When first encountering the depiction of Helen of Troy as having the “Face that launched a thousand ships”, one marvels at the power of the armada sent to free her from her kidnapper Paris. As many a student has experienced over the years, a deeper encounter with the story reveals other layers than first meets the eye, such as the theory that Paris may have actually been Helen’s lover, rather than a villain. The different media at the time that may have been used to incite the war would have included paintings, sketches, ballads, poetry, town square proclamations, and perhaps even song. This may have been an early example of what Henry Jenkins would later call “Transmedia stories are based on…complex fictional worlds which can sustain multiple interrelated characters.” The power of the story obviously had an even bigger effect on the lives and families of the thousands of Greek men who rose to Helen’s “defense” and fought the Trojan War on her behalf.
The multifaceted nature and the power of visual storytelling is actually accelerated and amplified by today’s technologies. Centuries later in the same location we have experienced another example of the launching power of a visual story in the stark photo of the Syrian toddler who drowned while his family was attempting to reach the Greek Island Kos. Under the hashtag #KiyiyaVuranInsanlik (Humanity Washed Ashore), the picture raced through global media succintly depicting an emerging tragedy that journalists had been struggling to profile in words.
Image source: Reuters International
Like the Helen visual centuries before, this image too launched many ships, not to make war but to bring relief and safety. Organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and Seawatch have commissioned vessels to assist the refugees who are floundering on the sea. MSF uses short clips to visually broadcast its efforts, such as this two minute snippet. Seawatch tells its stories in emotionally charged videos such as this one.
These visuals have served to crowdsource nautical talent, mapping and satellite expertise, political support, funds, and rescue operational expertise to meet the tragic need. Some academics, such as Daren Brabham, might point out that this phenomena is more an example of a participatory culturally based response than of crowdsourcing. Precise definitions of crowdsourcing in their view depict it as a subset of participation response that is top-down and driven by a single organization via a controlled process.
One of the earliest pioneers of crowdsourcing was the eminent etymologist William Safire in this column. It was in there that he even isolated the exact conversation at Wired magazine where the portmanteau was born.
Having surveyed the origination of a number of new refugee assistance efforts, I now believe that there was indeed a single motivator to this global coalescing of talent, time, and funds. A audit-able example organization is that of Techfugees. Techfugees is a coalition of social entrepreneurs and technologists who have created over twenty chapters in cities around the globe developing tools to ease the plight of the refugee. The solutions that they have developed range from school back pack sized WiFi broadcast devices in refugee camps to mobile phone apps directing refugee parents to the closest tent with supplies of amoxicillin for ear infections. Their founding story is depicted here.
The name of the powerful motivator behind the birth of this movement was Alan Kurdi. He was three years old. The name of the Turkish policeman is more ubiquitous. He is us.
Image Source: Reuters International
#KiyiyaVuranInsanlik
Humanitarianism Unleashed 