WAKE UP CALL #1: MINISTRY OF TRUTH

•

Wake Up Call’s main goal is showing the possible construction of negative futures (dystopias), reflecting some of the current trends. Which themes can alert us to rethink the present, and change our behaviour within the near future?

We believe that understanding the issues of the current society (and questioning them to perceive what the tomorrow might hold) strengthens our critical thinking, and establishes the path towards a brighter future.

Ministry of Truth, Wake Up Call’s first issue, is a publication about validity of the information spread throughout each medium (at a speed almost impossible to follow), and, thus, the spread of Fake News or other non-validated content that jeopardises free and informative debate, weakening the stability of democratic societies.

We used a parchment paper envelope as a container to this edition, using this material texture to symbolise the fact that the truth is often blurred and faded – difficult to distinguish and identify – between the rest of the information available.

The main magazine contains expository articles about post-truth and a purple booklet that proposes a way out of post-truth.

Since digital contents are constantly being updated, changed, and (possibly) verified, we decided to add a new layer to the main magazine using the Artitive (mobile) app. Hereby, through the eye of a camera, we can review this editorial object with new digital content.

This The Washington Post newspaper may look like a normal issue, but it contains nothing but fake news, which becomes more and more evident as it is read.

Accompanying the newspaper is a leaflet that explains its (false) contents and draws attention to the quality of (deliberately) false contents circulating every day, reminding us of the importance of checking the sources and veracity of the information we consult

Opposing fake news, we present design fiction: both come from the use of fiction to create non-real contents, but the later seeks to question reality, looking for a brighter future.

At the blistering speed at which content is currently released and updated, is difficult to keep up with the new terms and expressions related to fake news and post-truth. For this reason, we have created a lexicon, a booklet that serves as a dictionary about this topic.

The poster included in this edition draws an analogy between the creation of fake news and the operation of a factory/machine, through an infographic in which everyone who is involved (directly or indirectly) in the creation of this type of information is included.