Our Privacy Matters!

Have you ever thought about your online privacy and security rights? If your answer is anywhere between "maybe", "not really", "sometimes", "once in a while", or "no"... then this short video will (hopefully) have you think twice. Produced and directed in a fun and upbeat way, this short 17min documentary express the issues that some youth overlook or are completely oblivious to. 

Basically, from my bias point of view, this is worth watching.

Please be sure to watch this short 17min documentary in the HTML5 Format.

Privacy Matters! Youth, Identity & Online Sociability from Giuliana Cucinelli on Vimeo.

I have been very fortunate to help work on this documentary as the main sound designer. For those uncertain about what the sound designer does, I would accompany the director and producer to the majority of the interviews held with different scholars, students and youth members and help record the interviews taking place. Once in post-production, I would be sure to sync up the audio to the final picture lock to make sure that everything is properly in sync. 

We were fortunate enough to have been given the permission from Avicii's manager to use segments of "Bromance" and "Levels" as our music soundtrack heard throughout the documentary. 

I was also extremely lucky to work with such an amazing team - Dr. Leslie Shade (currently teaching at University of Toronto), Dr. Giuliana Cucinelli (about to begin an exciting adventure doing her post-doc at MIT come Fall 2013), AJ Korkidakis (currently documenting Kid Koala's tour), and Rob Lynch (currently finishing up his BA in Communication Studies and a phenomenal visual documenter) - but we are forever grateful to the interviewees who helped participate in this process (scholars, students, youth). 

An abstract of the documentary can be found below (from Dr. Cucinelli's vimeo description):

"Our everyday lives are increasingly dependent upon the use of social media for communication with our friends, family, schoolmates, and colleagues. Social network sites such as Facebook, real-time information services such as Twitter, micro-blogging sites such as Tumblr, video-sharing sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, are used for creative, constructive, or even mundane uses. In our ever-connected world, it is more than ever difficult to disconnect.

While social media are ostensibly ‘free’, the personal information that we put on these sites is sold to third-party marketers zealous to monetize this data, or even to governments, law officials, and potential employers, eager to compile a dossier of our activities without our knowledge and consent. There are thus serious privacy implications and issues related to social media. How can we manage our personal privacy on these sites? How does the architectural design and terms of use — including of course privacy policies — impact the ownership of our very own communication and conversations? Design and policy tangibly impact the security and privacy of our personal information related to data collection, retention, distribution, and control.

Many admonish youth for their supposed cavalier attitude toward their personal privacy on social media. But in our research we have found that youth have a very nuanced and smart sense about how to manage their own privacy and they possess a grounded sense of the interpersonal ethics surrounding social media communication. They have told us that they are often frustrated by the brazen attitude of social media companies who routinely change their privacy controls, and they have also told us that they want more of a voice in policymaking.

This film explores these issues, and brings forward the voices of Canadian youth, media educators, and academics. It is designed to serve as both an introduction to the various issues related to privacy, social media and youth and also serve as a provocation for youth to become more involved in not only shaping the social media landscape but in educating policymakers about their insights and concerns about online privacy."

Enjoy! Share! And be aware!

Cheers

C. x