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The Stepping into Visibility Model: reflecting on consequences of social media visibility – a Global South perspective.

Rega, I. and Medrado, A., 2021. The Stepping into Visibility Model: reflecting on consequences of social media visibility – a Global South perspective. Information, Communication and Society.

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DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2021.1954228

Abstract

This article discusses activists’ need to reflect on how achieving social media visibility might translate into vulnerability. In order to provide activists with a tool for this reflection, the Stepping into Visibility Model has been developed and applied to two case studies: (a) an activist group in a Brazilian favela using social media for protection against police brutality and (b) a Kenyan photographer, affiliated to an art-ivist (artistic and activist) collective, producing images of Nairobi at night to tackle social anxiety issues. The research draws from sociological insights on the concept of ‘visibility’ and adopts a case study methodology combined with ethnographic approaches. By adopting a Global South perspective, it discusses counter surveillance efforts in ways that go beyond techno-legal solutionism (Dencik et al, 2016) and in periods outside that of big-scale protests (McCosker, 2015). By devising this model, we hope to offer a contribution on how marginalised communities can be better informed when they encounter unintended negative visibility.

Item Type:Article
ISSN:1369-118X
Uncontrolled Keywords:social media; visibility; marginalisation; media activism; global south
Group:Faculty of Media & Communication
ID Code:35930
Deposited By: Symplectic RT2
Deposited On:26 Aug 2021 15:53
Last Modified:14 Mar 2022 14:29

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