Archives for The Third Frame Conference now online

[OPEN-i]

Thank you to all who were able to join us in person and online at The Third Frame Conference on March 10, 2010 at the London College of Communication. The event was a huge success, and the audience contributed to critical debate and discussion throughout the day.

The Third Frame was a collaboration between the London College of Communication, OPEN-i, POLIS (London School of Economics) and One World Media, and addressed the problematic relationship of visual imagery and the majority world, focusing specifically on the interactions between practitioners, NGO’s and their audiences.

A summary of the conference has been published by Charlie Beckett, POLIS Director, on his blog: http://www.charliebeckett.org/?p=2559. All video archives are available on OPEN-i in 'Videos'.

The following is the list of speakers with links to the full video archive. Note that due to technical difficulties, some archives are not available.

• Rachel Palmer, Picture Editor at Save the Children UK, discussed some of the issues related to images and representation that Save the Children is looking at with respect to their communication/advocacy efforts. http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/
• David Campbell, Professor of Cultural and Political Geography at Du..., challenged the myth of "compassion fatigue". http://www.david-campbell.org/
• Jessica Crombie, Picture Editor at WaterAid, and Olivia Arthur, Mag..., discussed their collaboration on a photo project in Uganda and Tanzania. http://www.oliviaarthur.com and http://www.wateraid.org/uk/
• Ben Chesterson, Duckrabbit, discussed the impact of multimedia and the internet in advocacy and showed work they did with MSF, http://www.condition-critical.org, and a collaboration, http://www.adevelopingstory.org.
• Jennifer Pollard, Senior Lecturer at LCC, explored the historical role of image slideshows in advocacy efforts by photographers including Lewis Hine and Jacob Riis.
• Maxyne Franklin, Foundation Director at BritDoc, spoke about the relationships they develop with organizations around the films they select to build campaigns. She showed a trailer, http://www.youtube.com/endofthelinemovie, and highlighted the upcoming Good Pitch in London, http://britdoc.org/real_good/pitch/. http://britdoc.org/
• Leigh Gibson, Seventh Art Productions, highlighted the film "The Boy Mir" by Phil Grabsky, a 10 year portrait of an Afghani boy, and how they work with Afghan Aid, http://www.theboymir.com/trailer.htm. http://www.seventh-art.com/
• Lilie Chouliaraki, Research Director of POLIS, introduced the concept of "post-humanitarian communication" arguing that NGO campaigns have succeeded in moving beyond 'pity', however, that there is still the challenge of distancing the other. She showed the short animation, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnPZBqty-4s. http://www.lse.ac.uk/polis
• Ed Kashi, American photojournalist, gave an interesting lecture on his own experience working with NGOs showing his latest work, 'Curse of the Black Gold', http://www.foto8.com/new/online/photo-stories/1124-curse-of-the-black-, and an Oxfam campaign produced by his wife where his images were used http://www.oxfamamerica.org/campaigns/extractive-industries/animate.... http://www.edkashi.com
• Finally, a panel discussion hosted by Charlie Beckett, POLIS Director, came together to answer questions from the audience and discuss some of the key points made throughout the day.

The lunch break was set-up as a World Cafe where attendees could go to each presenter and further discuss some of the issues raised. A few of the panelists came over and had a short Q&A with the 20-30 online participants:

• Ben Chesterson, Duckrabbit
• Olivia Arthur, Magnum photographer
• Jessica Crombie, WaterAid Picture Editor
• Ed Kashi, American photojournalist

We look forward to continuing the discussions online in some upcoming webinars and in the OPEN-i forums, and offline at other events and get-togethers. Please feel free to use the comment feature to add any thoughts/questions/ideas.