Final Major – Naming & Narrative

I’ve hit something of a road bump. Given the fact that the success of this initiative is largely dependent on how it’s received I’ve been wanting to get the ‘name’ sorted soon. The name isn’t totally restricted to but should really hint at the aim of the project or somehow atleast be related to the commodification of peoples bodies, the sex industry, responding to, talking about whats going on (in Bournemouth though hopefully not too specific so the brand could be used elsewhere perhaps). Aswell as issues like trafficking, concepts of worth etc.

And it’s been a few days and I’ve had a list and knocked it down to a few and I’ve been reminded of the fact that everyone has an opinion on what works and what doesn’t as far as the name goes, unfortunately you can never get people (myself included) to agree on what name could work best.

I’ve been looking at some of the things I did some rather brief case studies on last week and I came across an article from the founder of ‘TWOLHA’ talking about the power of story and the increasing importance of narrative. The thing which got me interested in this whole project was my journalist friend telling me of some of the things she’s heard going on in Bournemouth and Poole. So maybe this could be something to explore something touching on narrative or story? Part of my looking into viral suggests that if I could somehow bring it home to people this would be more likely to engage people.. and though I probably realised this quite early on I think this has definately helped me developed my thinking on the whole topic. People tend to respond a lot more to stories which impact them or have implications for them.. even if it’s just in the delivery and so.. this entire project really is some sort of initiative concerning the questions raised by prosititution and people trafficking.. the commodification of our bodies.. and saying how does this effect the human story being told in Bournemouth?

Ultimately I want to break the taboo on the topic, get people talking about the issue and commenting on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, how does it affect us?.. and off that.. what can we do about it?

When I think like this I just go off on one now thinking about organisms, mitosis, biology, plant life (Grassroots!).. and wonder if I get anywhere..

Potential titles which seem initially popular so far.. are..

(Hello) My name is John..* (Most popular I think.. but it isn’t really what I’m looking for as a brand name i think..)

Red Light

Soulution (Not that popular)

Bed is for Sleeping (This has got a mixed response)

*John i heard is slang for a guy who visits prostitutes because when asked they’ll often say “John” something

But I’ve quite gotten into this idea of storytelling as it is in it’s essence viral.. and story’s have been told as long as humanity has had language so it is really part of who we are.. just like our flesh. If people are reading this it’d be really good to hear if you have any ideas or comments on the topic.. I’m still trying to think up a name really. It won’t take much just reply with your view..

I was thinking something like the Seed Collective/Initiative.. going on something along with grassroots.. viral.. but I’m sitting on that before saying anything definate tho.. I’m sort of stuck on the whole issue, is it too generic? Part of me likes it.. maybe the fact that it isn’t explict allows for a space to be created where you could talk about a potentially sensitive or hotly debated topic in a lighter more friendly atmosphere?

What do you think?

Final Major – Apathy is boring..

Is a website I heard of.. forgot about and kinda stumbled on again. It’s a canadian website which looks at trying to get young canadians involved in voting (non-partisan) it states that most Canadian youth feel disempowered and distanced from what is going on in politics.

Apathy is boring

Whatever you feel about it, I’ve been looking at some of the ways they try to engage people..

It’s ‘cool’ to be concerned

Apathy is boring tries to address a new way of viewing politics.. ie; it’s cool and sexy. However, it can only be cool and sexy once you know about it, and if you don’t know about it you’re apathetic and that’s boring.. hence thats not cool.. its not sexy either.

Obviously for young people identity is a big thing, being sexy and cool tends to be somewhere high on the list for most youth. The desire to be accepted and wanted by other people.. i guess? The site tries to patch into this with it’s branding alongside the clothing sold on the site (which is also a means of advertising). It’ also makes a habit of getting canadian musicians involved in apathy is boring, trying to reach into subcultures and the lives of other youth to further the ‘cool’ concept that music, politics and sexy can mix.

Making it easy

Apathy is boring has masses of information on the political scene, political issues, political parties aswell as ways for visitors to the site can get involved not only in apathy is boring but also various political groups. Alot of people might be pulled onto the site but it could be questionable how many would actually take upon themselves to look up information but apathy is boring has done it for everyone already and makes a point of saying “We’ve done this all for you, you just have to pick it up.” almost suggesting after a quick look around the website you really have no excuse for not getting involved in something or some sort of opinion on the political scene. Apathy is boring also publish regular news and articles relating to the political scene so they make it very easy to say clued in with this all.

Why not join in?

The website also holds the capability to foster some sort of community where people can publish their own news and get involved with other Canadian youth who live locally and/or share similiar views. Likewise you can also get to a place where you can represent apathy is boring itself and get involved in raising awareness about the project.. put on gigs or if your a musician you can get quite a bit of publicity for getting involved in apathy is boring. All of these methods go somewhere towards empowering those who choose to get involved with apathy is boring, they also make a point of taking on interns which goes some way to say that the direct involvement of people who visit their website is something important. One of the root causes of apathy largely (the site suggests) is disempowerment.. that fact that youth are’t represented in politics, so this is what apathy is boring tries to address really.

So.. what does this mean.. how does apathy is boring engage the apathetic?

Apathy is boring looks at getting people, young people interested in something they have no interest in. They’ve done this by looking at what young people already ‘are’ interested in and then doing what they can to take their message and get it associated with those things the youth are interested/involved in to get those youth likewise involved in the political scene. This is done mostly via music and art which are a strong part of the identity of youth culture.

Apathy is boring have then taken on branding which reinforces this and in a subtle fashion stated that this is cool & sexy and this asserts that to not be interested means you’re missing out on the possibility to be cool and sexy.. which plays on image and identity of people which is quite important to them when young.

It’s hard to measure how successful this campaign is in reality. It covers a wide area (the entire of canada) so in some regions it can be quite successful, in others it might not..

Apathy is boring seem’s like a top-down approach… here is something, plug in.. meet people, do stuff.

However I want to instead go from a ground-up, grassroots approach.. apathy is still an issue but i want to say.. here’s an issue… what do you think?… what should we do? Most of what I’m trying to do is relationally driven I think this is something important.. if I care.. my friends might care more because I care. I want to then empower ‘carriers’ of this ‘memetic virus’ to spread the viral/virus onto others.. i want to infect them with an ideological stand-point which says this whole people traffick/prostitution etc. in bomo/poole is messed up.. in a BIG way!