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By Joe Arney

Dances for hit songs. The antics of cute animals and babies. Easy dinner recipes.听

A campaign to raise awareness about air and water pollution in the Denver metro area?

If you think TikTok videos are all fun and games, think again. A new generation of social-savvy activists is learning how the format can be used to draw attention to major societal challenges in hopes of creating solutions.听

It鈥檚 why Bianca Perez where her attempts to de-stress by doing meditative practices are interrupted by the reality of air and water pollution.听

鈥淏reathe in the sweet Rocky Mountain air,鈥� a narrator says as Perez attempts to deep-breathe. 鈥淟ook around you, you鈥檙e in a safe space, you鈥檙e protected.鈥澨�

鈥淏ut not from PFAS,鈥� the voice breaks in harshly, startling her out of her meditative routine.

鈥淲e study plenty of social media, and so a lot of students are aware that these movements happen online,鈥� said Perez, a senior pursuing a degree in media studies. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 think many students try to create movements of their own on TikTok, and we really got to see how hard it can be to create impact on social media.鈥澨�

As part of the Visual Culture and Human Rights course taught by Sandra Ristovska, Perez and her classmates worked in teams to understand a local human rights crisis, then develop a campaign with clear metrics for success and a video for TikTok. Perez鈥檚 team focused on climate and pollution, specifically the role of a Commerce City Suncor refinery in leaching 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥� through its discharge water. Other teams looked at the opioid crisis and veteran homelessness in and around Denver.

鈥淭ypically, when we talk about human rights, we鈥檙e used to thinking about places abroad affected by war,鈥� said Ristovska, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder鈥檚 College of Media, Communication and Information. 鈥淲e tend not to think about a place like Boulder. The beauty was in seeing how the students thought about the topics they鈥檙e passionate about and get them out of their typical frame of mind.鈥澨�

Groups of students proposed topics in class, then received coaching from Ristovska about how to build a media campaign that resonates and how to consider audience needs and motivators. The campaign included both print materials and the TikTok videos.听

In working on her most recent book, , Ristovska spoke with campaign officers at major human rights groups, like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and 鈥渕any of them were saying younger generations are not engaged with human rights issues the way prior generations have,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hat this class taught me is that, actually, they're really passionate and want to be involved, but we need to meet them where they are鈥攕o if they're on TikTok, then we need to be on TikTok.鈥�

Understanding media influence

Katie Considine, who is pursuing a media studies minor from CMCI to pair with her major in international affairs, said she was excited to take the course because it was 鈥渢he perfect cross section of my two academic interests.鈥澨�

鈥淲hen I graduate, I鈥檇 like to be in a role where I can look at how the media influences neofascist movements鈥攖he far right, violence, things like that,鈥� Considine said. 鈥淭he course gave me a really interesting perspective on how different human rights organizations or NGOs run campaigns, but also how media ends up impacting the ways people see human rights issues, and vice versa.鈥�

The opportunity to address local issues in the course also left an impression for the students; Considine said it addressed a weakness in her international affairs courses 鈥渢hat sometimes are a little too broad, when there are fundamental human rights issues taking place right here that deserve our attention.鈥�

Perez said her experience in the course has helped her think more critically about the human rights violations she sees in the media.

鈥淚 think I鈥檓 more aware of the way atrocity is portrayed in the media, and some concepts behind how it鈥檚 shown, like power and identity,鈥� she said.

Learning from peers as well as professor

The course also involved opportunities for students to learn from one another. During their presentations, the students were encouraged to provide substantial feedback to help hone messages and rethink strategies.听

鈥淲e knew it was going to be criticized by our peers, so going into it we were able to talk through what holes we had or where things could go wrong,鈥� Considine said. 鈥淚t helped us make the project better before we even presented.鈥澨�

Additionally, as digital natives, the students were able to coach one another on the right aesthetics that resonate with audiences, Ristovska said.听

鈥淢y involvement was more along the lines of鈥攊s the messaging right? Is the audience there? What do you want people to do, and how do you ensure that people do it?鈥� she said.听听

Both Perez and Considine plan to continue on to graduate school, where each hopes more courses like this one await.

鈥淚 feel media literacy is at an all-time low, and courses like this need to be more accessible to people,鈥� Considine said.听

For her part, Ristovska said the course offered a real example of when teaching helps shape research, especially since students brought new perspectives in local human rights challenges that don鈥檛 always rise to the top in scholarship.听

鈥淏eing able to go in the classroom and see what things are unclear, what we as faculty take for granted that we shouldn鈥檛, really allows us to ask better questions about human rights, no matter where they're happening, no matter what the context is,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd so that's why I鈥檓 so grateful to my students.鈥�