unify your levant: open source collaboration for social change

A Thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF SCIENCEIN COMMUNICATIONS DESIGN

Pratt InstituteMay 2010

Received and Approved

Jeff Bellantoni, Department Chair

Jean Brennan, Thesis Advisor

Date

Date

OPEN SOURCE COLLABORATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: A SUSTAINABLE NON-GOVERNMENTAL COLLECTIVE FOR

THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

SETTING THE STAGE

1.1 History 1.2 Political Climate

4.1 Moving into the Open Brand4.2 Crowdsourcing

2.1 Methodology: Stating the Facts2.2 Framing the Problem2.3 Existing Projects2.4 Qualitative Research

5.1 The Open Network for Social Change5.2 Constellation Model

21

INTERACTIVE BRANDING

HUMAN CENTEREDDESIGN

THE OPEN NETWORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

85

27

99

3.1 Language3.2 Typography

Unify Your Levant

SYMBOLOGY ANDSEMIOTICS

VISUAL PROJECT

73

115

NAVIGATION

The middle east is home to the world’s oldest civilizations, three major religions, and a history of conflict. The area of land between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea lies the most contested soil on earth. Featuring mostly arid mountainous desert, the landscape would not appear highly desirable, much less worth years of war. But polytheistic religious prophecy has contributed to a state of conflicting rights of ownership and belonging.

Jewish Israelis believe it is ordained in the Old Testament that the land- called Israel, is theirs. Palestinians believe their rightful homes were usurped by a Western-backed intruder. These opposing perspectives drive an incendiary clash of faith and culture. Though as the conflict ages

INTRODUCTION

and technology matures, new generations of Israelis and Palestinians will become leaders and embody an opportunity for change.

ISRAEL

PALESTINIAN OCCUPIED TERRITORY

WEST BANK

ISRAEL

GAZA STRIP

HYPOTHESIS

AN OPEN CAMPAIGN SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED

TO CULTIVATE A HUMANISTIC AND COMPLEX

UNDERSTANDING OF THE OPPOSING CULTURE CAN

OFFER OPPORTUNITY FOR THOSE LIVING WITHIN THE

CONFLICT TO PERCEIVE EACH OTHER ANEW.

SUCH AN EFFORT, WHILE HISTORICALLY SOUGHT, MAY

BE ENRICHED BY UTILIZING INTERACTIVE MEDIA,

USER-GENERATED CONTENT AND HUMAN-CENTERED

DESIGN. WHILE ONLINE MEDIA FACILITATES THE

COMMUNITY, THE OUTCOME IS FOCUSED ON THE

REAL WORLD CONFLICT AND PEOPLE OF THE REGION

Brands and their messages have become ubiquitous not only in business, but also in human interaction and social development- especially in the digital space. The rise of social networking and user-driven content has incentivized corporations to loosen increasingly obsessive control over their brands. This loosening combined with an increase in customer participation has created a stronger relationship between brand and consumer.

A very literal example is Nike’s I.D. program: A nifty website allows customers to design their own shoe, fostering a strong sense of entitlement and belonging to the brand. Upon completion of the design, the product is lumped into a pool of other customized shoes. There is information under each

shoe stating who designed it, for what purpose, and their inspiration. Further, you can comment on the designs and trade information. This is just an example of the levity brands are offering their consumers.

Branding a business is one thing- but branding a conflict is quite another. Commercial initiatives have succeeded in the contexts of revitalizing nations, events, political figures and philanthropic/health/humanitarian causes. But can a conflict benefit from modern branding tactics? Political and cultural conflicts are innately laden with negative value, often due to the inconsistency in representing perspectives from the different people involved. When multiple perspectives and vehement attitudes are thrown

HYPHOTHESIS

opposite:from OpenBrands, by Kelly Mooney, 2008

BUSINESS BUSINESS

O P E NCLOSED

CONSUMER CONSUMER

<

OPEN

OPENSOURCE

SOCIALNETWORK

CROWD SOURCE

into the mix of bureaucratic processes, there is the potential for chaos. Rather than the government representing the voice of a few, a well-orchestrated open initiative would chip away at that negativity and foster larger participation from the populous. The term Open will be mentioned frequently through the course of this thesis, so lets define it before we get too far.

Open brands, as defined by Alex Lo of landor associates, are “fluid, free-flowing, flexible, and yet still consistently stand for something compelling, differentiated, and relevant.”1

The term open can be described as an umbrella, under which concepts such as “open-source” “crowd-sourcing” “social-networking” lie. Open is the shift

from strict control of a brand to a looser concept of consumer participation. However, with this loosening grip comes risk.

Strict control of messages, like government propoganda and censorship were conceived to sway their citizens in selfish directions- Nazi Germany, Italian Fascism, Communist China, and Cold War Russia, to name the notables. However, technological developments and clearer government transparency have helped create a more sophisticated citizen. Over the last two decades, straightforward advertising has given way to branding -- giving products and services an emotional dimension with which people can identify. And with this evolution, consumers are more aware of the intentions and practices

HYPHOTHESIS

Opposite LeftThe Open Umbrella: encompassing user-generated content practices

From Are you up for the challenge of open branding? by Alex DoThe HubSeptember/October 2009

1Open Brands

of marketers. No more are the times of political brain-washing. Citizens are armed with technology to question messages. With this new utility I aim to create a human-inspired campaign that shifts active social change from the prospect for a few, to the process for many.

UNIFY YOUR LEVANT PRATT GRADcommD 21

1SETTING THE STAGE

internationally recognized, Palestinians created The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)- formed with the intent of “destroying Israel.”The Palestinian National Charter called for the removal of Israelis, based on their beliefs that the Jews took over their rightful land.

In 1967 the 6-Day War occurred between the Israeli army and armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. The Arab states of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria also contributed troops and arms.2 At the war’s end, Israel had gained control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. The results of the war have affected the geopolitics of the region to this day.

Upon the Ottoman Empire dissolving after World War I the British Government was given a mandate to govern Palestine. At the same time, Arabs were joining forces to create a state specifically serving as Arab Nationalists. This clash spanned the following 30 years until World War II and the Holocaust, which strengthened the resolve of the Zionists.

The Zionist movement, which developed formally in the late 19th Century, wasthe driving force in creating a dedicated Jewish State, based on the writings of the Old Testament. In 1948, the Zionist group had amassed a loyal following led by Ben-Gurion, and worked with the UN and ally nations to give the Jews their own nation state of Israel.

Shortly after Israel became

1.1 HISTORY

From One State, Two State by Benny Morris, pg. 23

2 1967 6-Day War

The 1970s and 80s saw a string of intifadas or uprisings and violent altercations until the 1993 Oslo Peace accord- Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) agreed to a Declaration of Principles, resulting in each side officially recognizing the other and renouncing the use of violence.

The so-called Oslo Accords establish the Palestinian Authority, which receives limited autonomy in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. The PLO leadership regards this as a step toward a permanent status agreement based on pre-1967 boundaries and recognition of the “right of return.” Israelis, on the other hand, see this as the beginning of a step-by-step process leading to compromise.

The 2000s saw more war with Israelis, Lebanon and Hamas, though a two-state solution has been on the table for several years now and currently the Obama Administration is pushing for peace talks. In November 2009 Israel made a major concession by promising to hault any further settlement construction in the West Bank territory. This important admonishment indicates anticipation of the two-state solution soon becoming a reality.

1.2 POLITICAL CLIMATE

A myriad of violent confrontations and full-on war have dominated the last 100 years in the Levant- causing major restructuring of state and religious borders. Frustration is fervent between the two cultures, which can be witness by bombings and ground attacks both by the Israeli military and Arab militant groups- The Fatah and Hamas. Palestinians traveling from one area to the next must enter a maze of checkpoints that the Israeli military oversee.

The United Nations and its leading Democratic countries have made this conflict a top priority and have dedicated peace-making efforts and millions of dollars in relief funds. Peace treaties were signed and broken like casual dinner plans. .

There is currently a controversial political resolution for peace on the table based on a “two-state solution.” Meaning, the two major landmasses Palestinians currently inhabit - The West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as East Jerusalem- would be internationally recognized as the nation Palestine. Additionally, Palestinians must recognize Israel’s right to exist, a conditional statement that Palestinian leaders have not yet committed to, which has caused much of the aggressiveness displayed by Israel. The consensus in the political circle of this conflict is that this two-state solution is the most feasible solution. Whether or not it prevails, Israelis and Palestinians still have a great opportunity to resolve for peace and ease tensions across the borders.

Opposite RightIllustration in The Gothamist by Pat Oliphant

Opposite LeftIllustration by Mr. Fish In The Guardian

2HUMAN CENTEREDDESIGN


THE ONLY WAY TO FIND PEACE IS TO CREATE A JOINT-

NARRATIVE, LINKING THE TWO STORIES OF THESE

PEOPLE IN CONFLICT AND DISPELLING MYTHS

THAT CONTINUE THE VICIOUS CYCLE OF PREJUDICE,

VIOLENCE, AND INTOLERANCE.

-GUSH-SHALOM, A PRO-PEACE MOVEMENT OUT OF ISRAEL

2.1 APPROACH

29

Human-Centered Design (HCD) is a methodology and visual approach that maximizes the likelihood that a product will meet a users wants and needs, according to IDEO, innovators in the field of user/human-centered designing. Narrative is intrinsic to understanding that user’s wants and needs, in this case Israelis and Palestinians.

Communication of narrative is key to understanding foreign people or groups. One can look at statistics all they want: purchase behavior, economic scales, demographic information, but numbers cannot explain what a personal story can. Narrative acts as a conduit to bring forth understanding and shared commonalities. Stories impact people because they are both personal and universal.

This idea is no more evident than in film, which enraptures the viewer, transfixing him/her to make an emotional investment in characters and the story. The people of this conflict, however, are already emotionally invested. There is an accepted theory in the region that if you support your nation or culture, than you are intrinsically against the opposing nation or culture. But this is not a necessary rule. Through HCD, I hope to uncover threads of common culture and values between Israelis and Palestinians.

In this thesis HCD will be discusses in two ways: First, as a methodology for approaching this design problem, and second, as the conception and make-up of a human-tailored visible design solution.

HCD, as a methodology, can guide the designer to better connect with the target audience. It can transform data into actionable ideas and can uncover new visual opportunities. The multi-disciplinary design studio, IDEO developed HCD, which evolved into a viable best practices methodology tailored specifically for designers.

HCD, as a design solution, will be achieved from the results of the aforementioned methodology. Specific actions will be taken in order to derive the most suitable visual solution for the intended audience. In the context of this issue, the lenses through which HCD, as a methodology, will investigate are: regional semiotics, modern/interactive branding tactics, and the cultural make-up of the people of this conflict for

social change.

But as a preface, this conflict must be broken down into its integral parts in order to focus clearly on a solution through its components or characteristics. HCD is focused on the human, of course- deriving personal stories that can affect both behavioral and physical change. I’ve laid out statistical and factual information about the conflict in order to better understand our subjects.

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: APROACH

UNIFY YOUR LEVANT PRATT GRADcommD

ISRAELI

ISRAELI

PALESTINIAN

PALESTINIAN

2.2 METHODOLOGY: STATING THE FACTS

Israelis and Palestinians have a long history of hatred toward each other. Though there have been political actions such as peace treaties, a consistent state of stubborn hatred exists. Beyond film and photography there is no immediate visual solution aiming to ease tensions between the two cultures and create unity.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Israelis and Palestinians between the age of 12-35. This particular age range promises the highest probability of behavioral change. Older individuals who have already bought into a cultural and societal norm are less likely to change their behavior.

Within this audience is a strict dichotomy of cultures, currently both living in the nation-state of Israel and Palestinian occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

ETHNICITY

Israel

74% of the 7,503,800 inhabitants are Jewish. 20% are Arab. Palestinian Occupied Territories

99% of 4,136,540 Palestinians are Palestinian Arab

Opposite Left“Israel” in Hebrew laid over “Palestina” in Arabic

Demographic Data Retrieved from Wikipedia on April 15, 2010

نيطسلفלֵאָרְׂשִי

RELIGION

Israel

Jewish 76.0%Muslim 15.9%Christian 1.8%Druze 1.7%Unclassified 4.6%

Palestinian Occupied Territories

Sunni Muslim 98%

LANGUAGE

Israel

Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages, though English is widely spoken.

Palestinian Occupied Territories

Arabic and Hebrew are widely spoken and English is widely understood

ECONOMY

Israeli

$161.9 Billion GDP- a world leader in technology with an unemployment rate of 7.3% and a birthrate on average with the leading economic countries.

Palestinian

The economy of the Palestinian territories, including the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, is struggling and currently in a

Demographic Data Retrieved from Wikipedia on April 15, 2010

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: STATING THE FACTS

ISRAEL IS A RELATIVELY DIVERSE COUNTRY

WHERE JEWS, CHRISTIANS AND MUSLUMS LIVE.

HOWEVER, AS POLITICALLY AND CULTURALLY

RECOGNIZED, THIS CONFLICT IS BETWEEN JEWS

AND ISLAMIC ARABS.

*

depression. Two-thirds of Palestinians are living below the poverty line with an unemployment rate above 50%.

Despite the fact that neither Israel nor Palestinian Occupied Territories produces a substantial amount of oil, the implications of peace between these two cultures on the neighboring oil behemoths Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and United Arab Emirates is huge.

Oil is an economic driver that can shift the financial and political landscape of the entire world. That being said, peace in the region is extremely important for the many countries who rely on oil imports from the region. Special attention may be drawn to the region only for financial and nationalistic gains.

Opposite1/5 of the Israeli population are non-Jewish, comprising Christians, Muslims, and Druids

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: STATING THE FACTS

IDEO has declared three major lenses of HCD. They are:

Desirability- What do people desire?Feasibility- What is technically and organizationally feasible?Viability- What is financialy feasible?

Let’s attempt to answer these questions in the context of this thesis and its goals.

Desirability

These are the results of the most recent poll conducted September 2006, jointly by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah:

2.2 FRAMING THE PROBLEM

74% of the Palestinians and 70% of the Israelis support negotiations between Israel and Abu Mazin over a final status settlement3. For a quarter of the population, there is a desire for peace in the region- even considering the sacrifices each group may have to make.

Feasibility

Through poeple I met personally while traveling in the midde east, contacts at Mepeace.org “the Facebook of the Middle East” and other non-profit development groups, I have the capacity to reach thought leaders and the target audience to mine for information. A campaign can be seen through to execution because of my technical abilities in web and interactive design- and a gorilla brand ambassador team

3Survey Research Retrieved from the Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace, on April 15, 2010

DESIRABILITY

FEASIBILITY

VIABILITY

. . . . WHAT DO PEOPLE DESIRE?

. . . . WHAT IS TECHNICALLY AND ORGANIZATIONALLY FEATSIBLE?

. . . . WHAT CAN BE FINANCIALLY VIABLE?

could be scrambled in the streets to distribute posters and other collateral via my contacts. As far as intended behavioral change, that is the variable I hope to affect, and this can only be seen once the project is launched and monitored for web visitors and enthusiastic Unifiers. Providing a sufficient time for marketing and the awareness time, a scope of 9 months should be allowed for proper evaluation of success.

Viability

Considering the ease of communication and the mediums through which I intend on creating a visual experience, financial limitations should not hinder my advancement.

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: FRAMING THE PROBLEM

The HCD methodology prescribes a cursory understanding of existing knowledge on the subject matter. I have selected three projects that attempted to bring forth a universal narrative to bridge the gap between Israelis and Palestinians. These three projets use film as their primary medium through which to convey their message- most often being, these two groups should realize their differences can be overcome through discourse and open-mindedness:

Encounter Point

For 16 months, Just Vision followed the stories of ordinary people who felt driven to work for an end to bloodshed and occupation in favor of peace. The film crew traveled all through Israel

2.3 SCOPE OF EXISTING PROJECTS

and Palestinian occupied territories documenting the courageous, painful and moving stories of regular people who refuse to sit back as the conflict escalates. These civic leaders navigated suicide bombings and checkpoints to confront militancy on both sides, the wounded and apathetic masses. In this film, a very moving scene is between the mother of an Israeli soldier who was killed by a Palestinian Sniper, who chooses to reach out to the mother of the sniper, now in Israeli prison serving 11 life sentences. Robi Damelin, the mother of the Israeli soldier chose not to take on an attitude of revenge, but to open communication to the mother of her son’s killer.

Opposite LeftMovie poster for Encounter Point, documentary film produced by Just Vision, 2006

Opposite RightImage of main character, Ismael, from Heart of Jenin, documentary film produced by PBS, 2008

Heart of Jenin

In another documentary film, which aired on PBS in July 2009, Heart of Jenin tells the story of 12-year-old Palestinian Ahmed Khatib, who was killed in the West Bank city of Jenin by Israeli soldiers who mistook his toy gun for the real thing. His death could have been just one more blip on the news- instead, Ahmed’s parents decided to donate his organs and turned tragedy into hope for six Israelis and created a rare moment of optimism amid the violence and entrenched hatred surrounding an intractable conflict. These organs went to Arab, Druze, Bedouin, and Orthadox Jewish families.

The breakthrough this Orthadox Jewish family makes in terms of relinquishing

their steadfast attitude against Arabs is momentous. Though it also shows how strongly opposed to behavioral change some Israelis are. As long as there is an open line of communication and some sort of willingness to be open-minded, there is an opportunity for change.

Steven Pielberg

Not a documentary, but a program using film as the driving medium, Steven Spielberg initiated a project to make people understand that there aren’t that many differences dividing Israelis from Palestinians- not as human beings, anyway. “What I’m doing is buying 250 video cameras and players and dividing them up, giving 125 of them to Palestinian children, 125 to Israeli kids, so they can make movies about

OppositeImages from Steven Spielberg’s camera-swap project

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: SCOPE OF EXISTING PROJECTS

their own lives- not dramas, just little documentaries about who they are and what they believe in, who their parents are, where they go to school, what they had to eat, what movies they watch, what CDs they listen to and then exchange the videos. That’s the kind of thing that can be effective,” says Spielberg.

Surfing 4 Peace

Two months after Hamas took over the Gaza Strip, in 2007, an American surfer named Dorian Paskowitz brought about a dozen surfboards to the border as a gesture of friendship. A charity called Surfing 4 Peace grew out of his publicity stunt, headed by an Israeli surfer named Arthur Rashkovan and another American, Matt Olsen. The idea was to make peace with individual Palestinians

and start a small surf economy. “Israel has a surf industry of $2 billion worth of goods each year,” Paskowitz told an American radio station at the time, “and I know, sure as God made little green apples, that the same thing will happen in Gaza.”4

Paskowitz ends an interview with this:

“I don’t give a fuck if Arabs shoot at me. The important thing isn’t peace. It’s peacefulness. There is no peace. I’ve been married 47 years, I fight with my wife all the time. There is no peace. But peacefulness.

4Interview Retrieved from the “Surfing for Peace” by Michael Scott More, San Francisco Sentinel, November 12, 2009

OppositeFlier for Surfing for Peace event. Accessed from surfing4peace.org on November 12, 2009

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: EXISTING PROJECTS

It means contentment, having enough to eat, having someone to care for your wife if you’re gone; having streets paved, that you don’t walk through the mud. That’s peacefulness. And we can have that during the bombing. We don’t have to stop bombing. Let them shoot missiles at Sderot. The question is what we can give them, and what they can give in return. That’s the only way. All this other shit is as effective as a fart in a whirlwind.’”

These three projects exemplify the shared narrative that can open up the minds of people in this conflict. One main detractor in realizing peace talks, according to Gideon Litchfield, former Jerusalem Bureau Chief of the Economist, “is that each group cannot fathom that the other culture has their

own story that is so ingrained in their culture. They don’t want to understand the relevance of those stories.”5 When a narrative such as the one conveyed in Heart of Jenin, hits as close to home as you possibly can get- family, children, life or death- then that ignorance of the opposite culture is chipped away. Maybe not entirely, but an opportunity for change is a good start.

According to Corey Gil-Schuster, a social change scholar, “a person’s world view or opinions do not change (if they started off right wing, they will remain right wing) but they deepen their understanding of the other side.6

5 Litchfield From “How the other fifth lives,” The Economist, April 3, 2008

6 Gil-Schuster From conversation on mepeace.org on December 1, 2009

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: EXISTING PROJECTS

The second stem in obtaining qualitative research involves identifying people to speak with and procuring qualitative information- not necessarily averages and statistics, but deep understanding of people- the strength of qualitative research.

Beyond constant communication with contacts in Israel, as well as meeting new people via MePeace.org, an online social network dedicated to fostering dialogue between those who strive for peace in this conflict, I have developed a website specifically designed to interview Israelis and Palestinians. The answers are pushed through a back-end database and sent to my email address. This allows me to easily pass on the link to my interview site to literally thousands of individuals from one click

2.4 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

of communication. The questions I carefully sculpted are below:

What websites and printed media do you enjoy?

Does design influence your decision? If so, what about the design do you like?

What visual experiences inspire you?

Ads, film, design, fine art? Please list three and the artists or directors associated with them.

What activities/hobbies/interests do you think Israelis and Palestinians share?

How would a peaceful solution to this conflict affect your life?

What’s the best way to get Israelis and Palestinians talking peacefully?

If you were to design a poster to promote peace, what would you say and show?

These questions were crafted to inspire open-ended answers that could develop into common narratives among the responders.

Beyond the questions - below are two narratives I discovered while mining individuals on mepeace.org.

Faisal Al-katib

I am a Palestinian Arab from Hizmeh, a village between Jerusalem and Ramallah. When I was 15 years old I fought against the Israeli Occupation in

search of freedom. At that time I thought every Jewish person, whether soldier or citizen, man or woman, young or old, should be killed.

I rejected the right for any Jew to live and every Jew was a target. I was just a kid, believe me, and I didn’t understand anything about politics or the Arab-Israeli conflict. I was arrested and sat in jail for 12 years. This was during the first intifada from 1987. At that time nobody talked about peace but only of violence. I matured during my time in jail. I started studying and reading books on politics, literature, poetry, and about the Madrid Conference.

It gave me hope to live in peace and dignity. I learned that violence only breeds violence and that peace is the

only solution for the two nations, the only way for both to have a respectful and beautiful future. We live on the same land. We are neighbors. We drink the same water and both pray to a monotheistic God. We must live in peace on the basis of religion for God and land for everyone.

Mousa Abu MariaPalestinian

I am a non-violent peace activist since a long time, I have been in prison for that 3 times for a total of six years, they sent me there with no reason. In 2006 I founded the Palestine Solidarity Project, you can have a look at our website, http://palestinesolidarityproject.org/

Ahmed AtaPalestinian

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territory The sting of all problems between Israeli and Palestinians lay in the Old City of Jerusalem. Her status has to be solved in such a way that all parties fighting for control over her can agree upon. From their, peace will spread outward.

Ray HananiaPalestinian American

We can continue to attack each other, or we can insist on findings a path towards peace. I support Israel’s right to exist along side an independent Palestinian State. As a Palestinian and a writer who often criticizes bad Israeli government policies and bad Palestinian government

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

policies, I believe Palestinians and Israelis must be ready to compromise and that violence by both the Hamas terrorists and the armed settler fanatics must be brought to an end.

Omri MayosetIsrael

If you want peace, work for peace, I want peace because statistics about the number of wars, the numbers killed, the numbers made homeless tell a fraction of the story. With traumatized communities in every corner of the world, we seem to be adopting an international psychology of violence. As fear hardens into hate and loss into hopelessness in millions of hearts, we stare through the new year into a future of protracted violence.

Middle Omry Mayoset

Left Ray Hanania

RightMousa Abu Maria


EXPERT INTERVIEWS

After gathering information from individuals of this conflict and sifting through existing knowledge, it is time to perform expert interviews. Experts are described as leaders in their respective fields.

Ronit Avni is the director of Just Vision, a Washington, D.C. non-profit organization that informs local and international audiences about under-documented Palestinian and Israeli joint civilian efforts to resolve the conflict nonviolently. Using media and educational tools, we raise awareness in order to encourage civic participation in grassroots peace building. Ronit directed and produced the documentary

film, Encounter Point, which received the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary and was an official selection at the Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, Atlanta, Vancouver, Dubai and Jerusalem International Film Festivals. Encounter Point has screened at the International Finance Center, the United Nations and in Gaza, Tel Aviv, Jenin and more than 200 cities worldwide. Ronit appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2005 with her colleague, Joline Makhlouf, and her work was featured on Oprah.com.

Eyal Raviv is the founder of mepeace.org, called the Facebook of the Middle East by Ha Arrez Newspaper group, the leading newspaper in Israel. Mepeace is dedicated to opening


up lines of communication between Israelis and Palestinians to work toward peace. Raviv, who emigrated from the Untied States three years ago, initially conceived his Web site as a forum for Israeli peace activists only. But when he took part in a meeting between Israelis and Palestinians, he says, “a Palestinian told me I was the first Israeli he had met, and that made me realize the site could build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Natan Dvir is an Israeli photographer who displayed his exhibition ‘18’ commissioned by the Manhattan JCC. He snapped around 30,000 photographs of Arab-Israeli citizens in their 18th year, a pivotal time in any life. The images display the subjects in their natural environment doing natural things.

Though the casual nature of the images are why they are so impactful. There has been this build up of frenzied commotion over the conflict that when an Arab is living the Arab way, in Israel, it is a shock. He received a business degree 10 years ago and has since returned to SVA to receive his MFA in photography. He’s conducted many exhibitions in Israel and the United States on the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I sat down at a Murray Hill Starbucks in December to discuss his thoughts on the conflict.

ME: Natan, you’ve been entrenched in the circles of these Arabs living in Israel; what have you learned from the experience?

NATAN: I have seen Arabs living completely normal lives in Jerusalem, in Jenin, in Tel Aviv. In some of the more metropolitan areas, the ethnicity issue is not as big a deal as you would think. But in other smaller towns closer to the border, it’s a different story. Israel is a Western country, wealthy and progressive, however it houses thousands and thousands of refugees from Egypt, Somalia, Palestinian territories, and other Arab nations.

This is an interesting concept: refugees fleeing to an enemy country. That idea is worth investigating and I began photographing their environents.

ME: Do you want to tell a story with your photographs?

NATAN: No, the photographs are meant to be simple reflections of the people. Sure, each person has a story, and they are probably very interesting, but that’s not my goal. My goal is simply to show people who may be thought of as different or outsiders in their own environment.

ME: How do you think Israelis and Palestinians can take the next step toward a peaceful relationship?

Opposite Left Um Al-Fahem, Muslim Israeli, from “18” by Natan Dvir

Opposite Right Ehab Ba’ine, Muslim Israeli, from “18” by Natan Dvir


NATAN: I don’t know that there can be a truly peaceful relationship, though I hope to spark dialogue with my images. That’s really all we can hope for, to incite dialogue and eventually, perhaps a compromise could be achieved. Though with the way things have been going the past 10 years, it doesn’t look good. Israelis and Palestinians are raised to hate each other.

ME: What’s the biggest challenge in bringing the societies together right now?

NATAN: To make it happen. Today, the biggest challenge is to make it happen. It’s much easier today to say it’s impossible because almost every activity is like crossing the ocean. With permits, with allowing them

[Palestinians] to enter [Israel], with communication, every activity today is really full of hurdles, expected and unexpected. In spite of this we find that we are able to do it and even where we are not successful, we try again on the same issue, and in most cases we are eventually able to break the ice.


Opposite Right Mohanned Be’ine, Muslim Israeli, from “18” by Natan Dvir


Interview with Raed Al Haddar, a Palestinian professor and social worker, Director of Combatants for Peace. Al Haddar is associated with Just Vision, a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C.

Q: Considering your personal history, how did your family and friends react to you’re involvement in the organization and the transformation in your views?

A: I have an honorable record within Palestinian society, which largely respects those who have fought and sacrificed for the national cause. This gave me the confidence to talk to them straight. I have greater influence in my community than someone with no history of resistance. A young Palestinian fighter has a special status within our

society. When I suggest these ideas and express the different views we have about the situation, they are widely and comfortably accepted. I face no problems expressing my opinion and am usually supported in continuing my activities.

Q: Do you think it is essential to be a fighter or to have sacrificed or lost a loved one in order for your voice to be heard when calling for non-violence?

A: It is not necessary to have been harmed by the occupation, imprisoned or lost someone. Some people are widely respected and are influential in society without having endured those things. As I mentioned before, the core of our activities are by people who have been directly harmed by the occupation. This was the original idea of the group.

Opposite Raed Hadar, professor and social worker. Founder of Combatants for Peace


But they are not necessarily the most influential ones.

Q: You said you would consider it an accomplishment if you could convince someone from Hamas to join your group. What would this require and what would it mean?

A: In Israel there are factions who believe in peace and the need to establish a Palestinian state, but there are also groups, which we consider extremist, who call for driving Palestinians off their land. Moderate Israelis already have established ideas about the nature of the solution to the conflict, so we actually need to talk to the more extremist ones. They are the people whose support we need. We don’t need to re-convince those who

already agree with us. It is the same on the Palestinian side. Until now Hamas doesn’t recognize the existence of the State of Israel, although I am convinced after they are integrated into the government they will change their position.

Being outside the government is different and a lot less demanding than being the official governor, and I think there already is progress with the position of Hamas regarding the existence of two states living side by side. In Israeli eyes, and also in the eyes of many Palestinians, Hamas’s position seems somewhat extreme, and their resistance to the two-state solution only serves to strengthen this perception. I am interested in winning over people from Hamas, the same as I


am interested in winning over extremists from Palestinian society as a whole.

Q: Do you think your group can make a change in the conflict?

A: This is a big question. We are still at the beginning of the road, but to say we can transform the situation and change things overnight is quite a long shot. Change will be gradual, but we are sincere in our belief that through our efforts and faith we can make a change. We believe the group will continue to expand and have a direct influence on the conflict between us and the Israelis. I am confident our group will be influential within Israeli and Palestinian society.

Q: What is your opinion of previous peace

attempts, and what is the importance of the role of the people? Why don’t you just leave it to the politicians to solve the conflict?

A: As a group we aren’t involved in politics. We are not political negotiators who may discuss putting an end to the conflict. Our role is to put pressure on the Israeli and Palestinian governments and try to influence Israeli and Palestinian society.

We have certain tools that can be put to use to shorten the current cycle of violence. When negotiations began between the PA and Israel they were held under international law. Since then successive Israeli governments, especially right wing ones, weren’t interested in the continuation of

negotiations and constantly pushed events towards a dead end. Under the leadership of Abu Ammar- may he rest in peace, Palestinians believed in negotiations and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict. The Israelis constantly laid obstacles in the way of negotiations because they weren’t interested in reaching a solution that would include a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. This was the direct reason for the failure of negotiations over the past years.

We work within Israeli society in order to influence it in a way that will hopefully make it elect a government that believes in negotiations and the creation of an independent Palestinian state according to international law while removing the settlements and accepting Jerusalem

as its capital. This is our role; we are not negotiators and won’t get involved in the political details of the talks. We are fighters who have emerged from the battlefield and are trying to convince people of the different approach we have adopted.


Synthesis is about making sense of what has been learned during the research phase. After interviewing experts, receiving survey responses, and learning about current theories and concepts, the next step is to convert this inspiration into ideas, from stories to strategic directions. By aggregating, editing and condensing learned content, the goal is to achieve new perspective and identify opportunities for innovation.

Talking to people directly involved in the conflict, I am consumed by their passion and devotion to achieving progress. Beyond information and images easily accessible from the media, there is a broad group of individuals who take multiple approaches at a solution, and who make it their life-long goals. It is quite different, however, when

2.5 SYNTHESIS

engaged with citizens who may be involved in the military. Of course soldiers are trained to adopt an aggressive mindset and follow orders of the nation for which they are fighting, but their opinions are just as important to acknowledge, if not more important. For once those sentiments are expressed in a collaborative setting, then a broader acceptance and understanding is possible, for both parties involved in the communication.

Perspective is the common denominator between those who support the cause and the detractors who believe in the generalized, historical differences between the two groups.

Even those members of the Israeli Defense forces who responded to my

survey with an “it is how it is” attitude thought the best way for Israelis and Palestinians to move in a positive direction is by engaging them in discussion.

The facts are actually lost in translation from culture to culture, and from conflict to outsiders. This is not as much of a religious war as it once was described. Israel, according to Wikipedia, is one of the most multicultural countries in the world. Even though it began as a nation achieved by Zionist organization and action, one fifth of the current population is non-Jewish.

An expansive research initiative was conducted in 2006 by the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and the

Department of Communication and Journalism at the Hebrew University and Dr. Khalil Shikaki, director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. They found that 74% of Israelis want negotiations with Palestinian lead groups. On the other side, a surprising 70% of Palestinians supported talks between Hamas-lead groups and Israel. Of course, it must be noted that constant outbreaks of attacks are likely to waver sentiments.

In terms of a potential aesthetic to utilize when communicating to the two cultures, nationalistic images and colors do seem to further divide the groups. The use of language is a touchy subject as both Hebrew and Arabic are immediate signifiers of the differences between the two cultures. Because

English is widely understood and spoken in both regions, it seems logical that it should be the primary language with which to communicate. On the same token, The sight of both Hebrew and Arabic in the same context provides a powerful sensation when used properly.

When asked in my survery website “What visuals would you show in a poster for peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” a theme among the responses was the concept of showing an Israeli and a Palestinian side by side. Simple as it is, the sight of stereotypical Israeli and a Palestinian standing side by side not fighting, is memorable.

Opposite The word Peace in Arabic and Hebrew laid on top of each other, by Patrick Thomas, UK

HUMAN CENTERED DESIGN: SYNTHESIS

3SYMBOLOGY SEMIOTICS &TYPOGRAPHY

Just as with the diverse cultures and nations of the world, the middle east, and specifically the individual cultures of the Israeli-Palestinian region, cultivate their own style in everything they do: from dress, to film, to politics, to architecture, and of course to design. If one were to parse the aesthetics, styles and trends of the two cultures for common traits, language would be as far back as the similarities run. Government, religion and language are really the only things separating the cultures.

At the heart of communication is language. The spoken and written word paved the way for non-violent resistance to conflict in the form of literature, poetry, film, art and music. I propose to look deeper into the forms of written

language by analyzing typographic elements that are both specific to Hebrew and Arabic, and the similarities of the two languages. Beyond looking at the written word as a vehicle for communication, word-choice can be either paralyzing or stimulating. In a non-violent campaign, whether it may be in musical form, poetry, or spoken, words are key.

In the context of this conflict, the two primary languages are Hebrew- spoken typically by Israelis, also known as the language of the Jews; and Arabic, spoken by Palestinians and other Arabs in the Middle East. Both languages are part of the Semitic family of languages. Semitic languages have a recorded history going back thousands of years, one of the most extensive continuous

3.1 LANGUAGE


Opposite Right Hebrew fractal typography by בכרומ

archives of documents belonging to any human language group. If these two languages can be traced back to a single family of languages- characters that were created in coordination, then there must be opportunities for typographic hybridization.

According to the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, language can be understood as a system of signs. The word bicycle functions in the English language by creating the concept, or signified of a mode of transport - a machine with two wheels that is powered by its rider and which is used for travelling from A to B.7

The relationship between the signifier and the signified is arbitrary. There is no logical or natural connection

SYMBOLOGY, SEMIOTICS & TYPOGRAPHY: LANGUAGE

between the spoken sound or graphic representation and the concept of a bicycle (this is known as duality). The connection or relationship is established solely in its use by native speakers. That in mind, many words have meanings, or connotations that are understood merely because of cultural habit, so there is a disconnect of course, when an Arabic speaker engages in conversation with a Hebrew speaker.

This same idea can be attributed to the sustained negative perception of Israelis, according to Palestinians, and of Palestinians, according to Israelis. The perception is not necessarily arbitrary, however it was developed by cultural conflict and transferred without question to further generations.

Language Noble, I., and Bestley, R. (2005) Visual Research, p. 124

We can take the image of a mosque as an example of how perceptions can shift based on cultural occurrences and subsequent mass adoption of a newly attributed stereotype. Minarets are distinctive architectural features of Islamic mosques- they are generally tall spires with onion-shaped or conical crowns, usually either free standing or taller than any associated support structure. The shape of the minaret is the signifier, and the mosque becomes the signified. Perception becomes language through conception. For many, especially in the United States, the conception of a Mosque has shifted to a sense of terrorism due to the single act of 9/11.

Imagine now what decades of continuous violence has done to the perceived

images of Palestinian and Israeli symbols. These people live in such close proximity to each other- (in many instances Palestinians and Israelis are neighbors) that the respective symbols associated with each culture must be perceived with negative connotations. Colors, shapes and words now have a negative association with the opposing culture. This concept must be embraced when designing for the conflict. In no way would one want to stir up these volatile emotions in an attempt to draw the two cultures together.

Palestinians and Israelis both revere symbolic signs that have permeated society from religion to something that is engrained in everyday life. Because in the Middle East there is no clear separation of church and state, nations,

religions, and ethnicities take on a generalized face. Such as Israel and the star of David. However, 1/5 of the population in Israel is non-Jewish. This creates a divisive environment where the gestalt perseption of the nation state Israel is that it is Jewish, however, on the contrary, it began as a salvation for the Jewish diaspora, but has morphed into a more diverse nation, where Arabs, Christians, and are represented only by the Jewish majority of Israel.

Opposite LeftUmayyad Mosque-Minaret al-Gharbiye in Damascus, Syria

Opposite RIghtPoster funded by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP). Switzerland voted on banning minarets

SYMBOLOGY, SEMIOTICS & TYPOGRAPHY: LANGUAGE

As anticipated, I am drawn more to typography than any other form of symbology or semiotics- be it cultural signs, symbology, or historical influencers of modern signs. The written form of Hebrew and Arabic may be looked at as similar from a foreigner, however, the two forms are quite different. Hebrew characters are all cut from a block shape- right off the bat, lending the language to a familiar geometric shape, which can be manipulated into some interesting forms. However, Arabic characters are more free-flowing and whimsical, with additional accent marks The unique letterforms of both Arabic and Hebrew are extremely flexible and can be constructed in a myriad of styles. I have come across examples of blocky lettering- intended for impactful,

3.2 TYPOGRAPHY

immediate stimulation evoking early modern Russian design; There are are instances of bubbly, rounded letter forms harking on the “retro” trend occuring in English typography. The forms can also be crafted into whimsical calligraphic forms.

The multitude of ways in which one can manipulate Hebrew and Arabic type into interesting forms brings up the issue of how to treat type when designing for two cultures split by violence and hatred.

Because Hebrew is the language of the Jews and Arabic the language of the Palestinians, it is difficult to resonate with both cultures simultaneously when using either language. Although some Muslim extremists take offense by the English language, English may

OppositeArabic letterform design by DonQasim

be the only unifying language available. Though creative typography can merge languages and perhaps unify two cultures with a single typeface or a set of written characters. With English emerging as a universal language, it seems the obvious choice to serve both cultures. As stated above, however, there are many similarities in the forms of the two written languages.

An entire thesis could be constructed around the idea of merging the Arabic and Hebrew alphabet into a hybrid typeface. Although typography isn’t the focus of this thesis, the use of Hebrew, Arabic and English in compositions is crucial.

OppositeHebrew letterform design by Parachute

SYMBOLOGY, SEMIOTICS & TYPOGRAPHY: TYPOGRAPHY

CREATING

SHARING

INFLUENCING

4INTERACTIVEBRANDING

Just as technology has drastically accelerated in the last 5, 10, 20, 100 years, so has the way companies market themselves. What once was a model of Business-to-Consumer is now Business-to-Trend Setter-to-Consumer-to-Business. I speak of business and consumer only in the context of corporate branding. This thesis is not about branding. It is about analyzing new-age methods of communicating to consumers and the populous in general, for the purpose of finding efficient ways to engage two conflicting cultures.

The traditional branding style is one of a top-down direction: where business creates a message, tests it, puts it in print, web, tv, radio, and fires it out to the public, awaiting a response in the form of purchase behavior. This still is

the method by which most companies market themselves, however, a new wave of branding is upon us. The likes of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other digital technologies have created only the first wave of a new environment for consumers of any nature to matriculate.

This digital landscape is based on connections. Individuals can feel a strong sense of belonging on the Internet as it allows us to recreate our image with immediate results. Psychologists say it is easier to communicate personal truths in Internet arenas than in “real” life, citing the “disinhibition effect.”8 This concept allows companies to connect in a more authentic way with their customers.

“People now have an opportunity to take

4.1 MOVING INTO THE OPEN BRAND

Suler, J. (2004). CyberPsychology and Behavior, 7, 321-326

8Disinhibition effect


WORLDVIEW OF A CLOSED BRAND

WORLDVIEW OF A OPEN BRAND

TARGETS CONSUMERS

MONOLOGUE

AWARENESS

PUSH

EDITED ASSORTMENT

FACE-TO-FACECUSTOMER SERVICE

SCRIPTED COMMUNICATION

REQUESTED, PERIODICFEEDBACK

CREATED BYMARKETERS

BRAND MANAGEMENT

FOSTERS COMMUNITIES OF CONSUMERS

DIALOGUE

ENGAGEMENT

PULL

EVALUATED ASSORTMENT

EFFICIENT SELF-SERVICE

TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION

24/7 FEEDBACK,INPUT-FOCUSED

CO-CREATED WITH CONSUMERS

BRAND STEWARDSHIP

CONSUMER

SHAREDPASSION

BRAND

COMMUNITY

NEW RELATIONSHIP MODEL

ownership in a brand. The successful open brand will operate under a new set of assumptions, including that the consumer will gladly ask for what s/he wants, engage in an ongoing dialogue and frequently share his/her opinions about brands with the online public. And that the brand must engage the consumer through transparent communication, trust the consumer to co-create the brand message and learn to be guided by impassioned amateurs”11

Therein lies the risk of transitioning to this new platform. Traditionally closed brands of the past: mega-brands likeCoca-Cola, Microsoft, Disney, McDonalds, etc… have begun to step over and open up, though not without skepticism. The idea of entrusting consumers to dictate brand messaging

is a frightful one for some.

On the Coca Cola website there is a section where consumers can tell their romantic Coke stories. The interface appears as a twitter feed of short narratives…

“I remember the first Coke I had also is the first kiss that I had. I was 7 and her name was Debbie. Not only am I still an avid Coke drinker, but I also married Debbie. We have two kids, and they will be Coke drinkers as well.”

These quips add to the nostalgia and narrative of the already storied brand. Just as in the narratives I discovered in the research of the Israeli-Palestinian people, the story adds texture and context to a brand. In comparison to

INTERACTIVE BRANDING: MOVING INTO THE OPEN BRAND

OppositeNew relationship model from The Open Brand (2008) by Kelly Mooney, pg. 98

other multi-national corporations like Nike, who dove headfirst into the information sharing age, Coke is lagging.

One important principal of the open brand is “Interactivity, which is key to deepening consumers’ emotional connection with a brand, providing meaningful and engrossing experiences that foster consumer relationships online- and off.”9 Nike’s Human Race 10K is the perfect example of this principal.

Nike offers the Nike+ Human Race 10K every year where runners from around the globe can participate in the race together. With Nike’s training system, participants can run on a 10K on the day of the race and upload their race times to the Human Race 10K website. From

there, participants can see how they rank among the world’s 800,000-plus other racers. In addition to the online information sharing, there are festivities that take place in 24 cities world-wide on race day. Their motto is “Celebrating the sport of running by giving runners everywhere the opportunity to run together.” Surely runners everywhere can’t participate due to economic factors, but the technology is available to everyone.

The runner’s community literally became global upon race day. Instead of running alone before work, a soccer mom has the opportunity to run with a group of almost 1 million people, sharing her passion. Globalizing communities is a major part of this open system. Communities grow larger to


OppositeNike’s The Human Race accessed on November 13, 2009

Mooney, K., The Open Brand (2008), p. 98

9Interactivity

encompass more people with similar interests, thus growing the potential for new customers. Likened to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, if a community of peace-makers is available to anyone, the message will spread quickly.

This consumer participation draws the popular phrases “Crowdsourcing” and Open Source,” referring to consumers as producers. This concept was first noted 30 years ago when Futurist Alvin Toffler coined the term “prosumer” in his 1980 best-seller, The Third Wave. Today, prosumers are everywhere with the popular use of Youtube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. Instead of consumers consuming, they are producing, sharing and all the while spreading the word of brands hopeful to capitalize on the network.


OppositeCocaCola website featuring Love stories, retrieved November 23, 2009

Alex Do, of Landor Associates, a full-service global design studio ascribes the advent of open branding to the open-source/crowdsourcing development wave, which spawned the likes of Wikipedia, Wordpress and Java. Simply defined, crowdsourcing represents the act of a company or institution taking a function once performed by employees and outsourcing it to an undefined (and generally large) network of people in the form of an open call.

“This can take the form of peer-production (when the job is performed collaboratively), but is also often undertaken by sole individuals. The crucial prerequisite is the use of the open call format and the large network of potential laborers”10

The process of Crowdsourcing allows an “open call” to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions... No matter where individuals are located around the world, they have the opportunity to participate in the creation and development of technologies. Companies like IBM literally perform their research and development by mining their knowledgeable customer base. Not in the form of feedback forms that have been used since the inception of commerce, but with proprietary open-source software, that allows computer scientists to collaborate with each other to innovate new technologies.

Innocentive is a crowdsourcing company that acts as a mediator between technology company and

4.2 CROWDSOURCING

10Crowdsourcing Wired Magazine: Crowdsourcing: Tracking the Rise of the Amateur, Howe.

their innovation. Launched in 2001 with funding from pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly (Howe, 2006f: 22), Andover, Massachusetts-based InnoCentive ‘enables scientists to receive professional recognition and financial award for solving R&D challenges’, while it simultaneously ‘enables companies to tap into the talents of a global scientific community for innovative solutions to tough R&D problems’.

“Individuals are changing the nature of the information age… the creators and consumers of content are transforming art, politics and commerce – they are engaged citizens of a new digital democracy”.11

Digital Democracy is a proper term for what is occurring world-wide. In less

11Disinhibition effect Richard Stengel,Now it’s Your Turn Time Magazine, December 2006

Opposite IBM website, accessed on November 22, 2009

progressive regions of the world, such as the Middle East, individuals are enjoying a freedom of expression they have never before experienced. It can be described as a renaissance of democracy in digital form. Now, communities can gather online from anywhere in the world and exchange information.

In particular, individuals striving to change the prospects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can now develop an organizational hub in the digital space.

INTERACTIVE BRANDING: CROWDSOURCING

5THE OPENNETWORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

5.1 SOCIAL CHANGE INNOVATION

Crowdsourcing has certainly offered a lot in the way of social change. Down to its bear bones, crowdsourcing is a basic democratic method of operation. With the web becoming commodicized, there has been a trend in entrepreneurial ventures worldwide specifically directed toward addressing social problems using crowdsourcing methods. A lot of names get thrown around for this trend... “Open Source Social change,” “Open Philanthropy, “Crowdsourcing Social Change”... they all mean very similar , though different things. In general, it means using interactive resources to organize and implement change.

But how does this happen? It’s easy to say “I’ve created an online community crowdsourcing social change.” And how do you see that your community is

“Social entrepreneurs are moving from isolation to collaboration,” Charlie Brown, Executive Director of Ashoka’s Changemakers, states.”

“crowdsourcing initiatives such as aggregators of social change try to bring the widest possible range of perspectives to bear on a given social problem, allowing local perspectives from around the world to contribute insights that can resonate with the concerns of others.”

It is important to note specifically what Crowdsourcing does: it involves the delegation of one or more specific task to a large group. In theory, this seems attractive because the community is getting involved directly. However, in some contexts, Crowdsourcing may

IT’S CHEAPER. DIVERSITY SOLVES PROBLEMS

FASTER. THERE IS GREATER WISDOM

IN NUMBERS. ENGAGEMENT BUILDS

COLLABORATION AND COLLABORATION

BRINGS IN MONEY AND VOLUNTEERS.

*

not be the best method. For IBM and CocaCola, yes, they desire comments and content from the masses. But what about a cultural conflict that suffers from extreme stubbornness?

Crowd Collaboration, on the other hand, is a process whereby organizations collaborate across institutional boundaries in developing new products, processes, and services. Crowd Collaboration comes with guardrails so that the open landscape doesn’t flood with information that may deter progress toward a goal.

Just like with commercial Crowdsourcing, social change organizations are utilizing competitions to mine for social solutions.

SOCIAL NETWORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: SOCIAL CHANGE INNOVATION

Changemakers holds collaborative competitions to solicit, refine, enrich, and even implement innovative solutions to specific problems. Their competition themes range from “Disruptive Innovations in Health and Health Care” to “ending Corruption,” which challenge participants to provide the most innovative solution. The site structures direct, person-to-person feedback, with any visitor to the site able to comment on a project in a way that may potentially change the project’s description.

Potential investors also have a role on the site, where they can see and select from a range of innovative solutions, and have input into the process of prioritizing, refining, and scaling up solutions. This website bridges the gap between Crowdsourcing and

OppositeChangemakers website, Changemakers.com, accessed on November 22, 2009

Crowd Collaboration. There is a process and progression on the Changemakers site, where instead of individuals proposing ideas to the community at large and awaiting responses, the process is nudged along by a set of methodologies that include the beneficiaries, investors, employees at Changemakers, and of course the community.

SOCIAL NETWORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: SOCIAL CHANGE INNOVATION

Mining the crowd for relevant information may be viewed as an appropriate concept to be applied to social and cultural issues, however, its power has been filtered primarily into the commercial field. Given that users spread throughout a geographical terrain, among a variety of cultural backgrounds, the web can facilitate the exchange of diverse opinions, independent of each other, in a decentralized way. Democratizing the process of finding social solutions and judging their worth creates a market place where beneficiaries can spell out what they need and how they think those needs can be met.

5.1 CROWDSOURCING AGGREGATORS

Take Part

A Crowdsourcing site that allows users to create causes and campaigns for social/cultural/political issues. It also acts as a bank of information on global conflicts, where people can update the information in a Wikipedia fashion. The site as grown rapidly and in February 2010, American Express teamed up with the group to supplement their Members Project initiative, a Crowdsourcing project in its own right. The Members Projects allows American Express card-holders to vote on causes to which American Express will donate money. It’s an opportunity for Amex customers to forge a meaningful connection with their credit card.

OppositeTakepart website, Takepart.com, accessed on November 22, 2009

Challenge your world

A Crowdsourcing endeavor that provides ideas and innovation for sustainable business. The Challenge your World community can contribute ideas in the forum and a round of voting takes place at regular intervals where the winners receive grant money to implement the idea. On the website each idea has a field where people can comment and vote, providing plenty of opportunities for interaction.

Causecast

Dubbed “the one stop philanthropy shop” acts as a hub for a myriad of causes from around the world. They are styled in a web 2.0. fashion and seem to run off the heals of the Facebook crowd.

There are celebrity features and an online community of members that can link back to Facebook… (more to come)

SOCIAL NETWORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: CROWDSOURCING AGGREGATORS

OppositeCausecast website, Causecast.com, accessed on November 22, 2009

In 2000 a small group of Canadian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed a collective of children’s environmental health activists worried about the risks posed to children by environmental hazards. The individuals and groups of the collective did not have the resources alone to accomplish there goals, and they realized collaboration was required. Through their organization, they developed the ‘constellation model’, which emphasizes the role of small, self-organizing action teams of partners working together on a particular task or issue.

“These constellations are outwardly focused on public awareness or the broader policy environment rather than on the partnership itself. While serious effort still goes into core partnership

governance and management, decision-making authority and resources are concentrated in the constellations which drive and define the process.”12

With this in mind, the ‘constellation model’ of partnering was developed. Bringing together groups from multiple sectors to work toward a joint outcome, the focus is on action. Public education, service delivery, research and other tangible social change activities are handled by ‘constellations’ or small, self-organising teams. These teams thread into an overall partnership, which is held together with a framework that shares leadership between the partners.

The model’s biggest strength is that it is built around the natural energy flows

5.2 A LOOK AT THE CONSTELLATION MODEL

OppositeFrom Surman, T. & M., Open Sourcing Social Change: Inside the constellation model (2008)

Surman, T. & M., Open Sourcing Social Change: Inside the constellation model (2008)

12Constellations

ISSUE

LEAD PARTNER

ISSUE

LEAD PARTNER

ISSUE

LEAD PARTNER

SHARED VISION

STEWARDSHIP GROUP

LEAD PARTNERLEAD PARTNER

LEAD PARTNER

CONSTELLATION MODEL

LIGHTWEIGHT GOVERNANCE

ACTION-FOCUSED WORK TEAMS

THIRD-PARTY COORDINATION

ORGANIZATIONAL INDEPENDENCE

FEATURES OF THE MODEL

****

of the group. An issue or action has multiple individuals and groups working together, comprising a constellation. With multiple constellations working simultaneously, the balance of work is based on “opportunism,” which makes it possible to balance the interest and needs of the group within the broader goal of the collaboration.

SOCIAL NETWORK FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: A LOOK AT THE CONSTELLATION MODEL

6VISUALSOLUTION

Enter Unify Your Levant, a non-governmental collective, whose goal is to unify Israelis and Palestinians to collaborate on relevant issues, influencing the political and military authorities on real policies.

The primary focus is on collaboration between Israelis and Palestinians on key issues of the conflict. The current political and military landscape is such that traditional habits dominate discussions. There may be headway on a peace negotiation, but the same thing always seems to happen in the end: a bombing in the West Bank, or a soldier is held hostage, or a politician outcries against the opponent on their principal to exist.

But what if there were a collective of

young Israelis and Palestinians who both want the same thing, and were willing to work together to achieve progress?

Unify Your Levant is a self-sustaining non-governmental collective because its hub for operation is online, and open for users, or Unifiers. The organization is based around the issues that Unifers create. With every issue created, there are three main actions: chat-based discussions, Video Round Tables, and voting.

Once an issue is created there are 30 days for discussions and video round tables until an Israeli and a Palestinian Unifier is selected as Representatives of the issue. Any Unifier can start a discussion or Video Round Table, and it is their duty to moderate the activity,

VISUAL SOLUTION: UNIFY YOUR LEVANT

along with the administrators of the Collective.

Challenging the individual users to be held accountable for the progress of the issues is a major aspect of the model.

Traditionally, even in modern and progressive NGOs, the organizational model is that of a top-down communication and management model.But this is an initiative represented by the people of this conflict, who therefore deserve to right, and accountability of a role to drive progress.

Once Representatives are elected after the initial 60 days, they are essentially team leaders, who would meet with other team leaders and the administrators of the Collective regularly

OppositeUsers create Issues from which text-based dialogue and video discussions ensue. Voting occurs during discussion

for standard meetings. The idea is that after the voting the conversation continues with a more organized approach, and the goal in mind to create programs and initiatives with which the Collective would actually approach governing bodies.

The website features pages developed specificaly to support chat discussions and Video Round Tables. From the home page Unifer can either create an Issue or enter in to an already existing one and participate in the actions. Each Unifier has a profile page which lists the issues s/he is participating in.

Beyond the website, the platform must work on mobile devices. An iPhone App would be created as well as applications for more common phones in the Middle


East. Individuals would be able to use the App to view Unifiers, participate in chats and vote.

Instead of a purely digital initiative, there needs to be an extension in the physical world as well. In doing so, a connection is made from the intangible digital landscape to the “real world” where the effects of such an endeavor are felt and seen.

I have created a print campaign with posters featuring the human elemtn of the campaign: real Unifiers who help mold the Collective. Their faces are displayed both alone, and alongside a Unifier of the opposing culture.

This goes back to the question in my research website that asks “What

visuals would you show to depict progress made between Israelis and Palestinians”?

Many answered with the simple image of a Palestinian and an Israeli side by side. We are so used to seeing these groups fight that an image depicting them coexisting is quite strong.

Below are posters with the tagline “We Rep the Levant,” referencing the Representatives of Issues on the website. Shortening representative to rep is slang in today’s youth culture meaning to be dedicated to something.


I began this project with the idea of creating a brand to represent the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Though I realized through my interaction with the audience that that would be a mistake.

There needs to be an engine at the core of the campaign. Once a model is in place that provides a means for change, and it is sustainable by user-participation, well then you have a brand that can stand on its own. Like the saying goes, “Words without actions are just Words.”

I am satisfied knowing I have worked to produce a framework, not just a set of posters. The model, though, will be judged based on how it is used by the people. That is the scary part.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I believe that the youth of this conflict is fed up with the status quo. If given the opportunity and the ability to collaborate, I think it is human nature to respond to such a challenge. Especially if one side shows enthusism and sets the tone.

Dialogue is a big step in the long proecess toward peace. But like Mr. Paskowitz, creator of Surf 4 Peace said, “The important thing isn’t peace, it’s peacefulness.”

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Mooney, Kelly. The Open Brand. Berkely, California: Resource Interactive, 2008. Print.

Morris, Benny. One State, Two States. Benny Morris, 2009. Print.

Whiteley, Nigel. Design for Society. London, England: Reaktion Books, Ltd., 1993. Print.

Surman, Mark and Tonya. “Open Sourcing Social Change: Inside the Constellation Model” Social Innovation(September 2008). Print.

More, Michael S. “Catching Waves for Peace in Gaza City” San Francisco Sentinel. 16 May, 2009.

Stengel, Richard. “Now it’s Your Turn” Time Magazine. December, 2006

Do, Alex. “Are You Up for the Challenge of Open Branding”? The Hub. October, 2009

Pallister, David. Most Palestinians and Israelis Willing to Accept Two-State Solution, Poll Finds. The Guardian. 22 April, 2009

Suler, J. Online Disinhibition Effect. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 7, (2004) 321-326

Litchfield. “How the Other Fifth Lives” The Economist. 3, April 2008

PHOTO CREDIT:

Posters: Yossi Yarim, Tel Aviv.

unify your levant: open source collaboration for social change

Documents

history of conflict

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social change5

social development

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