POST 14: Individual Documents on 'Spaces & Exchanges' Notion

To deal with the notion of Spaces and Exchanges, I'll start by giving a definition of both terms. First of all, a space is a geographical and symbolic area that all societies occupy and exchanges could be the interactions between men and different societies. Examples could be trade, globalization or the Internet. In fact, it is important to distinguish virtual spaces and real spaces.

Document 1 : Virtual spaces


Cartoon by Pawel Kuczynski (no more information found)

I've chosen this cartoon in order to represent the 'Spaces and exchanges' notion, representing virtual spaces. Indeed, Facebook is a virtual space since it is a social media that allows people to exchange between them despite the distance or any other obstacle. Pawel Kuczynski is a satirical artist who aims to criticize, through his drawings, nowadays' society. In this cartoon, the artist wants to show how Facebook is dominating people and how it has become the main manner to exchange. At first sight, it would seem that Kuczynski had the will to show the crowd as a kind of human tide, where people are forced to stay and stick together but only via Facebook. In fact, it is clearly shown that the Facebook logo is dominating this 'tide' because of his considerable size but also because he's represented as a submarine crossing the crowd. It seems to me that this submarine means that Facebook can see everything about everyone because the social media removes any kind of privacy. To put it differently, I would say that exchanges between people are forced because everybody is forced to witness everybody's life displayed on Facebook. This lack of privacy leads to different issues like bullying for instance. But we should not forget that social media like Facebook has positive sides because it allows us to stay connected to the world and to people who are far away from us.
To sum up, I would say that this cartoon shows one side of Facebook and social media in general, that it is a space that allows and almost forces people to exchange their lives between them, in any case the media remains a way to stay in touch with friends or family despite the distance.


Document 2 : Real spaces

This video was broadcasted by the NASA Climate Change on youtube, on the 4th of September 2014. This video, thanks to drawings, wants to convey a message in an amusing way, the message being : take care of your planet. It's a universal message for children, men and women living on earth, no matter their country of origin. The earth is a common space to all the people in the world, and that's why it is necessary to care for it. This video wants to show that every country can be united all together for a same cause : saving the earth. Events like the COP21 obliged in a way, some countries to exchange with others so as to fight global warming. This video is an example of how our space, earth, is threatened. In my opinion, is it imperative that countries talk to each other, to exchange aiming to find a solution to fight against these threats. An exchange between children and adults has to take place, so that they will be aware of all the earth issues from a young age. The NASA could also have exchanges with us, so we could, on a smaller scale obviously, save the earth. Anyway, exchanges between people are essential to be all united to save the earth. To sum up, I would say that the only way to save our space, is through exchanges.