Image descriptions below.
Image Descriptions:
Cover: the title “invisible walls”, sans-serif lowercase text overlapping a simplified smartphone. the text and smartphone screen are white on black; the text overlapping the screen is black on white.
the images in the zine are simple pen drawings.
Page One
It doesn’t matter what platform– social media connects people. [Image: A blank figure’s face is visible only through the phone they hold up].
It’s a place for friends, discoveries, information, entertainment. [Image: A crowd of figures, each appearing to be starting a speech.]
There’s so much in the digital world, that we often lose sight of the design choices that limit it. [Image, split across the sentence: the top half of a globe is populated by interconnected figures generating a lot of content, while the bottom half shows closed boxes containing isolated figures.]
[The following four images are illustrated on the same smartphone screen.]
To engage with content through an app or platform, you have to also accept the designer’s
- visual interface [Image: a box reading “image undescribed”] which may be inaccessible,
- data mining [Image: rectangles divided into increasingly-small segments] which contributes to facial recognition training, AI, targeted advertising, and more,
- algorithms [Image: a figure repeated, increasingly distorted] which tend towards radicalization,
- and addictive design features [Image: an arrow pulling down from the phone screen] aiming to undermine user choice
Page Two
No single platform can accommodate everybody.
Video works better for some; text works better for others. [Image: A tiktok user’s face overlaid with a video play button, next to a reddit post titled “Text: based”]
Some need platforms where content is tightly regulated; others need platforms without mandated moderation. [Image: A figure showing their middle figure is blocked from view by Facebook’s “Your post goes against our Community Guidelines” banner; next to a Mastodon user showing their middle finger, and a suggestively leaning Mastodon user].
Some need enclosed communities; others need wide audiences. [Image: A small group of Discord users hold each other, next to an Instagram user showing an image to a crowd.]
And designers have a profit incentive to keep features everyone hates. [Image: A Threads screen saying “Give us all your search history, cameras, GPS, photos” before the screen cuts off, the scroll wheel showing that there is much more listed below. The hand holding the phone has no option besides the Agree checkbox.]
And since content is specific to the platform, individual choices end up keeping communities separate. This is the “walled garden” effect. [Image: Four figures in gardens, separated by walls, unable to communicate with each other.]
Page Three
The design of each platform affects how its users behave.
Whether posts are short-form or long-form [Image: a figure with many large speech bubbles, next to three figures exchanging small speech bubbles],
whether you can modify existing posts [Image: a figure draws a mustache on the Mona Lisa],
whether certain topics are censored [Image: a cheerful figure holds up a phallic object; their mouth and the object are obscured by black censor bars]
or even just deprioritized [Image: the search result for a star is buried under many other results]:
These design choices create communication styles. Expectations. Interaction norms.
[Four image panels: A figure throws an arm around a friend and says “LOL your such a (word blocked by censor bar)”; a figure points to an enthusiastic figure in the distance and says, looking up “Mods, this guy’s spamming”; a figure waves in greeting and says “Hi I’m from Montreal I’m 15 and here’s a list of things that will send me into a panic attack DNI if you… (text hidden by panel border); an enraged and frustrated figure shouts “Friendly reminder” through gritted teeth.]
Page Four
These norms grow in isolation. When communication styles clash, it leads to further miscommunications and division.
[The following three images are illustrated on the same smartphone screen.]
Standardized social media would mean:
- customizable digital interface design [Image: A settings icon, toggle switches, and code] more accessible social media;
- new ways to interact digitally [Image: figures examining nodes in an expanding network] the ability to move between platforms without losing contacts,
- agency over where your data goes [Image: a figure in crosshairs, a figure’s face highlighted by a rectangle, a large finger imbalancing a pair of scales] protection against unethical data applications.
There will always be barriers to communication and community. There are plenty in the physical world. [Image: Figures arguing in recursive frames, unable to reach the people in the other frames]. But in our current social media model, the barriers are controlled by a few platforms.
We could remove them. [Image: A figure grips and breaks the panel border].
