August 28, 2023

Images are a vital part of how we construct our understanding of our world; depending on who we are and what we believe, the same image can communicate something very different. Image tampering and manipulation are nothing new. However, at a time of increased connectivity, polarization, and misinformation across the globe, the impact of online images can be more divisive than ever. The ongoing strike being held in Hollywood by the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America (SAG-AFTRA), is an example of some of the issues raised by deep fakes and the manipulation of images and videos. SAG-AFTRA wants actors to be paid fairly for the use of their likenesses made by AI and to stop studios from training AI to recreate something new from existing work.

How can we support our students to keep an open mind, and develop their understanding of these important, ethical issues from multiple perspectives? One tool that could offer opportunities to tackle some of these challenges is the proposed mobile app, SHIFT, created by Manu Revi in his Master’s Programme in Interaction Design at the Umeå Institute of Design. The app, still in the developmental stage, is a cross-platform tool that focuses on changing our behavior by shifting how we interact with information. SHIFT is a visual search tool that connects multiple photos of a single event to show alternative perspectives, creating an in-depth approach to real-world events. You can view the image from three different lenses:

• Point of view — by selecting part of the photo using a pointer

• Location — when this is changed, you can see social media, tweets, headlines, articles, etc. on the event from different places

• Time — allows you to view the event or image from different time frames. A 2-D image becomes 3-D, accessible not only through different points in time and space but also from a range of perspectives.

It would provide students with easy access to information in order to build a comprehensive picture of an event and see the same context in different ways.

Design is often created as a response to a need but it takes a creative and critical approach that recognizes there is a problem to be solved. Revi says “When we can fake anything, honest representation of reality in images has become a complex problem to crack.” Right now schools are navigating completely new ground and educating students about AI, ChatGPT, and deep fake technology, so it is essential that we give students tools and strategies to understand how they can reliably verify their sources. How can we know what we are viewing is real, especially when there is so much fake news and when legitimate news stories are reported on social media platforms as fake news? The SHIFT app approach actually re–imagines how to show images in an investigative way through multiple lenses. 

As educators, we know that of all our senses, when it comes to learning, vision plays a very important role. If vision is one of the most powerful conduits for engaging our learners, what does this new reality of not being able to trust what we see, mean to how we learn? Manu Revi believes that keeping an open mind to views that oppose one’s own is: 

…like tightrope walking where you have to keep your left and right in check. Moreover, you can’t expect people to go mining for alternate perspectives. I want to make this tightrope walking an easy affair—at least when it comes to visual imagery. Reflecting on what you see shouldn’t be as hard as reverse image searching in Google. It should be as easy as a left and right swipe. (personal communication,18th August 2023)

How could we apply the concepts behind SHIFT to inspire our students? What opportunities could examining content through the lens of multiple perspectives, time, and location in Humanities, Geography, English Language Arts, Visual Arts, and Performance Arts give us? Students could gather a variety of images and create differing photomontages of the same situation but viewed through different political, social, or economic viewpoints and then compare the overall visual. There are also opportunities for collaboration and debate when studying historical events and investigating ethical issues such as global warming and the displacement of vulnerable communities. Focusing your students’ learning on ethical issues and the implications of this new style of technology/social media can be supported by ISTE standards, one that is of particular interest is The Computational Thinker (5.1.e). This recognizes the connections between the interaction of computing and society that creates ‘opportunities, inequities, responsibilities, and threats for individuals and organizations’.

Exploring SHIFT could inspire your students to be open-minded, and to imagine and develop concepts for other tools and resources to combat misinformation. Through classroom discussions about the potential risks of image tampering, such as identity theft from uploading childhood photos, students can share awareness about these issues with their families. AI can offer us exciting new ways of living, for example through transformational technologies in healthcare, transport, education, or entertainment. Creativity and value are integral to this discussion; it is not just the experience of those being entertained that matters, there is also the value of the growth, fulfillment and need for creatives (e.g. writers, artists, actors, directors) to express themselves and feel complete as humans. 

References

Bellware, K., & Brasch, B. (2023, July 13). Why are Hollywood actors and writers on strike? Here are the issues. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/07/13/why-actors-writers-strike-sag-wga-issues/

Buono, G. (2022, September 15). Inside one platform’s ambitious plan to combat misinformation online. Fast Company. Retrieved August 14, 2023, from https://www.fastcompany.com/90768022/inside-one-platforms-ambitious-plan-to-combat-misinformation-online

Ghosh, K. (2023, August 15). Hollywood studios offer new concessions to striking screenwriters – Bloomberg News (K. Coghill & C. Osterman, Ed.). reuters.com. Retrieved August 18, 2023, from https://www.reuters.com/world/us/hollywood-studios-make-new-offer-striking-screenwriters-bloomberg-news-2023-08-15/

ISTE (Ed.). (2023). ISTE standards for students. iste.org. Retrieved August 18, 2023, from https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-studentsUmea-Institute of design (Ed.). (2021). SHIFT -mapping reality in digital imagery. Umeå Institute of Design. Retrieved August 18, 2023, from https://www.umu.se/en/umea-institute-of-design/education/student-work/masters-programme-in-interaction-design/2021/manu-revi/