The Online Marketplace as a virtual gallery gathered significant online engagement in terms of viewership. The active online interaction or discussions (i.e., did people talk about it in the comments section? Is there an active conversation about the content?) which it was aiming for was not observed, however, for the whole duration of the galleries. One likely reason for this was the concern about online security given that most of the content revolved around issues of the rightsholder groups with the current government administration.
Another reason could be that the idea of holding such an event in a purely online manner was something that was novel at the time, given that everyone was still trying to transition into the new normal. But one thing was certain: the online gallery was a way to get the message across. That despite the weak reception in terms of generating online discussions, the event was still able to reach a lot of people. Perhaps at the time the focus was still on making people aware of the context using a tehcnology platform (Facebook) which was otherwise, pre-pandemic, more popularly used for leisure. It could be considered successful in terms of viewership. Making the public speak up is anothered desired outcome.
Reaching the desired outcome may have been easier had it gone through the following stage, which illustrates what’s happening in terms of being influenced and influencing others, given the circumstances at the time:
Stage 1 Deepening awareness Stage 2 Articulating stands or convictions Stage 3 Taking action by speaking up or conversing with others, and Stage 4 Influencing others. 29
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