Digital Imagery as Social Mechanism: Awareness and Social Change

1. Sketch
Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where
to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half
hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that
others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going
to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your
book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and
thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black
hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered
seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank
you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets.
Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where
to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half
hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that
others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going
to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your
diffusion
book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and
thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black
hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered
seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank
you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets.
of
responsibility
Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where
to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half
hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that
others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going
to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your
book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and
thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black
hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered
seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank
you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets.
Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where
to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half
hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that
others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going
to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your
book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and
thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black
hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered
seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank
you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets.
Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where
to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half
hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that
others know they are not alone with their secrets. Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn’t know how I was going
to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn’t stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your
book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and
Binaebi Akah » Project 4a I590 Spring 2010
Digital Imagery as Social Mechanism: Awareness and Social Change

2. Research
cliché, but true...
one person can make a difference.
When someone tweets that they’re
about to commit suicide, does anyone
do anything? Who is responsible for
the death if no one acts?
Diffusion of responsibility is the result of being
in a group of people witnessing an emergency
situation, and assuming someone else will
help (Darley, J. M. & Latané, B., 1968).
Pictured here is a tweet made by Demi Moore
after receiving an at-reply from Sandieguy
on Twitter. When Sandieguy tweeted about
her planned suicide to a particular person, it
galvanized others to determine her location
so they could call the police and prevent the
suicide. Luckily, they were successful.
Bottom-left is a photo of Casie. Her story is
available on Post Secret, a blog of anonymous
postcards. She admitted it was because of
Post Secret’s association with Hopeline that
she called the suicide prevention hotline.
Bottom-right is a photo of Kitty Genovese
from 1968, whose murder was witnessed by
38 people over the span of a half-hour, of
which few responded because it was assumed
someone else had taken action to help her,
and various other reasons. It is due to an
article written two weeks after her death that
we have the diffusion of responsibility theory.
Binaebi Akah » Project 4a I590 Spring 2010
Digital Imagery as Social Mechanism: Awareness and Social Change

3. Attributions
Primary Secondary
Lynn Dombrowski “Casie’s Story”
Thanatosensitivity online, and how death (background of sketch)
affects those left behind. http://postsecret.blogspot.com
Sharing (or reading) secrets online help those of us oppressed by our secrets.
Joe Wilkerson
Committing social (online) suicide as a Darley, J. M. & Latané, B. (1968). Bystander intervention in emergencies: Diffusion
way to unplug. of responsibility.
“Demi Moore’s Twitter Followers Help Stop a Suicide”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10212297-71.html
Photo of Casie
http://photos1.blogger.com/photoInclude/blogger/994/593/1600/C.jpg
Photo of Kitty Genovese
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-10-01-2866829171_x.htm
Photo of @mrskutcher’s tweet to @sandieguy
http://pics.livejournal.com/rosalierose/pic/001fqtg8
“Social Network Sites Link to Town’s Seven Suicides”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3234692.ece
“Worldwide cry for help: Q-C man broadcasts suicide on Twitter”
http://www.qctimes.com/news/local/article_70692410-7f10-11de-81c8-001cc-
4c002e0.html
Binaebi Akah » Project 4a I590 Spring 2010
Digital Imagery as Social Mechanism: Awareness and Social Change