Finishing Production

Image Source

 This week I delved into the postproduction process, as I figured it would be necessary to learn the ins and outs for tying the video together. I have used Adobe Premiere in the past, however this is a great opportunity for me to improve my familiarity with the program. In particular, I was able to familiarise myself with the graphical aspects of video editing. Last week, I gathered some stock footage and images that are in some way relevant to the topics at hand. Of course, I may need to source more throughout the project as it evolves. I’ve found the websites Pixabay and Pexel to be a great help in searching for appropriate stock footage and still images.

This week I was also made aware of current events involving Facebook, which piqued my interest. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook (now Meta Platforms, Inc.) employee recently leaked confidential documents to the Wall Street Journal. Dubbed ‘The Facebook Papers’ (NY Magazine Intelligencer, 2021), this series of reports contains data collected from internally conducted studies on the corporation’s effects on users. This ranges from the perpetuation of misinformation, to inciting conflict/hate speech, and Instagram’s harmful effects on younger users when it comes to social comparison among other issues.

This issue has escalated in passing months, with Haugen testifying in front of the US Congress in an attempt to promote positive change in Meta’s operations. In her testimony, she explained that “the company's leadership knows how to make Facebook and Instagram safer, but won't make the necessary changes because they have put their astronomical profits before people” (Politico, 2021). Her pledge to reform the current social media landscape has continued, with further testimonies to both the EU Parliament (Politico EU, 2021) and UK Parliament (New York Times, 2021). I find this story to be both topical and important to note in relation to Internet Algorithms as a topic, so I would like to follow up with it further in the coming weeks. Should nothing else come of this, there are other examples of Meta’s anti-trust background to pull from.

I felt that I made a respectable level of progress this week, having narrowed down my topic to a specific, contemporary story and having examined the postproduction process with somewhat more nuance. Next week, I will have to communicate with my team so as to retain a steady level of advancement as a group.

 

References:

 NY Magazine Intelligencer (2021) What was leaked in the Facebook Papers [online] Available from <https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/what-was-leaked-in-the-facebook-papers.html> [accessed 21 Nov 2021].

Politico (2021) Whistleblower to Senate: Don't Trust Facebook [online] Available from <https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/05/facebook-whistleblower-testifies-congress-515083> [accessed 21 Nov 2021].

Politico EU (2021) 5 Takeaways from Facebook Whistleblower's EU Parliament Testimony [online] Available from <https://www.politico.eu/article/frances-haugen-brussels-european-parliament-eu-facebook-thierry-breton-google/> [accessed 21 Nov 2021].

New York Times (2021) Facebook Whistle-Blower Brings Campaign to Europe After Disclosures [online] Available from <https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/business/frances-haugen-facebook.html> [accessed 21 Nov 2021].