming service subscriptions, citing the need to cut comforts to afford increasingly expensive necessities such as <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-61814996">food</a> and <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/why-petrol-diesel-prices-rising-cost-reduce-fuel-b1005059.html">fuel</a>.</p>
<p>Netflix, which has spent the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jan/26/netflix-uk-launch#:%7E:text=The%20chief%20executive%2C%20Reed%20Hastings,the%20broadly%20comparable%20Canadian%20market.">last decade</a> cementing itself as one the the UK’s top streaming services, is often seen as a <a href="https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/movies/netflix-q2-results-covid-19-210426380.html?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAN5pnHeDp-bB-9idafWYVT12WDrVkpFUOG6Vgy0tGOwUzvvwshZgxR7KEvx4W_d_BRECzwIVZSN3MJdBniuFZb9x3ikzn0PAS9PLxNwArwHEx_pZjVRahtEIQFZnIfXlJDtkqOATegq204DgueShkHKefCadg4m9_2vcFOqNkLNi">bellwether</a> for the entertainment industry. And so its forecast for falling subscriptions numbers earlier this year already had <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2022/04/18/netflix-stock-to-fall-due-to-disappointing-subscriber-growth/?sh=6b55e1013306">the market spooked</a>. Netflix went on to announce a second-quarter loss of nearly <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/07/19/1112335543/netflix-second-quarter?t=1658741369930">1 million subscribers</a> worldwide in July, beating predictions of a 2 million subscriber decline but still the biggest fall in the company’s history. </p>
<p>It’s important to put such figures into context, however. The conditions created by COVID were quite exceptional and worked very much in streaming platforms’ favour – many of us were locked in our houses with not much else to do in our spare time but watch movies.</p>
<p>But the end of the COVID lockdown period has been closely followed by a rapid rise in the cost of living, creating a double whammy that streaming platforms fear could bring <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/23/britons-cut-spending-on-streaming-services-amid-cost-of-living-squeeze">further falls</a> in subscribers as users try to cut costs. Platforms are scrambling to limit the damage, with Amazon Prime the latest to announce a <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62297014">price hike</a> to combat inflation. Aside from raising fees, other strategies will be used to address the current economic environment. Here are four ways your streaming subscription service could change as a result:</p>
<h2>1. It will be cheaper, but less private</h2>
<p>Netflix has announced it will launch a cheaper, ad-supported subscription tier in early 2023, similar to that offered by music streaming service Spotify. These kinds of models <a href="https://variety.com/2017/voices/columns/spotify-streaming-fees-1202506347/">are not necessarily profitable</a>, but can be used as a marketing tool to get users hooked on the service with the aim of converting them into paying customers in the future. In creating a cheaper (but not free) tier, providers can use commercials to subsidise part of their income and hopefully retain some customers that might have otherwise stopped their subscription.</p>
<p>This kind of model could have a few privacy implications, however. Providers like Netflix currently mostly use our <a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/100624">personal consumption data</a> to work out what to commission and create, as well as to suggest new content to us once it’s made. However, the use of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/02/24/the-truth-in-user-privacy-and-targeted-ads/?sh=2ecec945355e">targeted advertising</a> – showing ads based on usage – may entail sharing our data with third parties.</p>
<h2>2. It will be smarter, but stricter</h2>
<p>Similarly, we can expect continued use of <a href="https://www.analyticsinsight.net/top-10-ways-netflix-is-using-artificial-intelligence-in-2022/#:%7E:text=Netflix%20uses%20artificial%20intelligence%20and,Artificial%20Intelligence%20effectively%20in%202022.">artificial intelligence</a> and <a href="https://research.netflix.com/research-area/machine-learning">machine learning</a> by providers as they refine their understanding of our preferences for their own purposes. This information may also be used to help services fight account sharing. Providers can use <a href="https://help.netflix.com/en/node/100624#:%7E:text=IP%20address%20information%20%2D%20information%20associated,device%20streaming%20activity%20under%20Settings">IP addresses</a> – the unique code that identifies a device – to track when individual users connect from different locations outside the same household. </p>
<p>Misuse of streaming services is estimated to be in the <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2017/04/20/almost-five-million-britons-use-illegal-tv-streami">millions of users</a> in Britain, while a Citi analyst has estimated that US streaming services lose around <a href="https://www.nexttv.com/news/netflix-losing-dollar6-billion-a-year-on-password-sharing-analyst-says">US$25 billion</a> (£21 billion) in revenue annually to password sharing.</p>
<p>Netflix, which accounts for about a quarter of that figure, has recently started <a href="https://about.netflix.com/en/news/paying-to-share-netflix-outside-your-household">trialling an option</a> in certain regions to pay extra for use outside of the main household. Otherwise, providers have generally shied away from acting on such breaches because of the <a href="https://time.com/6159943/netflix-password-sharing/">potential for backlash by subscribers</a>, focusing instead on more significant <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2021/07/08/amazon-netflix-and-major-hollywood-studios-file-massive-suit-against-rogue-copyright-infringer-jason-tusa/?sh=26e17d5d3cf8">pirating activity</a>. Get ready for this attitude <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-04-14/password-sharing-netflix-apple-amazon-piracy">to change</a> in line with the financial outlook, particularly for those that post usernames and passwords on <a href="https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/netflix-pirate-who-thousands-people-22330689">pirating websites</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smartphone with Disney Plus logo, surrounded by popcorn" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476121/original/file-20220726-17-1z0d9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/476121/original/file-20220726-17-1z0d9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476121/original/file-20220726-17-1z0d9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476121/original/file-20220726-17-1z0d9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476121/original/file-20220726-17-1z0d9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476121/original/file-20220726-17-1z0d9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/476121/original/file-20220726-17-1z0d9i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Streaming platforms such as Disney Plus are expanding their offerings to maintain or even boost subscriber numbers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/grand-prairie-txusa-aug-2019-disney-1492752041">AFM Visuals / Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. It will be bigger, but bundled</h2>
<p>With <a href="https://www.indiewire.com/2022/03/how-many-subscribers-netflix-disney-plus-peacock-amazon-prime-video-1234705515/">more than 200 million subscribers in 2021</a>, Amazon Prime is one of the most successful on-demand streaming services at the moment. But it’s <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/02/amazon-prime-one-bizarre-good-business-ideas-ever/">the other services</a> bundled with the streaming subscription, such as free Amazon package delivery, that often attract users first. </p>
<p>This kind of strategy is based on the idea of an <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630118305107?casa_token=A6cJcEC8M5kAAAAA:6WzJ5lSqsf9GwnBmf0SK7xEO2-r2UjiAi89HpjDQzQe3ZWX4ODum8zIqkutt3Dr37_5BIEU+?casa_token=A6cJcEC8M5kAAAAA:6WzJ5lSqsf9GwnBmf0SK7xEO2-r2UjiAi89HpjDQzQe3ZWX4ODum8zIqkutt3Dr37_5BIEU">integrated business model</a> where you can’t necessarily cancel an individual service – the on-demand streaming service can’t be unbundled from the shipping service, for example. And as we reach a <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/technology/digital-media-trends-consumption-habits-survey/video-streaming-wars-redrawing-battle-lines.html">saturation point</a> of <a href="https://medium.com/streempay/subscription-saturation-time-for-a-new-tool-to-monetize-content-ea3c6644b6ad">multiple subscriptions</a>, users <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/18/streaming-subscriptions-in-decline-as-uk-households-cut-budgets">are making cuts</a> due to the rising cost of living.</p>
<p><a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/fr/Documents/consumer-business/Publications/deloitte-subscription-report-2022.pdf">Research</a> shows that more people want one-stop shop subscriptions – for example, one payment that covers movies, sports and perhaps other items such as cloud storage. And for companies, having subscribers use more than one service provides <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630118305107?casa_token=A6cJcEC8M5kAAAAA:6WzJ5lSqsf9GwnBmf0SK7xEO2-r2UjiAi89HpjDQzQe3ZWX4ODum8zIqkutt3Dr37_5BIEU+?casa_token=A6cJcEC8M5kAAAAA:6WzJ5lSqsf9GwnBmf0SK7xEO2-r2UjiAi89HpjDQzQe3ZWX4ODum8zIqkutt3Dr37_5BIEU">more detailed insights</a> into their preferences.</p>
<p>Spotify <a href="https://theconversation.com/netflix-is-losing-shows-to-rivals-will-the-music-streaming-market-also-splinter-123828">is a good example</a> of a specialist provider that has been able to find success without this strategy because it offers access to pretty much all music available in digital form. But in the video streaming market, where there is no single platform with all shows and movies, companies may need to acquire more services to create an incentive for users to subscribe. Disney Plus has already launched this kind of strategy in the US by bundling some of its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/tech/disney-plus-bundle?r=US&IR=T">other content</a> into one subscription. We should expect other streaming services to start following suit. </p>
<h2>4. It’ll be better quality, but more focused on its own content</h2>
<p>When video-on-demand platforms first started, providers focused on gathering the broadest content catalogue. Now platforms are investing more in creating content. They want a few iconic series – think Stranger Things, The Crown or Game of Thrones. We saw this strategy come into play this year when the latest season of <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/20/stranger-things-saves-netflix-losing-more-subscribers-after-1000000-loss-17034439/">Stranger Things spared Netflix</a> from a more severe drop in subscribers. </p>
<p>Lower quality, easy-consumption content will still be available, but can be bought from outside companies. Platforms will instead be able to use our data to identify series in which to make significant investments in acting, special effects, writing and costumes. This strategy has already proven successful for <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/the-crown-sets-single-week-record-in-nielsen-streaming-rankings-4106891/">record-setting</a> shows like The Crown, which had a budget of around $13 million per episode. HBO’s budget for House of the Dragon is reportedly <a href="https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/house-of-the-dragon-budget-episode-cost-1235238285/">$20 million per episode</a>, while <a href="https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/the-most-expensive-tv-shows-of-all-time-stranger-things-and-lord-of-the-rings-enter-pantheon-152120290.html">each installment</a> of the fourth season of Stranger Things cost Netflix around $30 million. </p>
<p>Streaming platforms are betting that this increased investment in programming and data analysis will be enough to help them to hang on to subscribers even as household bills continue to rise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187630/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paolo Aversa 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>
The way streaming platforms operate is changing to tackle falling subscriptions due to the rising cost of living
Paolo Aversa, Reader in Strategy, Bayes Business School, City, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/167784
2021-09-13T20:05:56Z
2021-09-13T20:05:56Z
WATCH: Our mobile phones are covered in bacteria and viruses… and we never wash them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/420662/original/file-20210913-27-tdm4lw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C2762%2C1573&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wes Mountain/The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>COVID-19 has seen the world embrace sanitisers and formal hand washing procedures in our private lives like never before. But even as we’ve thought more and more about surfaces and the hands that touch them as vectors for disease, mobile phones have largely escaped scrutiny.</em></p>
<p><em>We carry them everywhere (including the toilet) but they’re rarely cleaned or sanitised, and we touch them with our hands many, many times per day.</em></p>
<p><em>Lotti Tajouri explains what his research team found when they surveyed hospital staff about their phone use, the bacteria, viruses and parasites they found on swabbed phones, and the very personal reason he began this research.</em></p>
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<p><strong>Transcript:</strong></p>
<p>My name is Dr Lotti Tajouri, associate professor in molecular biology and genomics in health science medicine at Bond University. I’m also a member of the Dubai Future Council for Community Security and the Dubai Police Scientist Research Committee. </p>
<p>The first time I actually got an interest in mobile phones as contaminated platforms was associated with my wife’s pregnancy. We came up to a situation where there was an emergency: my little girl was in breech while my wife was pregnant. </p>
<p>And we had to go very quickly to the theatre. </p>
<p>And what happened is when there was this preparation for the caesarean, I actually saw that there were some health care workers walking around with their mobile phones. </p>
<p>And really with the stress of the situation and knowing that I’m actually understanding clearly what is microbiology. I was really saying, “oh, there is a red flag here with some individuals, right there in the theatre, where there was my little girl about to be born”. Something was kind of wrong. </p>
<p>And of course, it’s nothing to blame the health care workers for, or how they do their job. The issue was that they don’t really know that mobile phones are actually contaminated with microbes. </p>
<p>So that was the very first time where I said to myself, “oh, I think I really need to do something about it”. </p>
<p>We did <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-92360-3">a survey within the hospital</a> and we actually surveyed 165 health care workers, including doctors and nurses. </p>
<p>And we found something very interesting. </p>
<p>First of all, 98% of all those health care workers admitted that probably, indeed, their mobile phones are contaminated. </p>
<p>They are aware of that. </p>
<p>The other thing which was very interesting is their behaviour around mobile phones. </p>
<p>52% of them, out of 165 individuals used mobile phones in the bathroom and they used that for different reasons for media, social media, etc. </p>
<p>And the other very interesting statistic is that 57% of them never, ever washed their mobile phones. </p>
<p>We have also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477893921001368">undertaken a massive amount of swabs of mobile phones</a>. </p>
<p>And then what we wanted to do is, first of all, demonstrate that the microbes that are on the surface of mobile phones coming from health care workers, and if those microbes were viable or not. </p>
<p>After swabbing the mobile phones, we took around 30 mobile phones and we cultured them in different types of petri dishes. </p>
<p>It was very impressive. </p>
<p>If you look at the pictures that come up from those particular petri dishes, you see a huge amount of colonies coming out of it. </p>
<p>We found all sorts of types of bacteria: we found e.coli, demonstrating faecal contamination, we found <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7273324/">pseudomonas aeruginosa</a> (which is extremely resistant to different types of antibiotics), we found salmonella. We found listeria. </p>
<p>Even very, very interestingly, we found parasites, protozoa. One of them was, for example, <a href="https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/public-health/infectious-diseases/disease-information-advice/amoebiasis">entamoeba histolytica</a>. </p>
<p>So those mobile phones are platforms that accommodate a huge panel, a huge spectrum of microorganisms that interact with each other and they are viable. </p>
<p>We started the video with me, for example, working in my office and holding the mobile phone and simulating a cough. </p>
<p>And with that cough, obviously, we deposited droplets on the surface of the mobile phone. </p>
<p>And then because we tend to text or touch our mobile phones, what would happen is that I would then obviously touch my keyboard, and do my whereabouts for my work, take a phone call or take a glass of water, etc. </p>
<p>And then after that, I decided, of course, to get out of my office and go, for example, to a kitchen. </p>
<p>And you will understand that because I touched my filthy mobile phone, I had actually the microbes on my hands. </p>
<p>And then when I went to the kitchen, and eat, and use whatever device I wanted to use, for example, the coffee machine. Well, the same again, you could see that spread going on again and again and disseminating itself in different areas. </p>
<p>Now, it will be natural for me once in a while to use the toilet. So then I decided to go to the bathroom. And same thing. </p>
<p>So in the bathroom, you’d touch different surfaces: the doors, the lid of the toilet. </p>
<p>So when you wash your hands, yes, your hands are clean. However, when you touch your filthy mobile phone, what happens is you contaminate yourself all over again. </p>
<p>The mobile phones are our third hand. Those ‘third hands’ needs to be ‘hand-washed or sanitised the same way as we ought to do with our two normal hands. </p>
<p>If we don’t decontaminate our mobile phones, it means that we negate the hand washing. </p>
<p>The solution is very simple. </p>
<p>At least, wipe off your mobile phone with a clean felt cloth, put a little bit of 70% isopropyl alcohol [on it]. But you have to be very careful when you wipe off your mobile phone with this type of material. </p>
<p>If you really want to clean your phone, never clean your phone when it is switched on, switch it off first. And the other advice I would tell you is probably to go back to your phone manufacturer recommendations, on how best you can clean your phone. </p>
<p>Our research, at Bond, is very clear. And this is also backed up by the literature. The best way forward [for public sector and industrial settings is] to sanitise your phone is by Ultraviolet C. </p>
<p>And there are some great technologies out there that do the job within 10 seconds, that will really be the solution for our community, for our health care workers and for any type of professional sector. </p>
<p>And my dream is to get the World Health Organisation, the CDC, etc. to embrace this technology.</p>
<p>To, first of all, understand that those mobile phones are actually probably transmitting diseases because those mobile phones are Trojan horses for the enemies that we carry with us all the time: all those germs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Watch Lotti Tajouri explain how mobile phones are vectors for bacteria and viruses, why this is a problem in our hospitals, and how you can sanitise your phone to help stop the spread of disease.
Wes Mountain, Social Media + Visual Storytelling Editor
Chynthia Wijaya-Kovac, Social Media Producer, The Conversation Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/166198
2021-08-19T15:01:12Z
2021-08-19T15:01:12Z
Censor – a new film remembers a dark episode in Britain’s cinematic past
<p>In early 1982, reports began appearing in the press about the horrific nature of some of the films that were available in newly established video shops in the UK. Dubbed the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LiBhGgdX_ZAC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=kate+egan+trash+or+treasure&ots=LOgN-F9DXY&sig=565bVumrOjh_MBBgMkgH1LRoJOI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=kate%20egan%20trash%20or%20treasure&f=false">“video nasties”</a> by a tabloid journalist, these films were believed to belong to a new wave of extreme horror films arriving in the UK from the US and Europe. </p>
<p>Papers stoked fears about these films, arguing that their graphic depictions of sex and violence would lead to wayward and criminal behaviour. As a result, a moral panic broke out, leading to a whole new classification system for films released on video in the UK.</p>
<p>A new horror film set in the 1980s presents audiences with a darkly romanticised vision of this panic, and a dark period in British history that has achieved almost mythological status. Censor has been <a href="https://fpg.festival.sundance.org/film-info/5fd0a8774ec3e8d9be5ded64">hailed by the Sundance Film Festival</a> as “a faithful, creative ode to 1980s aesthetics and a twisted, bloody love letter to the video nasties era”.</p>
<p>Prano Bailey-Bond’s debut film follows Enid Baines (Niamh Algar), a film censor working for the British Board of Film Censors at the height of the video nasties moral panic. Enid is haunted by the disappearance of her sister and, after prolonged exposure to violent videos, begins to suspect the director of one of those films of her abduction in what becomes a bloody descent into madness.</p>
<p>The idea that film can harm its viewer was one of the central tenets of the campaign against the video nasties, and the film employs this idea to great effect. Though in reality, the moral panic was drawn along lines of social class and those perceived to be vulnerable to the harmful effects of the video nasties were not the censors but working-class children. </p>
<h2>Harmful home video</h2>
<p>Home video was a new medium that Hollywood was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-04-19-tm-1667-story.html">initially suspicious of</a>. This meant that major studios were slow to deliver their films on tape. In their space, independents popped up with cheap, daring new films. </p>
<p>For a time, home video was unregulated, meaning that there were no rules about what could make it into a film or who could rent them. This was because the industry didn’t sit within the legal purview of the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC), and films that had often been refused a theatrical release altogether were made available on video. </p>
<p>Films that the BBFC had deemed too violent, like Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left (1972), went straight to video. Opening the door for a slew of movies with hyperbolic titles and graphic cover art that promised liberal depictions of uncensored sex and violence.</p>
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<p>“Nasties” were everything from violent melodramas, Nazi exploitation films to traditional horror movies. Though the films themselves shared few unifying features, there was a belief, instigated and then perpetuated by the press, that they <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=MQbdCQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=Film+and+Video+Censorship+in+Modern+Britain+Book+by+Julian+Petley&ots=zxdihIJO_7&sig=Pxk4riaPAmtXs37eu106TMDGPoU&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=chippendale&f=false">uniformly revelled</a> in “murder, multiple rape, butchery, sado-masochism, mutilation of women, cannibalism and Nazi atrocities”. </p>
<p>Films like Cannibal Holocaust, The Driller Killer and The Evil Dead became front-page news, presented as a catch-all explanation for social decline. Moral crusaders took up the cause and all kinds of crime were attributed to the video nasties.</p>
<p>The Daily Mail spearheaded a campaign to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA1XDxx4oLA">“ban the sadist videos”</a> in which the idea that children were being exposed to violent videos featured centrally. They spoke of the “rape of our children’s minds” and likened the effect of exposure to violence in these videos to the effect of drugs. All corners of the press espoused the belief that exposure to violent videos would lead to a breakdown in society and that, critically, those most at risk from the threat that video posed were those from working-class families.</p>
<h2>Protect the children</h2>
<p>Watching videos in the UK was a predominantly <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=76MxEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR6&dq=nasty+business+mckenna&ots=zpJu8JGHn7&sig=5emd7VbjfEqgE_0RZOOG_R-d784&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">working-class pass time</a>. The decision to make video recorders available via rental schemes through companies like <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Veni_Vidi_Video/OaEmmEOZ1fwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=FREDERICK+WASSER&printsec=frontcover">Radio Rentals and Domestic Electric Rentals</a> had democratised what might have otherwise been an elitist luxury product.</p>
<p>Such affordability meant that working-class consumers became early adopters of the platform as a cost-effective alternative to the cinema, and distributors began releasing films to appeal directly to this audience. However, an unforeseen side effect of this success was that it allowed the media to spin a narrative of feckless working-class families who were exposing their children to sex and violence. These moral crusaders cast the working classes as immature and unable to <a href="https://youtu.be/bNawGIPLFHo?t=171">comprehend or determine appropriate</a> content for viewing in their own home. </p>
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<p>Responding to the outrage, the Department of Public Prosecutions compiled a list of 72 films deemed prosecutable under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Eliz2/7-8/66/contents">Obscene Publications Act (1959)</a>. Of these, 39 had prosecutions upheld against them in events that led to the introduction of the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/39/contents">Video Recordings Act (1984)</a>. </p>
<p>This act would bring about the end of the unregulated home video market and would see that all releases in the UK carry a classification provided by the British Board of Film Censors. Ironically, in what is perhaps the single greatest period of censorship of film in British history, the board would undergo a <a href="https://archive.org/details/mediaintroductio0000unse/page/480">name change</a> to the British Board of Film Classification to “reflect the fact that classification plays a far larger part in the board’s work than censorship”. With the introduction of the act, the panic vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. </p>
<p>Many of the films that had been the source of panic have since undergone a re-evaluation and are now celebrated as cult classics. Dario Argento, Wes Craven, Abel Ferrara, Lucio Fulci and Tobe Hooper all had their films confiscated under the Obscene Publications Act and are all celebrated directors now. Even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/movies/24mcgr.html">Sam Raimi</a>, a director who perhaps is better known now for his work with Marvel on the early noughties Spider-Man series and now the follow-up to <a href="https://screenrant.com/doctor-strange-2-sam-raimi-horror-influence-scarier/">Dr Strange</a>, began with the celebrated video nasty The Evil Dead.</p>
<p>Censor has certainly benefited from the reappraisal of these films, appreciated rather than denounced for graphic violence that channels a 1980s aesthetic. Had it come out in the 80s, it might have just made it onto the list of 72 video nasties.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166198/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark McKenna 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>
A moral panic fanned by the tabloid press led to crusaders seeking legislation to regulate the home video industry and a slew of low-budget horror films.
Mark McKenna, Associate Professor of Film and Media Industries, Staffordshire University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/159167
2021-04-28T12:14:48Z
2021-04-28T12:14:48Z
How a professor learned to bring compassion to engineering and design
<p><em>Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Tahira Reid <a href="https://engineering.purdue.edu/reidlab/">leads a lab</a> focused on human-centered design. Over her career, she’s gone outside the “traditional engineering box” and integrated compassion for the users of products and services into the design process – what she and colleagues refer to as “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264972194_A_Framework_for_Fostering_Compassionate_Design_Thinking_During_the_Design_Process">compassionate design</a>.” She has also leveraged her insights as a Black woman in mechanical engineering in her work. Together, these considerations led to the development of a compassionate design framework that helps engineers think critically about their design decisions and, in her case, an investigation of how heat from flat-irons can damage curly hair.</em> </p>
<p><em>In this interview, Reid describes how her personal experiences led her to focus on the human aspects of engineering, and why she believes a focus on people’s problems, combined with an engineering mindset, leads to more innovative products and services.</em></p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Engineering professor Tahira Reid discusses how she came to bring the end user’s perspective into design and mechanical engineering.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>How did you come to bring a broader perspective to engineering problems?</h2>
<p>If you take a mechanical engineering brain that has compassion, or just a human-centered way of thinking, I feel like we can make a lot things better because analytical thinking abilities with compassion and moral considerations could have major impacts in society. </p>
<p>I remember as a child watching a show called <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088559/">“MacGyver</a>.” And it was fascinating how he would always find solutions to get out of trouble with the most obscure random items. So I would say that definitely was a spark. </p>
<p>When I was a sophomore at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, I took a class called Introduction to Engineering Design. It was in that class that I remembered an idea I had in third grade to build a Double Dutch jump rope device that can replace people to turn the ropes. And <a href="https://invention.si.edu/game-changers-inventor-spotlight-tahira-reid-smith">the Double Dutch machine</a> was definitely the first time I saw something go from an idea to a working prototype.</p>
<p>After my master’s degree, I started to realize that I wanted to think a little bit more beyond just traditional mechanical engineering. I wanted to be more intentional about the people side of things. </p>
<p>Engineering is usually focused on making a physical product or system of some kind. It includes modeling and analysis and solutions which are usually quantitative. When problems are presented that cannot draw from physics fundamentals or math, then it is often not considered an engineering problem.</p>
<h2>Why was your work on hair considered unusual?</h2>
<p>I like the challenge of stepping into uncomfortable places and asking questions that most people won’t.</p>
<p>One example is hair. How can mechanical engineering impact hair care? When you have a mechanical engineering background and combine that with being a Black woman, questions about hair care become obvious. We have a unique hair texture and there is a lot involved with our hair care, so a mechanical engineering lens provides opportunity to think about it differently. </p>
<p>When I became a professor, I collaborated with another faculty member, and we worked together and did some things that <a href="https://www.wbur.org/npr/428982232/straighten-your-hair-without-frying-it-engineers-are-on-the-case">garnered a lot of media attention</a>, because it was just different. When do you see mechanical engineers working on hair?</p>
<h2>What role did mammograms have in your work?</h2>
<p>At the Ph.D. level, I brought psychology into my work. Because I got outside of the traditional engineering box, I was allowed to tap into human problems, human things that resonated with me and caught my attention. </p>
<p>Like my <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/design-science/article/compassionate-design-considerations-that-impact-the-users-dignity-empowerment-and-sense-of-security/95275A041DDAE8BA31005C98E602857B">compassionate design work</a> – that was inspired by a conversation with a woman who counsels breast cancer survivors. She shared the story of one person who, when <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/design-science/article/compassionate-design-considerations-that-impact-the-users-dignity-empowerment-and-sense-of-security/95275A041DDAE8BA31005C98E602857B">she would go in to get a mammogram</a>, she would say: “It’s me against the machine.” And I just heard those words and I said, “Why are we creating things that people feel like is an enemy to them, and it’s so scary for them?”</p>
<p>The compassionate design framework was created to help engineers know how to think about end users in a certain way. So with a person getting a mammogram or radiation therapy for cancer treatment, one can ask: How do we design so that they have a sense of security, so they’re not feeling fearful?</p>
<p>I’m motivated by some of the literal things engineering can do – yes, products, systems. But also the analytical thinking that we engineers can bring to social problems – those things motivate me. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 100,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tahira Reid 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>
A mechanical engineer brings her personal experiences to address human-centered problems and encourage ‘compassionate design.’
Tahira Reid, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/157867
2021-04-04T20:35:09Z
2021-04-04T20:35:09Z
The great movie scenes: Bernardo Bertolucci broke the rules to skewer fascism in The Conformist
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393350/original/file-20210404-15-2w3z0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C1%2C991%2C598&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Conformist (1970)</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>What makes a film a classic? In this video series, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a classic film and analyses its brilliance.</em></p>
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<p>Great Italian directors of the 1960s and 1970s were skilled visual stylists. Cinematic examples include <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053619/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_7">L’Aventura</a> (1960), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057091/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Leopard</a> (1963) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067445/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Death in Venice</a> (1971). </p>
<p>Bernardo Bertolucci’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065571/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Conformist</a>, released in 1970, came out of this stunning era of Italian filmmaking. </p>
<p>Each frame of this film is a masterclass in cinematography, editing and design. Yet, the director breaks all the rules to challenge our expectations about what cinema can be. </p>
<p>In the opening shots, Marcello visits his mother’s villa. But with his unusual framing and coverage of space, Bertolucci creates a very different opening sequence. </p>
<p><em>See more <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-great-movie-scenes-61548">video analysis of great movie scenes here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Thanks to Shelagh Stanton (Digital Media, University of Sydney) for editing and mixing the audio.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/157867/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Isaacs 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>
In this 1970 Italian classic, director Bernardo Bertolucci uses the camera frame to throw the audience off-kilter again and again.
Bruce Isaacs, Associate Professor, Film Studies, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/150105
2020-11-14T06:33:03Z
2020-11-14T06:33:03Z
Myanmar: weak leadership is prompting grassroots activists to make a difference
<p>Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy secured yet another large majority in the Myanmar parliament in the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54899170">national election</a>. But, despite the Nobel peace laureate’s party being in power since 2015, progress in the war-torn and troubled country remains hampered by both structural restraints and the absence of political will. </p>
<p>When Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD won a landslide election five years ago, the long repressed people of Myanmar had high hopes that she would be able to amend the military’s undemocratic constitution, implement democratic reforms and welfare programs and – last but not least – achieve peace in a country marred by more than 70 years of multiple civil wars.</p>
<p>Since coming to power, the NLD has proved to be disappointingly incapable of bringing substantial reforms. And the already fragile peace process has stagnated in a rigid and inflexible structure. Aung San Suu Kyi’s leadership has also come under intense fire after a lack of action over the treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, which has been referred to as tantamount to “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/nov/15/aung-san-suu-kyi-complicit-in-rohingya-ethnic-cleansing-in-myanmar-mps-told">ethnic cleansing</a>”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aung-san-suu-kyi-wins-big-in-myanmars-elections-but-will-it-bring-peace-or-restore-her-reputation-abroad-149619">Aung San Suu Kyi wins big in Myanmar's elections, but will it bring peace — or restore her reputation abroad?</a>
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<p>The NLD administration has been top-down and unwilling to capitalise on Myanmar’s vast human resources of young and capable people that would have been ready to serve the country’s first legitimately elected government in half a century. The NLD has been preoccupied battling the powerful military and securing its own position, much at the expense of nurturing relations with ethnic minority parties and civil society groups. It hasn’t helped matters that the Rohingya, among other minority groups, were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/06/myanmar-minorities-rohingya-excluded-voting-election-poll-aung-san-suu-kyi-rights">excluded from voting</a> in the election, ostensibly for reasons of security.</p>
<h2>Change-makers</h2>
<p>Despite the disenchantment among some ethnic minorities with the NLD, the party was destined to win this year’s election, due to the unchallenged position of Aung San Suu Kyi as the only viable national leader – particularly among the Burman majority population who still see her as the only guarantor against military rule. </p>
<p>But it is becoming increasingly clear that her administration is unable to solve Myanmar’s challenges. There is though, growing pressure for change among courageous individuals across the country that struggle every day to mobilise for collective actions to transform their communities and inspire positive developments and a safe, prosperous and peaceful future.</p>
<p>School teachers, journalists, lawyers, farmers, doctors, land rights activists, community workers, artists, former political prisoners, students – people from all walks of life – work hard to educate their communities about their rights, about justice, solidarity and peace. Some of these individuals express their opinions openly, confronting the government or the military directly. Others work quietly in their communities to change perceptions and create solidarity between groups over common interests. Some are young and come with energy and new ideas. Others have fought a lifetime for peace and justice, steadily manoeuvring a repressive and dangerous environment and adapt to changing political realities.</p>
<p>As part of a research project by the <a href="https://www.prio.org">Peace Research Institute Oslo</a> (PRIO), we have conducted life history interviews with dozens of such individuals working for peace and justice in three war-torn countries: Syria, Somaliland and Myanmar.</p>
<p>In our project, with PRIO and <a href="https://positivenegatives.org/">PositiveNegatives</a> at SOAS, University of London, we have engaged local artists to produce animated films picturing some of these powerful stories of individual bravery. From Myanmar, we animated <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33WsIVWPIjo&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=PositiveNegativesOrg">the story of Kachin land-rights activist</a>, Daw Bawk Ja Lum Nyoi.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/33WsIVWPIjo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>As a child, Daw Bawk Ja had to flee from the war and grew up in poverty and hardship. She studied and worked hard and realised the injustice around her. Fearless, she took on the big military-aligned companies and high-ranking generals exploiting the community and started educating farmers in her community about their rights. Her story is one of many in Myanmar where individual deeds inspire and can effect societal transformation in conflict contexts.</p>
<h2>Grassroots mobilisation</h2>
<p>Our project has found that the movements that develop into positive societal changes tend to come as a result of the work of countless individuals’ mobilisation for collective actions in their communities. These courageous individuals have all faced great risks and made multiple personal sacrifices. Some of them have even experienced imprisonment, torture or the loss of loved ones. </p>
<p>Myanmar is coming out of this election with the realisation that the road to a just and peaceful society will be long and winding for years, maybe decades to come. But the country’s future leaders – the people who will move Myanmar forward – are already at work, making a difference to their communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marte Nilsen receives funding from the Research Council of Norway. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Dix 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>
Our project carried out interviews and produced animated films of brave people seeking to bring about real change.
Marte Nilsen, Senior Researcher and Coordinator of the Research School on Peace and Conflict, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)
Benjamin Dix, Senior Fellow, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/146920
2020-11-01T19:05:15Z
2020-11-01T19:05:15Z
The great movie scenes: in JFK’s opening montage, Oliver Stone gets creative with history
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366565/original/file-20201029-21-1y01bz2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C41%2C2701%2C2122&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">JFK (1991)</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102138/mediaviewer/rm1184674560">IMDB</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>What makes a film a classic? In this video series, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a classic film and analyses its brilliance. (Warning: this video contains violence and may be upsetting for some viewers.)</em></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WnwM80_yqcc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Hollywood has a century-long tradition of political narratives, such as <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000231/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Oliver Stone</a>’s 1991 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102138/?ref_=nm_knf_i1">JFK</a>. So how do you create a concise political history in cinematic form? </p>
<p>It starts with a staccato drum tattoo and moves into a swelling string movement. The voices of leaders rise from the depths of the past as the director of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091886/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_28">Salvador</a>, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091763/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_27">Platoon</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094291/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_26">Wall Street</a> builds a complex mosaic of American history. The images and sounds masquerade as factual account — but this is anything but objective. It’s creative storytelling using historical bits and pieces as building blocks. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>See more <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-great-movie-scenes-61548">video analysis of great movie scenes here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Thanks to Shelagh Stanton (Digital Media, University of Sydney) for editing and mixing the audio.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146920/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Isaacs 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>
Rewatching the 1991 film classic JFK shows the intricate choreography of montage — and the line between fact and truth still being navigated today.
Bruce Isaacs, Associate Professor, Film Studies, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/147459
2020-10-29T02:56:19Z
2020-10-29T02:56:19Z
Living with the train wreck: how research can harness the power of visual storytelling
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/363853/original/file-20201016-15-1dlgddm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C666&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Daniel Ray</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mesmerised by the cats of YouTube? Tumbled down the rabbit holes that are Insta Stories? Horrified by the US presidential debate, but kept watching regardless? </p>
<p>You are not alone. </p>
<p>Visual narratives have a powerful hold over us and, like the metaphoric train wreck, we are finding it increasingly difficult to look away. We often tend to bring a level of healthy scepticism and questioning to the stories we read or hear. But if we “see” the story, we are far less critical and more likely to be drawn to jump on board and go along for the ride.</p>
<p>As the train continues to run away, we need to pay significantly more attention. We need to <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-election-2019-after-fake-keir-starmer-clip-how-much-of-a-problem-are-doctored-videos-126897">question the value and quality of the visuals</a> that constantly filter through our feeds and devices. </p>
<h2>Reclaiming documentary from the dark side</h2>
<p>The genre of documentary has a particularly important role to play. Thanks especially to the prolific work of David Attenborough and the like, we are now hardwired to connect with real-life stories as a form of indisputable truth. </p>
<p>In contradiction, we need to acknowledge the <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-era-of-fake-news-honest-documentary-makers-have-never-mattered-more-80595">darker side of documentary</a> and its ability to misinform. To have any hope of preventing conspiracies derailing the train, we need to sharpen the focus on quality documentary processes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uk-election-2019-after-fake-keir-starmer-clip-how-much-of-a-problem-are-doctored-videos-126897">UK election 2019: after fake Keir Starmer clip, how much of a problem are doctored videos?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We first used documentary filmmaking as a process to inform an educational research project in 2018. We supported five graduate teachers to record their lived experiences by creating video journals as they embarked on their first year in the profession. The journals were curated as a <a href="https://vimeo.com/300092767">documentary film</a>, Mapping the Messiness, and provide compelling insights into their individual journeys.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman talking" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366300/original/file-20201028-21-e6e98u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/366300/original/file-20201028-21-e6e98u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366300/original/file-20201028-21-e6e98u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366300/original/file-20201028-21-e6e98u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366300/original/file-20201028-21-e6e98u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366300/original/file-20201028-21-e6e98u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/366300/original/file-20201028-21-e6e98u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Applying quality criteria in the making of Mapping the Messiness ensured the documentary presents five graduate teachers’ stories with integrity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://vimeo.com/300092767">Screenshot from Mapping the Messiness (Magnolia Lowe/Vimeo)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Predictably, the visual product that evolved draws the viewer in and strongly connects them with the experiences of the graduates. It is difficult to avoid being deeply moved by their stories. Yet beneath this compelling surface lies a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1609406920957462?icid=int.sj-abstract.citing-articles.1">rigorous application of quality criteria</a> that guided our interactions with the graduates. </p>
<p>Our learnings from this experience highlighted that the key factors informing a quality visual story are two-fold. It is about, firstly, supporting the storytellers to voluntarily share their own stories and, secondly, ensuring their input is clearly valued and conveyed in the final product. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-era-of-fake-news-honest-documentary-makers-have-never-mattered-more-80595">In era of fake news, honest documentary makers have never mattered more</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The ethics of visual storytelling</h2>
<p>We have entered an era where it is vital to apply ethical standards in the capture and curation of visual stories. By applying quality criteria, we introduce a framework that invites peer review, which strengthens the ethical basis of the approach. The opinions and feedback of others provide a way to ensure the credibility and authenticity of the documentary. </p>
<p>Awareness of the need for such an approach is increasing. Changes to <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/about-stuff/300106664/stuff-editorial-code-of-practice-and-ethics">ethical codes and practices to counter fake news</a> in our visual streams are being seen in countries like, for example, New Zealand. Collectively, these are steps to avert the consequences of the runaway train. </p>
<p>A recent <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/crown-opposes-baby-uplift-video-being-official">legal case in New Zealand</a> dismissed an attempt to block the use of a documentary film, developed by an independent current affairs organisation, as evidence. This legal precedent confirms visual storytelling is a legitimate means of delivering evidence and should be considered as a credible source. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vi7N5jknS8c?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This documentary was accepted as evidence at a New Zealand inquiry into the removal of Māori children from their families.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/where-are-the-in-depth-documentaries-calling-to-account-the-institutions-that-are-failing-us-111075">Where are the in-depth documentaries calling to account the institutions that are failing us?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We will continue to be faced with train wrecks in our visual world and will continue to find it hard to draw our eyes away. That is OK. It is part of human nature. But, if we are to have any hope of minimising the wreckage, we need to be reassured that visual stories can be credible and honest. To achieve this, we need to continually question and challenge the quality of the visual content we consume. </p>
<p>All aboard.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147459/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In the age of fake news and deep fake videos, how can documentary making be used for research and other purposes that demand authenticity and credibility?
Ange Fitzgerald, Associate Professor of Science Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of Southern Queensland
Magnolia Lowe, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Education, University of Southern Queensland
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/146536
2020-10-09T12:28:02Z
2020-10-09T12:28:02Z
In a battle of AI versus AI, researchers are preparing for the coming wave of deepfake propaganda
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/362252/original/file-20201007-16-1x1f5g5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1920%2C1077&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">AI-powered detectors are the best tools for spotting AI-generated fake videos.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/comparison-of-an-original-and-deepfake-video-of-facebook-news-photo/1167464772?adppopup=true">The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An investigative journalist receives a video from an anonymous whistleblower. It shows a candidate for president admitting to illegal activity. But is this video real? If so, it would be huge news – the scoop of a lifetime – and could completely turn around the upcoming elections. But the journalist runs the video through a specialized tool, which tells her that the video isn’t what it seems. In fact, it’s a “<a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/security/a28691128/deepfake-technology/">deepfake</a>,” a video made using artificial intelligence with <a href="https://www.mathworks.com/discovery/deep-learning.html">deep learning</a>. </p>
<p>Journalists all over the world could soon be using a tool like this. In a few years, a tool like this could even be used by everyone to root out fake content in their social media feeds.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=12j0HoYAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=icDo19sAAAAJ&hl=en">who have been studying deepfake detection</a> and developing a tool for journalists, we see a future for these tools. They won’t solve all our problems, though, and they will be just one part of the arsenal in the broader fight against disinformation.</p>
<h2>The problem with deepfakes</h2>
<p>Most people know that you can’t believe everything you see. Over the last couple of decades, savvy news consumers have gotten used to seeing images manipulated with photo-editing software. Videos, though, are another story. Hollywood directors can spend millions of dollars on special effects to make up a realistic scene. But using deepfakes, amateurs with a few thousand dollars of computer equipment and a few weeks to spend could make something almost as true to life.</p>
<p>Deepfakes make it possible to put people into movie scenes they were never in – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDM69UEyM3w">think Tom Cruise playing Iron Man</a> – which makes for entertaining videos. Unfortunately, it also makes it possible to create <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/30/fake-porn-videos-are-being-weaponized-harass-humiliate-women-everybody-is-potential-target/">pornography without the consent</a> of the people depicted. So far, those people, nearly all women, are the biggest victims when deepfake technology is misused.</p>
<p>Deepfakes can also be used to create videos of political leaders saying things they never said. The Belgian Socialist Party released a low-quality nondeepfake but still phony video of <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/spa-donald-trump-belgium-paris-climate-agreement-belgian-socialist-party-circulates-deep-fake-trump-video/">President Trump insulting Belgium</a>, which got enough of a reaction to show the potential risks of higher-quality deepfakes. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/poSd2CyDpyA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">University of California, Berkeley’s Hany Farid explains how deepfakes are made.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/opinion/deepfakes-adele-disinformation.html">scariest of all</a>, they can be used to create <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/congressional-candidates-tweet-calling-floyds-death-deepfake-removed-1512916">doubt about the content of real videos</a>, by suggesting that they could be deepfakes.</p>
<p>Given these risks, it would be extremely valuable to be able to detect deepfakes and label them clearly. This would ensure that fake videos do not fool the public, and that real videos can be received as authentic. </p>
<h2>Spotting fakes</h2>
<p>Deepfake detection as a field of research was begun a little over <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/715916">three years ago</a>. Early work focused on detecting visible problems in the videos, such as <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/90230076/the-best-defense-against-deepfakes-ai-might-be-blinking">deepfakes that didn’t blink</a>. With time, however, the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/6/27/18715235/deepfake-detection-ai-algorithms-accuracy-will-they-ever-work">fakes have gotten better</a> at mimicking real videos and become harder to spot for both people and detection tools. </p>
<p>There are two major categories of deepfake detection research. The first involves <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poSd2CyDpyA">looking at the behavior of people</a> in the videos. Suppose you have a lot of video of someone famous, such as President Obama. Artificial intelligence can use this video to learn his patterns, from his hand gestures to his pauses in speech. It can then <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ54GDm1eL0">watch a deepfake of him</a> and notice where it does not match those patterns. This approach has the advantage of possibly working even if the video quality itself is essentially perfect.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gsv1OsCEad0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">SRI International’s Aaron Lawson describes one approach to detecting deepfakes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other researchers, <a href="https://defake.app/about">including our team</a>, have been focused on <a href="https://theconversation.com/examining-a-videos-changes-over-time-helps-flag-deepfakes-120263">differences</a> that <a href="https://theconversation.com/detecting-deepfakes-by-looking-closely-reveals-a-way-to-protect-against-them-119218">all deepfakes have</a> compared to real videos. Deepfake videos are often created by merging individually generated frames to form videos. Taking that into account, our team’s methods extract the essential data from the faces in individual frames of a video and then track them through sets of concurrent frames. This allows us to detect inconsistencies in the flow of the information from one frame to another. We use a similar approach for our fake audio detection system as well.</p>
<p>These subtle details are hard for people to see, but show how deepfakes are not quite <a href="https://doi.org/10.1109/CVPR42600.2020.00505">perfect yet</a>. Detectors like these can work for any person, not just a few world leaders. In the end, it may be that both types of deepfake detectors will be needed.</p>
<p>Recent detection systems perform very well on videos specifically gathered for evaluating the tools. Unfortunately, even the best models do <a href="https://www.darkreading.com/analytics/d/d-id/1338953">poorly on videos found online</a>. Improving these tools to be more robust and useful is the key next step.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p>
<h2>Who should use deepfake detectors?</h2>
<p>Ideally, a deepfake verification tool should be available to everyone. However, this technology is in the early stages of development. Researchers need to improve the tools and protect them against hackers before releasing them broadly.</p>
<p>At the same time, though, the tools to make deepfakes are available to anybody who wants to fool the public. Sitting on the sidelines is not an option. For our team, the right balance was to work with journalists, because they are the first line of defense against the spread of misinformation. </p>
<p>Before publishing stories, journalists need to verify the information. They already have tried-and-true methods, like checking with sources and getting more than one person to verify key facts. So by putting the tool into their hands, we give them more information, and we know that they will not rely on the technology alone, given that it can make mistakes. </p>
<h2>Can the detectors win the arms race?</h2>
<p>It is encouraging to see teams from <a href="https://ai.facebook.com/blog/deepfake-detection-challenge-results-an-open-initiative-to-advance-ai/">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/09/01/disinformation-deepfakes-newsguard-video-authenticator/">Microsoft</a> investing in technology to understand and detect deepfakes. This field needs more research to keep up with the speed of advances in deepfake technology. </p>
<p>Journalists and the social media platforms also need to figure out how best to warn people about deepfakes when they are detected. Research has shown that <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/words-matter/201807/when-correcting-lie-dont-repeat-it-do-instead-2">people remember the lie</a>, but not the fact that it was a lie. Will the same be true for fake videos? Simply putting “Deepfake” in the title might not be enough to counter some kinds of disinformation.</p>
<p>Deepfakes are here to stay. Managing disinformation and protecting the public will be more challenging than ever as artificial intelligence gets more powerful. We are part of a growing research community that is taking on this threat, in which detection is just the first step.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146536/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Sohrawardi receives funding from Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative and the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Wright receives funding from the Ethics and Governance of AI Initiative and the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>
Fake videos generated with sophisticated AI tools are a looming threat. Researchers are racing to build tools that can detect them, tools that are crucial for journalists to counter disinformation.
John Sohrawardi, Doctoral Student in Computing and Informational Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology
Matthew Wright, Professor of Computing Security, Rochester Institute of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145620
2020-09-27T20:00:31Z
2020-09-27T20:00:31Z
The great movie scenes: Inception’s mindbending Paris scene
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/359713/original/file-20200924-16-bsgsp7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C8%2C1477%2C985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTUxMjI3Njk4OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwNzI2NjQ0Mw@@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_.jpg">Inception/IMDB</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>What makes a film a classic? In this video series, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a classic film and analyses its brilliance.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qeu7avTMghE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>Watching Christopher Nolan’s 2010 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">Inception</a>, especially in the cinema, is an overwhelming experience. The viewer has no idea what is going on but can marvel at the visual spectacle. </p>
<p>In this scene on a Parisian street, young architect Ariadne (Ellen Page) rebuilds the landscape with her imagination and without being bound by physical constraints. It is notable that Nolan forgoes a fully digital effect here, perhaps drawing inspiration from the work of Stanley Kubrick decades prior. This is live-action footage, seamlessly blended digitally. The “radical realness” of the impossible image — with cars travelling vertically through space and the street folding onto itself — is what makes it so strange and so strangely unsettling to us as the audience. </p>
<p><em>See more <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-great-movie-scenes-61548">video analysis of great movie scenes here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145620/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Isaacs 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>
Like Stanley Kubrick before him, Christopher Nolan uses perspective to mess with our minds in his 2010 film Inception.
Bruce Isaacs, Associate Professor, Film Studies, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144789
2020-09-18T22:00:18Z
2020-09-18T22:00:18Z
This video shows just how easily COVID-19 could spread when people sing together
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355017/original/file-20200827-23-m47nky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C8%2C997%2C654&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/milan-italy-june-10-unidentified-group-99843077">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Production of the reality TV show The Masked Singer <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-victoria-melbourne-tv-show-masked-singer-millionaire-hotseat-studio-outbreak/73913611-1522-4e1e-a858-b76007b39e01">was shut down</a> last month after several crew members were infected with COVID-19.</p>
<p>It’s one of several examples of COVID-19 transmission associated with singing <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/888945949/is-singing-together-safe-in-the-era-of-coronavirus-not-really-experts-say">around the world</a> <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm">since March</a>, prompting some jurisdictions to <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/german-choirs-silenced-singing-branded-virus-risk-025930646--spt.html">ban group singing</a> altogether. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/17/892189590/australian-state-orders-no-dancing-no-singing-no-mingling-to-halt-covid-19">In New South Wales</a>, for example, choral singing <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/cho-advice-religious-gatherings.aspx">is banned</a> and there are no-singing rules <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/industry-guidelines/wedding-ceremonies-and-receptions">at weddings</a> and nightclubs.</p>
<p>Now our <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa1241/5908276">new study</a>, which included filming droplets and aerosols emitted when someone sings, shows how singing might be an infection risk. This is especially if many people sing together, in a poorly ventilated room.</p>
<h2>What we did and what we found</h2>
<p>We took high-speed video of a person singing a major scale, as do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do (seen below, without audio). We then tracked the emissions of droplets and aerosols.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GSPv04IJvpI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>We found certain notes, such as “do” and “fa”, generated more aerosols than others. We also found the direction of emissions changed with different consonants.</p>
<p>Infection control guidelines assume respiratory droplets <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaa189">settle rapidly</a> within one to two metres of the person emitting them. </p>
<p>However, most droplets we observed appeared not to settle rapidly, and tended to follow the ambient airflow. </p>
<p>Therefore, without adequate ventilation, these droplets may persist in aerosol clouds. </p>
<p>These observations may partially explain the higher infection rates of COVID-19 during group singing, even when people singing <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm">appear well</a>.</p>
<p>Our findings are based on one person singing and individuals may generate aerosols differently. However, our findings apply to singing in <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/covid-19/Pages/cho-advice-religious-gatherings.aspx">any groups</a>, such as churches, schools and social gatherings, all of which are vulnerable to outbreaks of COVID-19.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nsw-hits-pause-on-school-choirs-but-we-cant-stop-the-music-forever-145010">NSW hits pause on school choirs, but we can't stop the music forever</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is it with choirs?</h2>
<p>We’ve known since March of the potential for group singing to transmit SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In this well-documented US example, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6919e6.htm">87% of 61 people</a> who attended one 2.5 hour choir practice became infected, with two deaths. One singer had mild symptoms during rehearsal.</p>
<p>Now our research adds to the growing body of research looking at the transmission risk of singing and the role <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020319942">aerosols</a> might play.</p>
<p>We know social distancing is effective in reducing the risk of spread during normal social interactions. However, singing in a group and in closed, poorly ventilated environments may generate <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021850208002036">more aerosols</a> than speaking.</p>
<p>When we sing, we vocalise louder and often hold notes for longer. This, together with many singers close together in confined spaces for an hour or more, create conditions that may increase the spread of SARS-CoV-2.</p>
<p>When researchers analysed results from the US choir example, they estimated the infection risk <a href="https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/articles/n583xw008">could have been halved</a> with a shorter choir practice.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-the-airborne-route-a-major-source-of-coronavirus-transmission-141198">Is the airborne route a major source of coronavirus transmission?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We tend to think of only coughs or sneezes as the primary source of generating aerosols. But <a href="https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/you-may-be-able-spread-coronavirus-just-breathing-new-report-finds">even breathing</a> generates aerosols, albeit at lower concentrations. </p>
<p>In fact, we breathe and speak much more than we cough or sneeze. So the cumulative aerosol exposure for a group of people singing and talking, without coughing or sneezing, in a closed environment <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2196-x">may be higher</a> than from a single cough.</p>
<h2>How can we sing together, safely?</h2>
<p>We’ve seen <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-song-in-your-heart-shouldnt-lead-to-an-infection-in-your-lungs-reasons-to-get-with-online-choirs-137705">online choirs</a> as a safe alternative to traditional ones.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HezxInuN1YA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Singing from your couch is one safe way to continue singing in a group.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other options for safer group singing now and in the future include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><strong>singing outside or in a well-ventilated room</strong> with large open windows as this is likely to dissipate aerosols and further reduce the risk</p></li>
<li><p><strong>physical distancing</strong> of at least two metres while singing</p></li>
<li><p><strong>short performances</strong> to minimise exposure</p></li>
<li><p><strong><a href="https://www.gondwana.org.au/covid-19-the-future-of-choral-singing-in-australia/">humming</a></strong> rather than singing during rehearsals, because we show consonants (such as “do”) generate the most aerosols</p></li>
<li><p><strong><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/20/performers-could-sing-or-play-softly-to-reduce-covid-risk-study-shows">singing softly</a></strong> (and using amplifiers) as this is likely to emit fewer aerosols</p></li>
<li><p><strong>using rapid test kits</strong>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/08/17/rapid-coronavirus-testing-pcr/">if available</a>, which would allow singers to be screened before performing</p></li>
<li><p><strong>assessing risk factors for individual singers</strong> based on age, chronic diseases and other risk factors for COVID-19. It is more important people at <a href="https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/coronavirus-covid-19-groups-at-higher-risk-faqs">high risk</a> of complications from COVID-19 avoid group singing while there is community transmission.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Some people recommend <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-06-14/how-can-we-resume-choir-practice-without-spreading-coronavirus/12344812">wearing face shields</a> while group singing. But these allow you to breathe in aerosols through the gap underneath, which may be even more likely with the powerful inhalations during singing.</p>
<p>No one measure alone will be enough to mitigate the risk. We need multiple measures used together — physical distancing, shorter performances, open windows, outdoor venues, softer singing and risk-based screening — to allow safer group singing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144789/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>C Raina MacIntyre is supported by a NHMRC Principal Research Fellowship, grant number 1137582 and leads a NHRMC Centre for Research Excellence in Integrated Systems for Epidemic Response (ISER) (grant number 1107393. She has received grant funding and been on advisory boards for Sanofi and Seqirus in the past five years.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abrar Ahmad Chughtai had testing of filtration of masks by 3M for his PhD. He also has worked with Paftec on research in respirators (no funding was involved).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charitha de Silva receives funding from the Australian Research Council </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Con Doolan receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Department of Defence.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prateek Bahl and Shovon Bhattacharjee do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Our video shows aerosol emissions from singing a simple scale. No wonder singing in a choir can be risky.
C Raina MacIntyre, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney
Abrar Ahmad Chughtai, Epidemiologist, UNSW Sydney
Charitha de Silva, Lecturer, UNSW Sydney
Con Doolan, Professor, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Prateek Bahl, PhD Candidate, School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW Sydney
Shovon Bhattacharjee, PhD Candidate, The Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145975
2020-09-16T18:58:26Z
2020-09-16T18:58:26Z
Faked videos shore up false beliefs about Biden’s mental health
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357998/original/file-20200914-24-1g9s4yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5193%2C3175&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Joe Biden faces a disinformation campaign promulgating the false notion that he is in cognitive decline.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/48554137807/">Gage Skidmore/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>From <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4aUBbQeoHA">Ronald Reagan in 1984</a> to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2658077">Bob Dole in 1996</a> and even <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/analysis-hillary-clintons-health-scare-creates-major-campaign/story?id=42022038">Hillary Clinton in 2016</a>, candidate health has become a common theme across recent U.S. presidential campaigns. </p>
<p>The issue is poised to take on <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/07/2020-dementia-campaign-123106">added significance</a> this fall. No matter who wins, the U.S. is set to inaugurate its <a href="https://www.potus.com/presidential-facts/age-at-inauguration/">oldest president by a wide margin</a>.</p>
<p>The Trump campaign and its surrogates have seized on Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s age and have been painting him as mentally unfit for the presidency. Videos of Biden falling asleep during an interview, misspeaking about the dangers of “Joe Biden’s America” and appearing lost during a campaign event have bolstered the belief, particularly among Trump supporters, that Biden is in cognitive decline.</p>
<p>There’s just one problem: None of these videos are <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-biden-asleep-altered/fact-check-video-showing-joe-biden-falling-asleep-during-live-interview-is-manipulated-idUSKBN25S63S">what</a> <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/514467-twitter-flags-trump-campaign-tweet-of-biden-clip-as-manipulated-media">they</a> <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/08/biden-video-deceptively-edited-to-make-him-appear-lost/">seem</a>, and some of the events depicted didn’t happened at all. Technological developments have made it easier for people to produce seemingly real videos that are anything but. These deceptively altered videos have become a major element of disinformation campaigns that wield falsehoods in an effort to sway voters.</p>
<h2>Deepfakes and cheapfakes</h2>
<p>Altering videos can be as minimal as removing a few frames to as extensive as dramatically altering whole videos using Hollywood-style special effects. The latter has been enabled by advances in artificial intelligence and “<a href="https://www.mathworks.com/discovery/deep-learning.html">deep learning</a>” technology. Deep learning makes it possible to create hyper-realistic though entirely fictional videos called “<a href="https://timreview.ca/article/1282">deepfakes</a>.” </p>
<p>Deepfakes are created by programs that accumulate a library of existing photos, videos and audio clips to learn a person’s manners of speech, expression and behavior. Using this data, these programs can then render a composite image of the person that can be made to say and do anything the programmer wants, such as President Richard Nixon <a href="https://www.space.com/apollo-11-disaster-deepfake-video-tech.html">announcing the loss of the Apollo 11 astronauts</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/51uHNgmnLWI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Deepfake videos are far from perfect, but the potential is frightening.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While deepfake technology poses a threat to people’s ability to distinguish real from fake videos, the most sophisticated of this technology is not yet widely available. However, advances in video editing software have introduced a perhaps more immediate threat – the “<a href="https://news.umich.edu/cheap-fake-video-making-the-rounds-today-likely-wont-be-the-last/">cheapfake</a>.” Unlike deepfakes, cheapfakes involve manipulating an existing video using slick though widely accessible editing techniques. The result is a video that bears little resemblance to the original footage. And even poor-quality manipulated videos <a href="https://theconversation.com/i-create-manipulated-images-and-videos-but-quality-may-not-matter-much-120404">can fool people</a>.</p>
<p>Using these techniques, people can remove critical context from real events, make an individual appear confused or disoriented, or splice together two separate clips to create a moment that never happened. This latter technique was used to make it appear that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/white-house-social-media-director-tweets-manipulated-video-to-depict-biden-asleep-in-tv-interview/2020/09/02/4c71391a-44bd-40e0-91ab-e98077e9b17b_video.html">Biden fell asleep during an interview</a>. </p>
<h2>Disinformation and the 2020 election</h2>
<p>With high-profile manipulated videos recently circulating online, it seems reasonable to ask: Could these videos – such as those suggesting Biden is in cognitive decline – influence who wins the election?</p>
<p>These sophisticated video-altering techniques are relatively new, so there’s little direct evidence about the effects manipulated video content can have on political outcomes. However, it’s possible to draw lessons from the surge of research into the effects of disinformation and misinformation in the aftermath of the 2016 election.</p>
<p>Researchers were keenly interested in whether disinformation contributed to Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton – a plausible scenario given that the race was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/donald-trump-will-be-president-thanks-to-80000-people-in-three-states/">decided by fewer than 80,000 votes</a>. Some studies suggested that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.2.211">the influence of disinformation was probably small</a>, while others argued that the closeness of the 2016 race meant that <a href="https://theconversation.com/trump-may-owe-his-2016-victory-to-fake-news-new-study-suggests-91538">disinformation could have made the difference</a>.</p>
<p>Four years later, the election again has the potential to be a nail-biter. And while there have been efforts at boosting <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-ways-to-protect-yourself-from-disinformation-130767">media</a> <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how-to-spot-fake-news/">literacy</a> and <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2020/updating-our-approach-to-misleading-information.html">mitigating</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/facebookmedia/blog/working-to-stop-misinformation-and-false-news">the</a> <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/28/as-covid-19-misinformation-grows-youtube-brings-video-fact-checking-to-the-us/">spread</a> of disinformation since then, the novelty of deepfakes and cheapfakes could catch viewers off guard. If so, the video “proof” of Biden’s failing cognitive health could lead voters to have second thoughts about his candidacy. And while <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-020-09591-9">our</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpor/edz037">work</a> suggests fact-checks can be effective in pushing back against disinformation, they <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10584609.2015.1102187">might not be able to completely reverse this damage</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two women conversing with their backs to the camera, one wearing a Trump shirt and the other a Biden shirt." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358222/original/file-20200915-14-154qze8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/358222/original/file-20200915-14-154qze8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358222/original/file-20200915-14-154qze8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358222/original/file-20200915-14-154qze8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358222/original/file-20200915-14-154qze8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358222/original/file-20200915-14-154qze8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/358222/original/file-20200915-14-154qze8.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">Confirmation bias, the phenomenon of people more readily accepting information that confirms rather than refutes their beliefs, plays a big role in who accepts altered videos as evidence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/president-donald-trump-and-a-former-vice-president-joe-news-photo/1211051947?adppopup=true">Kyle Rivas/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But disinformation is unlikely to reach everyone equally. Research from 2016 found that people were most likely to engage with disinformation <a href="https://about.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/fake-news-2016.pdf">when it supported their preferred candidate</a>, an observation especially true for Trump supporters. If this extends to 2020, these videos might serve mostly to reinforce Trump voters’ beliefs about Biden’s cognitive demise rather than create new doubts within the wider electorate.</p>
<p>Disinformation can also affect campaigns beyond swaying voters. It can influence the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444817712086">agendas of news outlets</a>. If manipulated videos succeed in bringing questions about Biden’s cognitive capabilities into the spotlight, they could detract from the Biden campaign’s core message by pressing the campaign to reassure voters about his mental health. The campaign has had to <a href="https://apnews.com/970ebab7e7a7f848f4153a9282600014">respond to these questions</a> even before the recent circulation of the manipulated videos.</p>
<h2>Altered video arms race</h2>
<p>Deepfakes and cheapfakes have the potential to affect how people see and understand the world. The threats, whether to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444820925811">election integrity</a> or <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2018-12-11/deepfakes-and-new-disinformation-war">international security</a>, are real and have caught the attention of <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11333">Congress</a> and <a href="https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2019/08/darpa-taking-deepfake-problem/158980/">the Pentagon</a>.</p>
<p>There are several technological efforts aimed at spotting and ultimately blocking altered videos. There has been <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/12/facebooks-deepfake-detection-challenge-yields-promising-early-results/">some</a> <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53984114">progress</a>, but it’s a difficult problem. The technology is evolving into an arms race between the fakers and the detectors. For example, after researchers developed a way to identify deepfakes by <a href="https://theconversation.com/detecting-deepfake-videos-in-the-blink-of-an-eye-101072">looking at eye-blinking patterns</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/detecting-deepfakes-by-looking-closely-reveals-a-way-to-protect-against-them-119218">the technology adapted</a>. </p>
<p>There are also efforts by the news media to come to grips with altered video in the fact-checking process. The Washington Post has developed a fact-checkers’ guide called <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/politics/fact-checker/manipulated-video-guide/">Seeing Isn’t Believing</a>, and Duke University’s Reporters’ Lab is developing <a href="https://reporterslab.org/what-is-mediareview/">MediaReview</a>, a system for fact-checkers to tag manipulated videos to alert search engines and social media platforms.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>If the fakers pull ahead of the detectors in this altered video arms race, the 2020 election could come to be seen as the start of an era when people can <a href="https://theconversation.com/identifying-a-fake-picture-online-is-harder-than-you-might-think-114546">no longer be certain that what they see is what they can believe</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dustin Carnahan has received funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>
It’s easy to edit video of public figures to make them appear asleep, confused, drunk or cognitively impaired when they are not. The technique is being used to undermine Joe Biden’s campaign.
Dustin Carnahan, Assistant Professor of Communication, Michigan State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/145090
2020-09-06T20:15:28Z
2020-09-06T20:15:28Z
The great movie scenes: World War Z frames the terror of ‘loss of self’ and the threat of a mass pandemic
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355223/original/file-20200828-14-9rd1bg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C24%2C1486%2C965&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTgwMDU1NzYzMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMDQzMTY2OQ@@._V1_SX1500_CR0,0,1500,999_AL_.jpg">World War Z/IMDB</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>What makes a film a classic? In this video series, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a classic film and analyses its brilliance. (Warning: this video contains violence and may be upsetting for some viewers.)</em></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rTkFBg2gSRQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>There is perhaps no better time than now to appreciate the unique and subversive genre of <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-obsessed-with-zombies-which-says-a-lot-about-today-37552">zombie movies</a>. These films have always been great socio-cultural lenses. Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead were two classics of the genre. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816711/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt">World War Z</a> (2013), an adaptation of Max Brook’s 2006 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8908.World_War_Z">apocalyptic zombie novel</a> continues this tradition. In a pivotal scene set in Jerusalem, director <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0286975/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Marc Foster</a> encapsulates the greatest threat posed by zombies: the end of our individuality and loss of uniqueness. The casting of Hollywood star <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000093/?ref_=tt_ov_st_sm">Brad Pitt</a> is crucial, as are the cuts between him as a figure and the invading mass.</p>
<p><em>See more <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-great-movie-scenes-61548">video analysis of great movie scenes here</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>Thanks to Shelagh Stanton (Digital Media, University of Sydney) for editing and mixing the audio.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145090/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Isaacs 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>
In a pivotal scene from Brad Pitt zombie movie World War Z, we see the frame shift from the individual to the undead mass. In doing so, it taps into deep fears.
Bruce Isaacs, Associate Professor, Film Studies, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144121
2020-08-26T20:04:13Z
2020-08-26T20:04:13Z
Anxious about speaking in online classes and meetings? Here are 7 tips to make it easier
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354512/original/file-20200825-14-k31zvk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=155%2C91%2C2788%2C1977&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">TommyStockProject/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many parents and students are engaged in a daily routine of speaking to people via a camera on a computer, tablet or phone during COVID-19 restrictions. This often means finding a quiet place in order to ask a question, provide an answer or share an opinion with a virtual audience.</p>
<p>Initial concerns about using video apps focused on <a href="https://theconversation.com/cyber-threats-at-home-how-to-keep-kids-safe-while-theyre-learning-online-136264">privacy</a> and <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/are-our-new-virtual-workplaces-equitable">equity</a> issues. </p>
<p>Soon, new terms emerged such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/zoom-fatigue-how-to-make-video-calls-less-tiring-137861">Zoom fatigue</a>. But an issue that has been less discussed is the role that nerves might play in these mediated sessions.</p>
<h2>What is speaking anxiety?</h2>
<p>For centuries, people have questioned their ability to speak in front of others. It’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2014/01/what-hugh-grant-gandhi-and-thomas-jefferson-have-common/355853/">said</a> the Roman orator <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Cicero">Cicero</a> (106-43BCE) turned pale and quaked before any speech he gave.</p>
<p>But it was in the 20th century that communication anxiety was studied in depth. It has been described by a number of different terms, including <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/basics/stage-fright">stage fright</a>, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03637757609375916" title="The unwillingness‐to‐communicate scale: Development and validation">unwillingness to communicate</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-0525-3_21" title="Oral Communication Apprehension">communication apprehension</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-need-to-train-lecturers-in-online-delivery-or-they-risk-students-dropping-out-133921">Universities need to train lecturers in online delivery, or they risk students dropping out</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/communication-apprehension-avoidance-and-effectiveness/oclc/1073721929" title="Communication apprehension, avoidance, and effectiveness">Research suggests</a> about one in five speakers experience high communication apprehension. This can make all speaking opportunities difficult.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man speaking before a crowded lecture theatre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354327/original/file-20200824-20-1xcjxr8.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">It can be stressful speaking to a crowd of people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matej Kastelic/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Examples include speaking to a boss or teacher, contributing to a group discussion, or delivering a presentation. Public speaking anxiety is part of communication apprehension. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.comm.pitt.edu/speech-anxiety">The prevalence of public speaking anxiety</a> is well documented. It is complex (varying causes, indicators and treatment options), individual (affecting speakers differently) and unstable (changing levels of anxiety within and between presentations).</p>
<p>A focus on individual differences acknowledges that internal thoughts and feelings might not match external behaviour. For example, a speaker who appears disengaged may actually feel a lack of control. </p>
<p>It is a tricky phenomenon. Some people can feel nervous the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03634520600566074" title="Anticipatory Speech Anxiety as a Function of Public Speaking Assignment Type">moment a speaking task is announced</a> and, on the day of presentation, may <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022103103000568" title="The illusion of transparency and the alleviation of speech anxiety">rate themselves as more nervous</a> than what an audience observes. </p>
<h2>Nervous about the audience</h2>
<p>It is the audience, and the potential for negative evaluation from that audience, that can make us feel anxious. And those listening can be physically or virtually present. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A laptop computer on a desk showing several people connecting separately from home." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=617&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354331/original/file-20200824-16-17ue9rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=617&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 the audience that bothers some people, whether there in person or virtually online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock/Cabeca de Marmore</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This brings us to the rather awkward situation of speaking to rows of little boxes on a screen in a video hook-up. Not only does this set-up limit broader non-verbal cues, but it also restricts general banter between participants.</p>
<p>On the plus side, this can make sessions more time-efficient, but it does tend to make conversations more stilted.</p>
<p>A perceived need to be visible is a <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/should-showing-faces-be-mandatory">contested area in online delivery</a>. In educational settings, those who support “cameras on for everyone” suggest it helps to replicate usual classroom conditions, encourages discussion and ensures students are actually in attendance (not just logged on).</p>
<p>But it is important to consider the rationale behind making any feature mandatory. Participating via a video app is not the same as a live setting. </p>
<p>For a start, speakers rarely see themselves when talking to others. As a lecturer, seeing myself onscreen while speaking with a class can be distracting, especially when trying to look directly at the camera lens to maximise eye contact.</p>
<h2>7 tips to make things easier</h2>
<p>Whether running a business meeting or teaching a class, the following tips may help you to feel more comfortable speaking online:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>provide an agenda ahead of time, which could include sending out some prepared questions for discussion</p></li>
<li><p>reduce uncertainty about participation by letting people know from the outset if there is any need or expectation to talk in a hook-up </p></li>
<li><p>use <a href="https://courses.lumenlearning.com/paris-publicspeaking/chapter/chapter-8-connecting-your-main-points/">linking statements and signposts</a> to keep everyone on track as other cues and clues may be absent (walking across a room to a computer), so it’s important to let all participants know what you are doing and why (for example: “I’m going to check the chat box at the end of this point so feel free to add any questions as I go along.”) </p></li>
<li><p>model good speaking practices, draw on simple structures to make your point and use language that is suitable for oral delivery</p></li>
<li><p>rethink the value of calling on someone randomly to contribute to a discussion, because if people are worried they may be asked to respond without notice, they may be less likely to engage overall</p></li>
<li><p>make decisions about the need for interaction (including break-out rooms) based on the type of session and number of participants, because needless interaction is not better than no interaction </p></li>
<li><p>plan for each online event rather than stick to a set of general rules. For example, is it always necessary for speakers to see each other onscreen? As most educators will tell you, just because a student is physically present that doesn’t mean they are actively engaged.</p></li>
</ol>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/videos-wont-kill-the-uni-lecture-but-they-will-improve-student-learning-and-their-marks-142282">Videos won't kill the uni lecture, but they will improve student learning and their marks</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Online tutorials, workshops and meetings are here to stay for the moment. To create safe, supportive and productive sessions, we need to build competent and confident speaking practices. </p>
<p>Acknowledging that speaking anxiety is common, and affects people in live and virtual settings, is a good place to start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144121/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lesley Irvine 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>
Many people feel some form of anxiety when speaking in front of others. That includes taking part in video hook-ups for work or study thanks to coronavirus restrictions.
Lesley Irvine, Lecturer in Strategic Speech Communication, Queensland University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144541
2020-08-26T12:22:46Z
2020-08-26T12:22:46Z
TikTok is a unique blend of social media platforms – here’s why kids love it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354464/original/file-20200824-14-674d5f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4913%2C3275&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young people creating a TikTok video in Lithuania.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/members-of-local-social-media-star-the-trending-gang-dance-news-photo/1228117350?adppopup=true">Photo by Alfredas Pliadis/Xinhua via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>TikTok, a social media platform targeted at young mobile phone users, was the <a href="https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ranked-most-downloaded-apps/">second-most downloaded app in the world</a> in 2019. It was the <a href="https://sensortower.com/blog/top-apps-worldwide-july-2020-by-downloads">most downloaded app</a> in July 2020.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=sdMlz0kAAAAJ&hl=en">political scientist</a> who studies social media, I’ve looked at what makes TikTok unique and why young people have flocked to it. In short, the phone-only app lets users record themselves dancing or goofing around to a music or spoken-word clip and then alter the videos using a wide array of effects. Despite its superficially frivolous nature, young people have been using the platform to <a href="http://www.favstats.eu/docs/political_tiktok">send political messages</a>, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-rally-tiktok-crowds-tulsa/">coordinate political actions</a> and hang out in an online space largely free of adults.</p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>Each tiktok is a 3- to 60-second-long video that loops when finished. The majority of the screen is taken up by the video uploaded by the user. The app offers a wide range of options for customizing and combining these videos, including video taken with the user’s smartphone, photos uploaded from the web, emojis and other text superimposed on the video, and special effects. The app’s library of filters and video-distorting effects is like Instagram filters but for video. </p>
<p>The bottom of the screen contains information about the “sound”: the audio file that accompanies the video. These “sounds” can either be user-uploaded or chosen from a library of popular sounds. This library contains both snippets of songs by professional musicians and silly recordings of people talking. “Sounds” have had a huge impact on the music industry: “Old Town Road,” one of the most popular songs of all time, <a href="https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/old-town-road-lil-nas-x-memes-explained">first gained popularity</a> as a TikTok “sound” with an associated dance. </p>
<p>When you open the app, you encounter a tiktok that starts playing. This is the “For You Page,” which plays tiktoks that TikTok’s algorithm recommends for you. To go to the next tiktok, you swipe up. To see the account that uploaded the current tiktok, swipe right. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Smart phone screen showing thumbnails of video clips" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354465/original/file-20200824-22-16tyze0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/354465/original/file-20200824-22-16tyze0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354465/original/file-20200824-22-16tyze0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354465/original/file-20200824-22-16tyze0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354465/original/file-20200824-22-16tyze0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354465/original/file-20200824-22-16tyze0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/354465/original/file-20200824-22-16tyze0.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">Comedian Sarah Cooper’s TikTok page shows thumbnails of her videos, or tiktoks, on the social media platform.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photo-illustration-comedian-sarah-coopers-page-is-news-photo/1227952343?adppopup=true">Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How it compares</h2>
<p>Comparing TikTok with other digital media platforms shows what makes it unique. Like YouTube, TikTok consists entirely of videos. Like Facebook and Twitter the primary mode of consuming tiktoks is by navigating through a “feed” of short, digestible posts. </p>
<p>Like Netflix, the default mode of encountering content is through the recommendation algorithm, not through the construction of “friend” or “follower” networks. And like Snapchat and Instagram, TikTok can only be produced on mobile phones, favoring younger users who are more fluent with smartphones than computers.</p>
<p>TikTok is the first social media platform to combine these characteristics. The result is a unique way of conveying and consuming information. </p>
<h2>Information density</h2>
<p>The combination of video media and the “feed” makes TikTok especially information dense. There’s a lot going on with each tiktok, and there is a never-ending stream of tiktoks.</p>
<p>Unlike text, video media operates on two parallel pathways, conveying explicit information (the kind found in speech or writing) and implicit information (social cues like the TikToker’s clothes and hairstyle, or emotional affect from music) at the same time. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6864935703323675910?lang=en-US" style="border:0;width:100%;min-height:825px;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The “feed” enables a social media consumer to scan through several pieces of bite-sized content per minute, extracting information in a much more efficient fashion than from a television broadcast. In combination, these trends make scrolling through the “For You Page” a whirlwind experience, a significant advance in information density. </p>
<p>If you spend a few hours on TikTok, you’ll see how this works. Other media begins to feel “slow,” even formerly compelling products like a YouTube video or Twitter feed. Younger people tend to love intensity – loud music, bright lights – and its no surprise they find TikTok compelling.</p>
<h2>Different costs and benefits</h2>
<p>TikTok also shifts the costs and benefits of posting. On the costs side, because TikTok is designed for smartphones it’s easier for some people to use, and harder for others. As a general rule, the more years of your life you spend using a technology – and the earlier in the life cycle those years are – the more skilled you become at using that technology. </p>
<p>TikTok also encourages videos filmed in the vertical orientation inherent to smartphones, so they can be created wherever the user goes, whenever they have a spare moment. </p>
<p>In terms of benefits, the importance of the recommendation algorithm over “friend” networks means that everyone is guaranteed to get at least a few views, even on their first tiktok. On Twitter, say, you might log on and tweet dozens of times before you get any “likes” due to the importance of “follower” networks in determining what people see. </p>
<p>TikTok’s “For You Page” varies between showing the user extremely popular tiktoks and tiktoks with only a handful of views, thus promoting greater equality than on traditional social networks. Overall, TikTok offers an online platform for young people that feels unusually disconnected from the adult world, one in which they are sure to get some amount of attention.</p>
<h2>Common sounds, unique moves</h2>
<p>Finally, the “sounds” that users combine with their personalized videos represent a novel way to categorize and navigate a social media platform, a feature unique to TikTok. If you click on the “sound” at the bottom of a tiktok, you can see all of the other tiktoks that use that sound file. </p>
<p>The most common example involves a specific dance routine paired with the accompanying “sound.” The audio is constant across this group of tiktoks, but each user provides a unique video of themselves performing the dance.</p>
<p>These dances are examples of TikTok memes. “Memes” on more text- or image-focused platforms involve some fixed “meme format” that is then remixed by users who edit the image or text to create a given “meme.” On TikTok, however, the raw material being remixed is the user’s body, as the user performs the behavior associated with the meme format, what I call “embodied memes.” </p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">Follow The Conversation U.S. on TikTok: @TheConversation</a>.</em> ]</p>
<p>This makes the body much more prominent on TikTok than other platforms. Whereas clever wordplay goes a long way on Twitter, TikTok rewards conventionally attractive or otherwise striking bodies to an even greater extent than Instagram. </p>
<p>This also means that the identity categories that are increasingly central to politics <a href="https://www.wired.co.uk/article/tiktok-filter-bubbles">play a major role on TikTok</a>. Embodied memes often play with the race, gender, appearance or physical location of the TikToker.</p>
<p>More conventional image memes can seem anonymous or disembodied as they are shared around the web. With TikTok, it’s impossible to separate the individual from the meme.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kevin Munger 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>
An app that young people use to share videos of themselves dancing might seem like a silly diversion, but it’s become a powerhouse social media platform.
Kevin Munger, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Social Data Analytics, Penn State
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142282
2020-08-10T20:07:30Z
2020-08-10T20:07:30Z
Videos won’t kill the uni lecture, but they will improve student learning and their marks
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346999/original/file-20200712-189224-1tnealh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Are university lectures better on YouTube?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/peLs78VbU50">Kon Karampelas/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In response to COVID-19, almost every university has scrambled to move its teaching online.</p>
<p>To do this, academics have been choosing between two approaches: live videoconferencing using tools such as Zoom, or pre-recording videos and posting to platforms such as YouTube.</p>
<p>Previous reviews have shown <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6787.2012.00241.x" title="A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Videoconference‐Based Tele‐Education for Medical and Nursing Education">videoconferences are an okay substitute for classes</a>, but what about videos?</p>
<h2>What do students say?</h2>
<p>Previous reviews have looked at student preferences for online learning as opposed to face-to-face lectures and <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/182536" title="Internet-Based Learning in the Health Professions: A Meta-analysis">they do not find any differences</a>. Even when teachers make monumental efforts to create flipped classrooms, where they provide online videos before interactive workshops, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.05.003" title="Effects of flipping the classroom on learning outcomes and satisfaction: A meta-analysis">there are no differences in student satisfaction</a>.</p>
<p>So students don’t mind whether they learn online or face-to-face. We academics care about satisfying students, but we also want to make sure students learn new things. </p>
<p>Student learning is totally <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2016.08.007" title="Meta-analysis of faculty's teaching effectiveness: Student evaluation of teaching ratings and student learning are not related">unrelated to student satisfaction</a>. Student satisfaction is more closely related to their <a href="https://doi.org/10.3200/GENP.133.1.19-35" title="Hot or Not: Do Professors Perceived as Physically Attractive Receive Higher Student Evaluations?">teacher’s physical attractiveness</a>. So we wanted to see whether videos increased or decreased student learning for mugs like us.</p>
<h2>Videos improve learning</h2>
<p>We did a <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/kynez" title="Are you better on YouTube? A systematic review of the effects of video on learning in higher education">systematic review</a> to see what happens when videos replace classes. We searched for every best-practice study that measured learning after university students were given videos.</p>
<p>To make sure we were looking at real learning differences, not just student preferences, we excluded studies that only asked for opinions and those that were not randomised.</p>
<p>We found more than 100 studies. A quarter gave videos in addition to existing content. As you’d expect, students who got extra content learned more.</p>
<p>This means teachers giving face-to-face lectures can significantly improve student learning by also offering videos (before or after class). When videos accompanied existing methods, there were huge benefits for student learning.</p>
<p>But what about when we swapped existing face-to-face learning for videos, as many teachers are now having to do?</p>
<p>We found 83 studies that replaced some type of teaching with videos. About 75% of the time students learned more when given a <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/kynez" title="Are you better on YouTube? A systematic review of the effects of video on learning in higher education">video instead of a class</a>.</p>
<p>On average, the effects are small (about +2 marks) but consistently favour videos. Effects are much larger when videos replace books (+7 marks), or when videos are used to teach skills (+6 marks) instead of knowledge.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1262934771002339328"}"></div></p>
<p>It didn’t matter if the videos were swapped for lectures or tutorials. It didn’t matter if the videos were used for one lesson or a whole semester. And it didn’t matter if the exam was right after the video or at the end of the semester.</p>
<p>We found videos were consistently good for learning. There are several reasons for this and they can help us give better face-to-face classes too. Here are a few video tips from what we discovered.</p>
<h2>Tip 1: videos use multiple forms of media</h2>
<p>Students have two main channels for learning: what they see and what they hear. This is why videos worked much better than books, websites or podcasts, because these only use one channel whereas video uses both.</p>
<p>On video, teachers can edit themselves to best use both channels, by <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvSeo4-B-agV3yExA_jNderX6g5_BsP17">showing useful visuals</a> that are perfectly timed to the spoken explanation. Great teachers do this in lectures as well, but it’s harder when you can’t edit out your mistakes.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/anM6wy-RibI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">This video shows how academics can improve their classes with well-time uses of multiple forms of media.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tip 2: videos give students control</h2>
<p>Videos allow for students to control how fast they learn. They can speed us up, slow us down, stop to take notes or have a break for a coffee.</p>
<p>This lets students master content without getting overwhelmed (good lecturers do this too).</p>
<p>Mastery learning – where students progress at their own pace once competent – has been around for a long time and been <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/00346543060002265" title="Effectiveness of Mastery Learning Programs: A Meta-Analysis">shown to improve learning in higher education</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l83Rgrjn_Lk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Khan Academy is an excellent example of mastery learning in schools.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tip 3: videos make learning authentic</h2>
<p>Videos can show things more authentically than lectures can. In person, lectures can make learning authentic through <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.3102/0034654320933544" title="Simulation-Based Learning in Higher Education: A Meta-Analysis">role playing and simulation</a>. Lectures can be authentic by bringing in guest speakers: for example, we used to bring in clients who had Parkinson’s to talk to students. </p>
<p>But videos help achieve even this kind of authenticity. Instead of burdening clients every year, we recorded interviews with clients so students could learn from them for years to come.</p>
<p>On video lecturers can also show real situations not possible in class, such as CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation), surgery or construction. Making learning authentic helps motivate students and stimulates learning.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G10m2ZZRH4U?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Only some physics students were in the right place at the right time to see the 2017 solar eclipses, but all of them can study it on video.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tip 4: videos make learning interactive</h2>
<p>Interactivity is also <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2014.965823" title="The ICAP Framework: Linking Cognitive Engagement to Active Learning ">critical for learning</a>. Lecturers can make classes interactive through open-ended questions, pop quizzes and small-group discussions.</p>
<p>But we found video is usually as interactive, or more interactive, than most lectures. That’s because most lectures aren’t that interactive. There are many technologies (try <a href="https://edpuzzle.com/">EdPuzzle</a> or <a href="http://h5p.org/">H5P</a>) that let staff easily embed questions and feedback in videos.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-L62wAxCzEM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Edpuzzle is one of many free platforms for adding interactivity to videos for online learning.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-need-to-train-lecturers-in-online-delivery-or-they-risk-students-dropping-out-133921">Universities need to train lecturers in online delivery, or they risk students dropping out</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>When things get back to normal (whatever that is)</h2>
<p>Academics shouldn’t feel like they’re wasting their time by making lots of videos this year. Students are probably learning more, and when face-to-face classes get back to normal, the videos will be a great asset for years to come.</p>
<p>We don’t want to be replaced by a YouTube playlist, but parts of our teaching are probably better that way.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mepeRPFvf3E?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Are university classes better on YouTube?</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142282/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Noetel receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Sport Australia, and NSW Department of Education. He is a committee member for the College of Sport and Exercise Psychologists.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Borja del Pozo Cruz has received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Lonsdale receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, NSW Department of Education, Movember Foundation, and Sport Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Philip D. Parker receives funding from the ARC and NHMRC. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taren Sanders receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Sport Australia, and the NSW Department of Education.</span></em></p>
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, universities are using video for so much of their teaching. Some worry this will hurt student learning, but that’s not what we found.
Michael Noetel, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Australian Catholic University
Borja del Pozo Cruz, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University
Chris Lonsdale, Professor, Institute for Positive Psychology & Education, Australian Catholic University
Philip D Parker, Professor and Deputy Director, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University
Taren Sanders, Research Fellow, Institute for Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/142253
2020-07-10T18:26:54Z
2020-07-10T18:26:54Z
How deadly is COVID-19? A biostatistician explores the question
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346405/original/file-20200708-19-a4wort.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C0%2C4994%2C3136&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The number of confirmed and probable deaths from COVID-19 in New York City was 23,247 as of July 10, which is more than eight times the number who died in the 9/11 attack.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/gravestones-from-linden-hill-methodist-cemetery-are-seen-news-photo/1209367585">Angela Weiss / AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The latest statistics, as of July 10, show COVID-19-related deaths in U.S. are just under <a href="https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america">1,000 per day</a> nationally, which is down from a peak average of about 2,000 deaths per day in April. However, cases are once again rising very substantially, which is worrisome as it may indicate that <a href="https://www.vox.com/2020/7/6/21314472/covid-19-coronavirus-us-cases-deaths-trends-wtf">substantial increases in COVID-19 deaths could follow</a>. How do these numbers compare to deaths of other causes? Ron Fricker, statistician and disease surveillance expert from Virginia Tech, <a href="https://youtu.be/4S7k62oK-38">explains</a> how to understand the magnitude of deaths from COVID-19.</em></p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4S7k62oK-38?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A visualization of the scale of deaths caused by COVID-19 in the US.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>As a disease surveillance expert, what are some of the tools you have to understand the deaths caused by a disease?</h2>
<p>Disease surveillance is the process by which we try to understand the incidence and prevalence of diseases across the country, often with the particular goal of looking for increases in disease incidence. The challenge is separating signal from noise, by which I mean trying to discern an increase in disease incidence (the signal) from the day-to-day fluctuations in that disease (the noise). The hope is to identify any increase as quickly as possible so that medical and public health professionals can intervene and try to mitigate the disease’s effects on the population.</p>
<p>A critical tool in this effort is data. Often disease data is collected and aggregated by local and state public health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from data that is reported by doctors and medical facilities. Surveillance systems then use this data and a variety of algorithms to attempt to find a signal amidst the noise.</p>
<h2>Early on, many people pointed out that the flu has tens of thousands of deaths a year, and so COVID-19 didn’t seem so bad. What’s wrong with that comparison?</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html">The CDC estimates</a> the average number of flu-related deaths since 2010-11 is around 36,000 per year. This varies from a low of 12,000 deaths in 2011-12 to a high of 61,000 deaths in 2017-18. Thus, the number of COVID-19 deaths to date is three to four times greater than the annual average number of flu-related deaths over the past decade; it is 10 times larger when compared to the 2010-11 flu season but only about twice as large compared to 2017-18.</p>
<p>To make this a fair comparison, note that seasonal influenza mostly occurs over a few months, usually in late fall or early winter. So, the time periods are roughly comparable, with most of the COVID-19-related deaths occurring since late March. However, COVID-19 does not appear to be seasonal, and fatalities are a lagging measure because the time from infection to death is weeks if not months in duration, so the multiples in the previous paragraph will be greater by the end of the year.</p>
<p>Furthermore, while death rates have been coming down from a peak of more than 2,700 on April 21, 2020, the United States is now averaging just under <a href="https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america">1,000 deaths per day</a> as of July 10, and given the dramatic increase in cases of late, we should expect the fatality rate to further rise. For example, the University of Washington’s <a href="https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america">IHME model</a> currently predicts slightly more than 208,000 COVID-19-related deaths by November 1.</p>
<p>So, by any comparison, the COVID-19 death rate is significantly higher than the seasonal influenza death rate.</p>
<h2>What are some comparisons that could provide some context in understanding the scale of deaths caused by COVID-19?</h2>
<p>As of this writing, more than 130,000 people have died of COVID-19, and that total could grow to 200,000 or more by fall. Those numbers are so big, they’re hard to grasp. </p>
<p>Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor is the largest football stadium in the United States. It holds 107,420 people, so no football stadium in the country is large enough to hold everyone who has died from COVID-19 thus far. By the time bowl season comes along, assuming we have a football season this year, the number of COVID-19 fatalities will likely exceed the capacity of the Rose and Cotton bowl stadiums combined.</p>
<p>The state of Wyoming has a population of slightly less than 600,000 people, so it’s the equivalent of one out of every five people in that state dying in the last four months. By this fall, the COVID-19 death total will be the equivalent of fully one-third of the people in Wyoming dying. </p>
<p>The populations of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Huntsville, Alabama; and Salt Lake City, Utah are each just over 200,000 people. Imagine if everyone in one of those cities died over the course of six months. That’s what COVID-19 may look like by fall.</p>
<h2>How do COVID-19 deaths compare to chronic diseases like cancer or heart disease?</h2>
<p>Today, COVID-19 ranks as the sixth leading cause of death in the United States, following heart disease, cancer, accidents, lower chronic respiratory diseases and stroke. Heart disease is the leading cause, with just over 647,000 Americans dying from it each year. Alzheimer’s disease, formerly the sixth largest cause of death, kills just over 121,000 people per year. If the University of Washington IHME model’s current prediction of COVID-19-related deaths comes to pass, COVID-19 will be the third leading cause of death in the United States by the end of the year.</p>
<p>The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2020 there will be an estimated 1.8 million new cancer cases diagnosed and 606,520 cancer deaths in the United States. Lung cancer is estimated to kill about 135,000 people in the US in 2020, so the number of COVID-19 deaths is currently equivalent and will exceed it soon. Of course, it is important to note that the COVID-19 deaths have occurred in about the past four months while the number of lung cancer deaths is for a year. So, COVID-19 deaths are occurring at roughly three times the rate of lung cancer deaths.</p>
<h2>What are some historical comparisons that you think are useful in understanding the scale of deaths from COVID-19?</h2>
<p>The 1918 influenza pandemic was similar in some ways to the current pandemic and different in other ways. One key difference is the age distribution of deaths, where COVID-19 is concentrated among older adults while the the 1918 pandemic affected all ages. In my state of Virginia, only 8% of the people who died in the 1918 pandemic were more than 50 years old, compared to more than 97% for COVID-19.</p>
<p>The CDC estimates that the 1918 pandemic resulted in about 675,000 deaths in the United States, so slightly more than five times the current number of COVID-19 deaths. In October of 1918, the worst month for the influenza pandemic, about 195,000 people died – well more than all who have died so far from COVID-19. </p>
<p>As with any historical comparison, there are important qualifiers. In this case, the influenza pandemic started in early 1918 and continued well into 1919, whereas COVID-19 deaths are for about one-third of a year (March through June). However, today the United States’ population is about three times the size of the population in 1918. These two factors roughly “cancel out,” and so it is reasonable to think about the 1918 epidemic being about five times worse than COVID-19, at least thus far.</p>
<p>In comparison to past wars, the U.S. has now had more deaths from COVID-19 than all the combat-related deaths in all the wars since the Korean War, including the Vietnam War and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In World War II there were 291,557 combat casualties. So the number of people who have died from COVID-19 thus far is about 45% of the WWII combat casualties. By the fall, it could be more than 70%.</p>
<p>Finally, note that the number of confirmed and probable deaths from COVID-19 in New York City (23,247 on July 10, 2020) is more than eight times the number who died in the 9/11 attack (2,753).</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald D. Fricker Jr. 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>
The COVID-19 death toll in the US is now over 130,000. What do 130,000 fatalities look like? A biostatistician provides some perspective.
Ronald D. Fricker Jr., Professor of Statistics and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Administration, Virginia Tech
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/127351
2019-11-19T17:06:17Z
2019-11-19T17:06:17Z
UK election 2019: video the big battleground as main parties go head to head for hearts and minds
<p>The use of Facebook to distribute digital video to voters is proving to be a <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/unofficial-facebook-ads-blitz-voters-in-general-election-vw3gltctg">key battlefield</a> in the UK’s 2019 election campaign so far, with all the parties uploading several videos a day. During the second week of the campaign, several high-performing viral videos have been released by the official party accounts or by the Facebook accounts belonging to the party leaders.</p>
<p>The importance of video as a tool for reaching voters is underlined by the effort <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/12/uk-election-parties-winning-online-war-ads-cash-votes-digital-dashboard?CMP=share_btn_tw">parties are putting into</a> the production of video content and the amount of money being spent on advertising to put their content before voters. </p>
<p>In the 2017 election, the most watched videos, including a Conservative attack ad on Jeremy Corbyn’s national security peaked at just under <a href="http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2017/section-5-the-digital-campaign/the-alternate-and-influential-world-of-the-political-parties-facebook-feeds/">eight million views on Facebook</a>. To date, nothing has reached that level – but the most successful Facebook videos are still reaching millions of users. </p>
<p>It should be noted the Conservative Party <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/conservatives-12-questions-to-boris-johnson-ad-goes-viral-1.4082734">scored a major success</a> with its election broadcast: 12 Questions for Boris. At the time of writing, this is the most-watched political video on Twitter with 4.5 million views. </p>
<p>But when it comes to Facebook, despite being uploaded to several different posts and accounts, it didn’t get the same traction as it had on Twitter. Having said that, if you added together all the views across all the different accounts it would have made it into the Facebook top ten. Just.</p>
<p>There’s a struggle going on for dominance on Facebook. A look at the posting activity of the political party accounts shows that, unlike in 2017 <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/explaining-labours-facebook-success/">when Labour dominated the platform</a>, no party has yet gained a clear advantage in the number of videos being uploaded. </p>
<p>When it comes to the personalities themselves, Boris Johnson and Corbyn are out in front of the other party leaders in the number and regularity of their posting to Facebook. That’s important because both are more popular on Facebook than their respective party accounts. Corbyn has 1,536,855 Facebook followers, compared with just 1,049,000 for the party as a whole. Johnson, meanwhile has 768,427, substantially more than his party, which can boast only 690,910.</p>
<p>The relative importance of different policy areas can also be understood by the ways in which the parties are using Facebook video. The Conservatives have attempted to define the election as a choice about Brexit and this can clearly be seen by the policy areas that the party’s video content tackles. Boris Johnson’s campaign launch speech in Downing Street has been posted in full and key sections edited and reposted, with dramatic cutaway shots and set to an upbeat soundtrack. His key theme of getting Brexit done is repeated again and again to drive home the message that this is the defining issue of the election. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1192361042598338560"}"></div></p>
<p>The impact of Johnson’s focus on Brexit as a policy issue can be seen in this chart, which shows the areas of focus of the videos posted to his account since October 29. Brexit posts vastly outstrip any other theme. </p>
<p>For Labour, however, there is little attempt to engage with the Brexit issue – unless it is to accuse the government of incompetence or Boris Johnson of lying.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1192501971879522304"}"></div></p>
<p>Labour has a more complex position on Brexit than either the Conservatives or the Liberal Democrats. As such, it has tried to focus its video content on other policies. It has attempted to address a range of policy areas that appeal to different parts of its constituency – the NHS, austerity, workers’ rights, climate change and youth issues have all been subjects of video content as the party pushes to move the debate away from Brexit and onto issues where it has a clearer appeal to voters. </p>
<h2>Corbyn the campaigner</h2>
<p>During the 2017 election, Labour had considerable success with videos of Corbyn campaigning and addressing crowds of people, notably with videos posted of him making a speech at the home of Tranmere Rovers in Birkenhead or with pictures of the crowds singing to him at Glastonbury. </p>
<p>The party has attempted to repeat this successful formula again – and, in many of these videos, policy discussion is avoided in favour of giving a taste of the excitement of the campaign. These videos aim to energise supporters and, as in 2017, demonstrate the crossover between the real-world campaigning and the social media campaign. They aim to build a narrative of an exciting social movement on the verge of taking power. </p>
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<p>This desire to reframe the debate in the election is also apparent in the policy areas engaged with in the videos posted on Corbyn’s account. Austerity and the impact of Conservative spending restraint on the NHS is highlighted time and again. The videos aim to demonstrate the failures of Conservative rule and present Corbyn as a political leader who is capable of bringing real and lasting change to the UK.</p>
<h2>Sophisticated messages for ‘ordinary voters’</h2>
<p>The parties are using a range of different styles of video to get their message across to voters. Some are highly produced pieces of political advertising that aim to get across key messages with a combination of text, music and video, often showing slightly slowed pictures of “ordinary voters”. Others are films produced by the parties themselves with a political leader talking directly to camera about an issue. Corbyn, in particular, is good at this style of video, appearing relaxed and in control when addressing the camera. But it is also a style of video that is used by the Conservatives too. </p>
<p>The Labour party has also adopted the tactic it successfully deployed in 2017, of creating animated policy explainers. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1190677570519519232"}"></div></p>
<p>These have also been accompanied by more meme-style explainers too – particularly for their policy of nationalisation of broadband provision. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1195355775650025473"}"></div></p>
<h2>On the attack</h2>
<p>The attack ad is also proving popular with both Labour and the Conservatives. Both tend to use party accounts rather than the leaders’ accounts to host attack ads. No doubt this is to allow the leaders’ to deliver positive messages emphasising their respective visions for the country. The Labour Party, in particular, has used its account to deliver attack ads focusing on both the impact of Conservative policy and the character of leading politicians, especially Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg. </p>
<p>All the political parties have been keen to use clips from broadcast media where it has supported their views on a policy. The Conservatives have made heavy use of clips from broadcast television of Labour politicians struggling to articulate the party’s policies, especially with regard to Brexit. Clips branded “<a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/piers-morgan-monsters-tory-chairman-20822035">car-crash</a>” interviews with Good Morning Britain presenters have often performed well.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1194532854283157504"}"></div></p>
<p>Finally, when considering the video content that is performing well on Facebook, it is striking that it is films that demand an emotional response that are driving engagement from users. Anger, pity, humour and pride are all emotional drivers for the most successful content. While the parties are still trying to explain policy, it is clear that the most viewed video posts are those that appeal to users’ hearts as well as to their minds.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300097/original/file-20191104-88382-xr3pj3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300097/original/file-20191104-88382-xr3pj3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300097/original/file-20191104-88382-xr3pj3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300097/original/file-20191104-88382-xr3pj3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300097/original/file-20191104-88382-xr3pj3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300097/original/file-20191104-88382-xr3pj3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300097/original/file-20191104-88382-xr3pj3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKGE2019&utm_content=GEBannerC">Click here to subscribe to our newsletter if you believe this election should be all about the facts.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matt Walsh 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>
A close look at the way the parties are using video in the campaign can tell you a lot about their approach.
Matt Walsh, Senior Lecturer School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/123092
2019-09-06T05:40:00Z
2019-09-06T05:40:00Z
VIDEO: Michelle Grattan on the economy - and Channel 9’s fundraiser for the Liberal party
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/68v2heeCVTU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor Professor Deep Saini and Michelle Grattan discuss the slowing economy, and how the government plans to prevent a possible recession. They also talk about Channel 9, which has come under fire from its newspaper journalists for hosting a fundraiser for the Liberal party.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan previously worked for The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian Financial Review. </span></em></p>
Michelle Grattan discusses the slowing economy, and the response to Channel 9’s decision to host a fundraiser for the Liberal party.
Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110771
2019-02-03T19:11:45Z
2019-02-03T19:11:45Z
The great movie scenes: Rome, Open City - fascism, tragedy and the birth of Italian neo-realism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256249/original/file-20190130-108334-n8ai7r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C17%2C2982%2C1477&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still from Rome, Open City (1945)</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>What makes a film a classic? In this video series, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a classic film and analyses its brilliance. (Warning: this scene contains violence and may be upsetting for some viewers.)</em></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/314139063" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Rome, Open City (1945)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In what way does a film reflect the politics of the time and place in which it was made? We started answering this question in the episode on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-back-to-the-future-108345">Back to the Future</a> (1985). Today, we explore this question further with Rome, Open City (Roma città aperta), directed by Roberto Rossellini and released to Italian audiences in 1945.</p>
<p>Rossellini made the film just after the German withdrawal, a couple of years after Mussolini’s death and the end of Fascism in Italy. The historical context is important because it provides an insight into what Rossellini was trying to achieve. If you are an Italian filmmaker, committed to the art form, but also to the country and its history, how do you respond to this turbulent moment in history? Rossellini used the medium of cinema to not only reconstruct Italy’s recent past under Fascism, but also its potential future.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>See also:</strong></em> <br></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-hitchcocks-vertigo-63320">Vertigo</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-antonionis-the-passenger-65395">The Passenger</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-74166">Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-steven-spielbergs-jaws-79043">Jaws</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-hitchcocks-psycho-and-the-power-of-jarring-music-97325">Psycho</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-the-godfather-98173">The Godfather</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-stanley-kubricks-2001-a-space-odyssey-100170">Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-sofia-coppolas-marie-antoinette-101893">Marie Antoinette</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-darren-aronofskys-requiem-for-a-dream-103916">Requiem for a Dream</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-the-matrix-and-bullet-time-105734">The Matrix and bullet-time</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-back-to-the-future-108345">Back to the Future</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110771/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Isaacs 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>
In this video, Bruce Isaacs looks at Rome, Open City. Made in 1945, it was Roberto Rossellini’s neorealist response to the end of German occupation, and Italy’s history of Fascism under Benito Mussolini.
Bruce Isaacs, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/110464
2019-01-25T10:18:43Z
2019-01-25T10:18:43Z
Neanderthals: javelin athletes helped us show how effective they were at hunting with weapons
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255553/original/file-20190125-108355-1t0102o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Neanderthals used to be portrayed as unintelligent and technologically deficient, a species that went extinct because of its inferiority to humans. But researchers now generally agree that Neanderthals were <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-neanderthals-may-have-been-more-sophisticated-hunters-than-we-thought-new-study-98870">adept predators</a>, innovative builders and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-that-neanderthals-could-make-art-92127">symbolic thinkers</a>. So how were early humans actually different from Neanderthals? It’s getting increasingly difficult to tell. But the capability to kill at a distance – such as with a bow and arrow – has long been thought of thought of as <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/35e4/b8725a3dec7fefa9c378c0d1185ded6b6402.pdf">one important threshold</a> in our human success story. </p>
<p>The earliest weapons we know of, likely made by Neanderthals, are simple wooden spears, and have been <a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/who-were-the-neanderthals.html">discovered at sites</a> dating from 400,000 years ago. Recent research confirming that Neanderthals <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-neanderthals-may-have-been-more-sophisticated-hunters-than-we-thought-new-study-98870">did use such spears to hunt</a> definitively rejected outdated ideas that Neanderthals were only scavengers. </p>
<p>But exactly how they used the spears remains unclear. Early spears could have been used as contact weapons for thrusting into prey. But they could also have be thrown by hand as javelin or used for self-defence or as probes for locating frozen carcasses. Our experiment, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-37904-w">published in Scientific Reports</a>, is the first to study the ballistics and accuracy of such early spears when thrown by hand – shedding light on how these spears were actually used. </p>
<p>We worked with a group of six club-level javelin athletes from the UK who threw replicas of a spear from the 300,000-year-old <a href="https://anthropology.net/2015/12/11/300000-year-old-wood-tools-from-schoningen/">Neanderthal site of Schöningen in Germany</a> at targets set at different distances. We recorded when they hit and missed the target, and filmed release and impacts with high-speed video cameras. This allowed us to evaluate accuracy and capture aspects of flight and impact that have never been scientifically analysed. </p>
<h2>Distance and impact</h2>
<p>The results show that Neanderthals designed weapons that were capable of impacting a target with significant speed and energy from distances of up to 20 metres. This is surprising – archaeologists have typically viewed hand-thrown spears as close-distance weapons, <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1525/ap3a.1993.4.1.11">limited to ten metres at most</a>. This is an extremely close hunting distance and would severely limit the strategies that hunters could use. It would also make it extremely dangerous to hunt larger prey with aggressive behaviours, such as bison. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3Q4Q2pJbKxo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Athlete throws replica Neanderthal javelin. Credit: Scientific Reports.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given how far these spears could reach, we propose that the hunting strategies of Neanderthals were more varied than generally assumed – enabling them to approach animals or even herds of animals. Accuracy was best at five metres, and reduced for each distance up to 20 metres. The athletes were unable to hit the target at 25 metres, which may indicate a distance limit for these spears. </p>
<p>Another assumption about these early spears when thrown by hand is that they would have been slow-moving, low-energy weapons. This would not only limit their killing power, but also alert prey to approaching projectiles. In contrast, complex projectiles, such as spearthrowers and bow and arrows, which were innovations of our own species, are often characterised as superior – having a long reach, high speed and high energy.</p>
<p>These differences in hunting technologies are sometimes used to help explain the extinction of Neanderthals and success of our own species. However, our study found that the speed of impact of these spears when thrown by skilled throwers actually overlaps with those of spear throwers. Because these spears are relatively heavy, their kinetic energy and momentum at impact turns out to be superior to complex projectiles. This means that hand-thrown spears have certain advantages, something that helps explain why they continue to be used by hunter gatherer groups today. </p>
<p>By looking at the ethnographic record, we can also understand how people have used differently designed throwing spears to hunt a wide variety of prey using different strategies. For example, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/14/australia.features11">Aboriginal Tasmanians</a> threw very long and thin wooden spears to hunt kangaroo from as far as 30 to 50 metres. Tiwi hunters from the Melville Islands, on the other hand, <a href="https://tiwidesigns.com/pages/hunting">threw heavy spears</a>, weighing over 2kg, to hunt a variety of land and sea animals. This suggests that thrown spears are versatile, and can be designed to match different types of prey in different environments. </p>
<h2>Neanderthal javelin design</h2>
<p>Many of the prevailing theories of these early weapons are based on unskilled throwers using spear replicas. By collaborating with a group of javelin athletes we were able to understand much more about how these spears behave in flight and at impact when thrown by those who are technically proficient in throwing. Working with the javelin athletes brought several interesting aspects of these weapons to light.</p>
<p>The balance and weight of the replicas is actually similar to a modern-day men’s javelin. The athletes noted that the stiffness of the replicas was similar to those of high-rated distance javelins that elite throwers use. Stiffer javelins limit vibration in flight. This makes them more aerodynamic, but they require more power to throw. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255550/original/file-20190125-108342-t2ikl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/255550/original/file-20190125-108342-t2ikl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=86&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255550/original/file-20190125-108342-t2ikl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=86&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255550/original/file-20190125-108342-t2ikl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=86&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255550/original/file-20190125-108342-t2ikl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=107&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255550/original/file-20190125-108342-t2ikl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=107&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/255550/original/file-20190125-108342-t2ikl8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=107&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spear replica.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Rather than being a limitation of the spears, this may mean that Neanderthals, with their robust physiques, would throw such spears with great power. A technique the javelin athletes used in the experiment was to “spin” the javelin around the long axis upon release, which stabilised the spear in flight. We will probably never know whether Neanderthals did use this technique, but damage to the weapons from such spinning is certainly something to look for. </p>
<p>Javelin athletes are physically fit, highly skilled at throwing with power, and know many techniques for optimising flight distances. However, unlike hunter gatherers, they are not trained to hit a target. Spear hunters train throughout childhood to learn to hit prey with a throwing spear. For this reason, we can expect that if Neanderthals threw regularly, they would likely have hit a target with greater accuracy than results seen in our experiment. </p>
<p>Tools, technological innovation and weaponry are considered as evidence of why our species has been so successful. Our study certainly adds to the growing literature suggesting that Neanderthals weren’t far behind – and we should certainly rethink their hunting abilities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110464/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annemieke Milks and Matt Pope received funding for this study from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and from UCL's Centre for Humanities Interdisciplinary Research Projects. </span></em></p>
The first systematic study of the ballistics and accuracy of prehistoric spears suggests Neanderthals could kill at a distance.
Annemieke Milks, PhD candidate, Archaeology, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/108345
2018-12-16T19:22:58Z
2018-12-16T19:22:58Z
The great movie scenes: Back to the Future
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249383/original/file-20181206-128193-cb6864.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C13%2C2937%2C1459&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Still from Back to the Future, 1985.</span> </figcaption></figure><p><em>What makes a film a classic? In this video series, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a classic film and analyses its brilliance.</em></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/304723095" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Back to the Future (1985)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/its-back-to-the-future-day-today-so-what-are-the-next-future-predictions-48740">It's Back to the Future Day today – so what are the next future predictions?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Back to the Future is that rare Hollywood film that is both a blockbuster and a cult classic, and was easily the <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1985&p=.htm">highest grossing</a> film that year. In this episode of Close-Up, we look at the politics underpinning Back to the Future in the era of Reagan’s America.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>See also:</strong></em> <br></p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-hitchcocks-vertigo-63320">Hitchcock’s Vertigo</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-antonionis-the-passenger-65395">Antonioni’s The Passenger</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-eternal-sunshine-of-the-spotless-mind-74166">Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-steven-spielbergs-jaws-79043">Steven Spielberg’s Jaws</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-hitchcocks-psycho-and-the-power-of-jarring-music-97325">Hitchcock’s Psycho</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-the-godfather-98173">The Godfather</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-stanley-kubricks-2001-a-space-odyssey-100170">Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-sofia-coppolas-marie-antoinette-101893">Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-darren-aronofskys-requiem-for-a-dream-103916">Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream</a>
<br>
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-movie-scenes-the-matrix-and-bullet-time-105734">The great movie scenes: The Matrix and bullet-time</a></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108345/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bruce Isaacs 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>
Back to the Future is one of the most loved films from the 1980s, and galvanised audiences across every demographic. In this episode of Close-Up, Bruce Isaacs looks at the politics underpinning the film.
Bruce Isaacs, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/108266
2018-12-06T17:14:21Z
2018-12-06T17:14:21Z
Geckos walk on water – we filmed them to find out how
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249339/original/file-20181206-128190-1iy9hvu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/colorful-macro-closeup-green-day-gecko-564753997?src=lCXUCR48828mRWAZXzvu_A-1-85">Natalia Van D/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anyone who’s seen a gecko will likely know they can climb walls. But these common lizards can also run across water nearly as fast as they can move on solid ground. Yet while we know how geckos scale smooth vertical surfaces using countless tiny hairs on their feet called setae, how they manage to avoid sinking into the water has been something of a mystery – until now. My colleagues and I <a href="http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)31469-6">recently completed research</a> that explains how geckos use a combination of techniques to perform this amazing feat.</p>
<p>The ability to walk on water has been recorded in smaller animals such as the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01793">water strider</a>, which are light enough to be held up by the water’s surface tension, the force between the water molecules at the surface. Meanwhile, larger animals such as <a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/content/218/8/1235">the grebe</a>, can walk on water because they are powerful enough to slap the surface with their feet as they run. The fast movement pushes down the water beneath the foot, creating a pocket of air around it. The upwards force generated when this pocket is pushed under the water is what keeps the animal briefly suspended on the surface.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qm1xGfOZJc8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But geckos are typically a size that falls in between these two categories. They are too weak to hold themselves up using surface slapping alone and too heavy to leave the water’s surface unbroken. Yet their relative water running speeds approach those of another well-known water running lizard, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/380340a0">the basilisk</a> (or “Jesus lizard”), which does rely on the slapping technique.</p>
<p>Initial calculations hinted, and video analysis confirmed, that unlike other species that move at the water’s surface, geckos use a combination of techniques to move faster on top of the water than they can by swimming through it. By analysing videos of geckos moving across the water, we found that their gait was similar to that of the basilisk. Each step involves retracting the foot through the air, slapping the surface, and stroking beneath the water. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249258/original/file-20181206-128199-nsyi2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249258/original/file-20181206-128199-nsyi2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249258/original/file-20181206-128199-nsyi2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249258/original/file-20181206-128199-nsyi2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=216&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249258/original/file-20181206-128199-nsyi2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249258/original/file-20181206-128199-nsyi2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249258/original/file-20181206-128199-nsyi2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No bridge? No problem.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Pauline Jennings</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9320547">unlike basilisks</a>, which aren’t affected by changes in the water’s surface tension, our experiments showed that geckos’ speed and head height were cut by half when we added detergent to the water, reducing the surface tension. This suggests that they are at least partly using the forces between the water molecules to stay above the surface. </p>
<p>We also found that geckos crucially use a combination of hydrostatic force (the upwards push of the water known as buoyancy) and hydrodynamic force (the lift created by movement across the water’s surface like in a surface-skimming motorboat). Together, these forces generate additional lift for the gecko, a condition known as <a href="https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/semi-planing.htm">semi-planing</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249260/original/file-20181206-128211-1i3yhj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249260/original/file-20181206-128211-1i3yhj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249260/original/file-20181206-128211-1i3yhj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249260/original/file-20181206-128211-1i3yhj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=604&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249260/original/file-20181206-128211-1i3yhj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249260/original/file-20181206-128211-1i3yhj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249260/original/file-20181206-128211-1i3yhj4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The gecko combo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Current Biology</span></span>
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<h2>Sting in the tail</h2>
<p>For all the ingenuity of this multi-tasking approach, geckos can only keep their head and torso fully above the water, leaving their tails dragging underneath. Being able to move almost as fast as on land when almost half of your body is underwater and facing more resistance and drag forces is quite a feat – just ask Michael Phelps.</p>
<p>Geckos manage this by using their tail, which has already been shown to help them <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-11484-7">manoeuvre around obstacles</a>, <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/105/11/4215">jump</a> and <a href="http://jeb.biologists.org/content/212/5/604">escape predators</a>. Seen from above as it travels across the water, the gecko can resemble a crocodile, moving its body and tail with a wavelike motion to create propulsion to balance the backwards pull of the water.</p>
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<p>Our research shows that for medium-sized animals to move quickly along the surface of water a complex and clever combination of physical mechanisms is required that previously was thought only to occur in larger and smaller animals. But it could also feed into better designs for animal-inspired robots. </p>
<p>Previous studies on geckos have inspired several such “biomimetic” endeavours, from <a href="https://geckskin.umass.edu/">better adhesives</a> to an agile (and pretty adorable) tailed robot car, aptly named <a href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/robot-uses-lizard-tail-to-leap/">Tailbot</a>. Better understanding of how animals travel across complex terrains will hopefully lead to robots that can harness these techniques to move on both land and water with the high performance seen in geckos.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108266/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jasmine Nirody 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>
Understanding geckos’ movements could lead to better robots.
Jasmine Nirody, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Biophysics, University of Oxford
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/107382
2018-11-22T11:08:59Z
2018-11-22T11:08:59Z
Fantastic Beasts – experts explain the mysterious real life questions behind JK Rowling’s magic tales
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246680/original/file-20181121-161638-v0vvxq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Johnny Depp as Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://mediapass.warnerbros.com">© 2018 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC.</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Even in the real world there are witches among us, and fantastic beasts – and a touch of magic, too. And so to mark the release of Fantastic Beasts: <a href="https://www.fantasticbeasts.co.uk">The Crimes of Grindelwald</a>, these experts have answered some of the more mysterious questions behind JK Rowling’s magical fiction. And they’ve made a series of short video explainers, too.</em></p>
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<h2>What would we see in the Mirror of Erised?</h2>
<p><em>Professor Heather Widdows, John Ferguson Professor of Global Ethics</em></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.pottermore.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/the-mirror-of-erised">Mirror of Erised</a> (“desire” backwards), features in the Harry Potter films and The Crimes of Grindelwald. It is a magic mirror that shows “not your face but your heart’s desire”. When Harry – the neglected, lonely orphan boy – looks in the magic mirror, for example, he sees himself surrounded by a happy, loving family. His heart’s desire is to be loved and not alone.</p>
<p>The moral of the Mirror of Erised – and the Harry Potter universe is full of morals – is that the truly happy person sees only themselves as they really are.</p>
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<p>But could many of us do this? In our <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/strategic-framework/Research/perfect-me.aspx">increasingly visual and virtual culture</a>, what many of us would likely see if we looked in the Mirror of Erised is an improved, perfected body, the imagined self, the Perfect Me. This is the self we are constantly working on. The self we imagine we will attain if only we stick to our diets, go to the gym and perform the prescribed tasks: brushing, pumping, plucking, creaming, firming, smoothing and erasing.</p>
<p>This is the self we seek to invoke in our doctored and digitally remastered selfies. The thinner, firmer, smoother, younger, you. Still you, but the better, best or even – if you believe the language of the beauty business – the “real” you.</p>
<h2>Is there equality in the world of witches and wizards?</h2>
<p><em>Michaela Mahlberg, Professor of Corpus Linguistics and Dr Anna Cermakova, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow</em></p>
<p>In a captivating scene in Fantastic Beasts, little Modesty Barebone is playing hopscotch and singing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My momma, your momma, gonna catch a witch,<br>
My momma, your momma, flying on a switch,<br>
My momma, your momma, witches never cry,<br>
My momma, your momma, witches gonna die!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This ominous song alludes to the historical witch trials. The trials mainly focused on women and girls – and these historical connections contribute to the negative connotations we have of the word “witch”. Indeed, in today’s language, “witch” often refers to an unlikable, <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/witch">unpleasant or ugly woman</a>.</p>
<p>But things are different for the word “wizard”. Wizards tend to have positive qualities, being wise and brave, for example – think of Gandalf from the Lord of the Rings books – and there are also positive expressions, such as “computer wizard”. The word “wizard” is also used less frequently than “witch”.</p>
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<p>And so the words “witch” and “wizard” make a rather unequal pair. How Rowling’s Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts series shift and question the meaning of these words for today’s children is really quite remarkable. She makes some witches (such as Hermione in the Harry Potter films) good, and some wizards, such as Grindelwald (played by Johnny Depp in the latest film) bad, subverting the old stereotypes. At the same time, it is interesting to see how our real world <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/edacs/departments/englishlanguage/research/projects/glare/index.aspx">gender inequalities</a> are mirrored in Rowling’s world of magic.</p>
<h2>Are there real life Fantastic Beasts?</h2>
<p><em>Dr Stephan Lautenschlager, Lecturer in Palaeobiology</em></p>
<p>In the Fantastic Beasts series, the audience is introduced to a range of weird and wonderful magical creatures: from winged horses and thunderbirds to demons and mischievous furry animals, which look like a cross between a mole and a platypus. While some of them might have been inspired by living animals, many of the beasts in the movies would seem to be too fantastic to be true if we encountered them in the wild. However, this might also be the case for many of the real-life fantastic beasts which inhabited this planet long before humans. </p>
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<p>The evolutionary origins of modern animals date back more than 500m years, while the first traces of life itself go back as far as 3.5 billion years. Over that period of hundreds of millions of years, many animals which can only be described as fantastic beasts have evolved, conquered the water, land or air, and eventually become extinct again.</p>
<p>But proof for their existence is documented by their fossilised remains. In fact, the fossil record is full of fossil fantastic beasts and, as palaeontologists, we attempt to <a href="http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royopensci/3/10/160342.full.pdf">revive some of them</a>. Not in real life, but by studying their fossilised skeletons <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2018.00007/full">to reconstruct</a> their appearance, their biology and their behaviour.</p>
<h2>What role do we play in the wizarding world?</h2>
<p><em>Dr James R Walters, Reader in Film and Television Studies</em></p>
<p>The wizarding communities in the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films live among ordinary people – the <a href="https://www.pottermore.com/collection/muggles">muggles</a>, no-majs and non-magiques. These lives are sometimes intertwined as magical incidents spill over from one society to the next. </p>
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<p>But who are these ordinary people? The monstrous Dursley family who abuse their magical nephew, Harry Potter? The childlike Jacob Kowalski, who cannot be trusted with the secrets of the wizarding world and must have his memory erased? Or the oblivious masses who feel only the effects of magic without seeing their causes? In these films, non-magical humans are often peripheral, inconvenient or even negative elements.</p>
<p>As ordinary humans, we are the muggles. In these worlds, we would be background details or minor complications. And yet the films allow us to become part of the magical world, as we move through its landscapes and share its secrets. We shake off our ordinariness and become temporary members of a society more spectacular, but less human. So, the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films possess a magic common to all of cinema. As we watch the films – something I discuss further <a href="https://anchor.fm/university-of-birmingham/episodes/Fantastic-Research-Why-are-the-films-based-on-the-books-of-J-K-Rowling-such-a-phenomenon-e2j0nr/a-a6ep3o">in this podcast</a> – we are not ourselves. There, in the darkness, these films cast their spell of invisibility over us.</p>
<h2>Will we ever be able to ‘apparate’?</h2>
<p><em>Dr Nikk Effingham, Reader in Philosophy</em></p>
<p>In the world of Harry Potter, the wizards can magically move around, vanishing from one place and appearing in another. They might use “floo powder” or “portkeys”, or “apparate” away. And they can also move through time! Using a “Time Turner”, a witch or wizard can travel back into the past. But doing so is risky – who wants to end up like Madam Mintumble who travelled back to the 15th century and ended up ageing five centuries? </p>
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<p>But if you’re careful, the skilled magician can manage to pull it off, as we know from when Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter stories, managed to regularly travel back in time to fit in her studies. Or when the protagonists of the books managed to push the boundaries of safety when they went back to save Sirius Black and Buckbeak the Hippogriff.</p>
<p>But does this make any sense? What does teleportation involve? Does being careful when we’re back in the past make a difference? And is time travel even possible? I can’t say whether time travel is physically possible (you’ll have to ask a physicist) but in my <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/philosophy/effingham-nikk.aspx">latest research</a>, I argue that it is at least <em>theoretically</em> possible – like many things, we can’t rule out its possibility without first learning more about the physical world around us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107382/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Cermakova receives funding from the European Union (project reference number is EU 749521). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Widdows has received funding to research beauty from the Leverhulme Trust and the AHRC.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michaela Mahlberg receives funding from the European Research Council (project reference number is EU 749521)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Walters, Nikk Effingham, and Stephan Lautenschlager do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From witching equality to what we’d see if we looked in a real Mirror of Erised, researchers explore the magic of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Nikk Effingham, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Birmingham
Anna Cermakova, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow, Centre for Corpus Research, University of Birmingham
Heather Widdows, John Ferguson Professor of Global Ethics, University of Birmingham
James Walters, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies, University of Birmingham
Michaela Mahlberg, Professor of Corpus Linguistics, University of Birmingham
Stephan Lautenschlager, Lecturer in Palaeobiology, University of Birmingham
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.