REPRESENTATION OF SOCIAL DISASTERS IN MULTIMEDIA

Representation is the production of meaning through language, discourse and image, occupying a central place in understanding culture. It is thus the most crucial issue in design to convey meaning and knowledge through appropriate representational method.

Perhaps multimedia presentation is one of the most effective design methods in representing social issues. It is far more effective than throwing plethora of information in texts and images in which multimedia attracts wide variety of viewers with active and realistic visual information. 

This paper investigates three short media presentations on different social disasters: Tuol Sleng, Cambodia (video clip), May 18 Democratic Uprising, Korea (animation) and public execution in North Korea (documentary). Each adopts contrasting representational methods causing distinctive impact on viewers in terms of education.

The case studies have been chosen to examine different approaches to systems of representations, exploring representation as a signifying practice in a diversity of social contexts and its educational value.

The paper intends to critically analyse different representational approaches adopted by the chosen multimedia presentations, and draws a strong relationship between the way social disasters have been represented and the varying perceptions of the events by the audiences. The writing seeks to find the most effective way to represent social issues augmenting educational value.