Coomons Campaign Proposal: #LookUp

Rhetoric, Media and Civic Live
Commons Campaign Proposal
Leland Chow, Evan Wooten
23 February 2015
We have decided on running both a Facebook and Twitter hashtag campaign called #LookUp. #LookUp is a campaign of asking people to spend less time on their technological devices while walking, and just look up, see and maybe communicate more with other people. This campaign is required because face-to-face human interaction nowadays has become less and less, and instead are more and more dependent on technological devices. Because of this, there is a need to encourage people to interact more with other people face-to-face and being less dependent on technology.

The audience is actually everyone and anyone in Lincoln, Nebraska, ranging from students, faculty, staffs, to even the public. We believe we should include everyone in Lincoln, Nebraska because it is a campaign for all. However, we do believe that are constraints facing response to this campaign. One of them might be that the people might not be paying attention to the #LookUp account and page in Twitter and Facebook respectively. Another constraint will be the lack of participation from the audience as the audience might think that it is too challenging for them to do. Besides, another constraint is that the people might be apathetic towards the challenges, as the people in the modern society are vulnerable to caring less. Yet another constraint is that the audience might feel that it is too awkward for them to participate in the challenge, as they might be too shy or it might be outside of their comfort zone.

However, there are opportunities facing response to the campaign as well. The people can pick and choose the challenges they think are feasible to do, as the challenges are not timed definitely. Moreover, people who participate in the campaign can have a chance of meeting new people and making friends with them, forging a new friendship. Another opportunity is that the people will also be more aware of surroundings, and pay more attention to the beauty of the nature.

This campaign is a fitting response to the issues we are facing now because we want more people to interact with one another, and through this campaign, we are challenging the people to not be on their technological devices all the time. We hope that this campaign does not only reach Lincoln, Nebraska, nor only Nebraska, but all around the world, but fundamentally, we just hope that people will not be on their phones all the time.

As we have noted, our medium for this project will be social media, specifically Twitter and Facebook. Not only will we be using just social media but there will be a few tangibles as well, for example we will be placing post-it notes around campus with our tagline and hashtag. These Post-it notes will be hidden in various areas giving the campaign an exclusive feeling; if you find them, you have become a part of a movement. This stems from the original idea of a flash mob, in traditional flashmobs a specific group of people would find hidden messages on the internet and get together to create something, this again is the feeling of exclusivity. Our project will be drawing from the ideas of traditional flash mobs with our own innovative twists. Having the hidden Post-it notes and exclusive vibe to our campaign will make people want to be a part of the movement. Once people have read the Post-it notes, they will be intrigued and search the hashtag of LookUp, they will then see the account and read what we are about and the different challenges we give out. Hopefully, people will be interested and participate. This will build a sense of community amongst the participants. Though it may be ironic that we are using social media to get people off of social media, it makes us memorable. In this case we are fighting fire with fire, it would be difficult otherwise. This feeling of community will bring people closer and they will be more willing to work together on these challenges. The idea that more people will be interacting and becoming a part of this community will make our campaign useful, fun, and memorable. Although people always talk about wanting to not be dependent on technology, no one has done anything about it… We are.

Action Timeline and Division of Work

Time (Week of)	Action	Person Involved
12 February 2015	Set up Facebook page and Twitter account for #LookUp.	Leland (Facebook), Evan (Twitter)
16 February 2015	Design logo and poster for #LookUp.	Leland (ask friend to help in logo), Evan (poster)
23 February 2015	Count the number of people using their technological devices Print up posters and paste them onto the noticeboards. Put up Post-It notes saying #LookUp on random places on random days at any time. Finalize the first few challenges. Write tweets and posts on Twitter and Facebook respectively.	Leland and Evan Evan (Twitter), Leland (Facebook)
2 March 2015	Start first challenge (Weekly or daily). Take screenshots of first challenge.	Leland (Facebook), Evan (Twitter)
9 March 2015 until the end of campaign.	Continue posting and tweeting challenges (Weekly or daily). Continue taking screenshots of challenges.	Leland (Facebook), Evan (Twitter)