User Experience Design for SURV:

A Collaborative Platform for Survivor and Animator.

A thesis project prepared in partial fulfillment of the degree requirement of

MFA in Communication Media Arts

Scripps College of Communication

Ohio University

by Zul Tinarbuko

The use of media as a tool for social change needs a careful approach in terms of ethics. Ethical storytelling is crucial when working with a subject with a certain situation. One of the examples is working with a marginalized subject that might be living in an oppressed situation or living with trauma. Telling this kind of story can be very challenging. Protecting the identity of this kind of subject is the most important key for this project, and to make it happen it needs a careful design which involves a multi-disciplinary collaboration. This project uses an online digital interactive platform that connects survivor and animation artists so then they can produce a collaborative work about a sensitive/unspoken story using animation. Animation is an effective tool for social change as it can convey complex ideas in a short time, can appeal to various age groups, and can address sensitive issues in an open and unthreatening way. The main purpose of this project is to give a voice to the voiceless, to empower them with effective storytelling as well as using a secure and inclusive medium of storytelling.

Keywords:

Animation Interactive Media Media for Social Change Immigration Survivor Unspoken Story