What is the ‘Million Faces’ petition?
The ‘Million Faces’ petition is a new way of
campaigning. We are collecting photos and self-portraits
of people all around the world to demonstrate to governments
that we need effective and urgent action to control the arms
trade crisis. Our aim is to collect one million faces by
2006 as a powerful visual message of support for the Control
Arms campaign. We will then use this mass movement of people
to persuade the world’s governments to sign up to a
global Arms Trade Treaty. With your help it will be the world’s
biggest popular movement against the misuse of arms.
How will you use my face as part of the Million Faces petition?
Governments are due to hold a conference at the United Nations
in the summer of 2006 to discuss aspects of the arms crisis.
We hope to take the one million faces to this meeting and
demand that governments face up to their responsibility and
stop the human misery caused by irresponsible arms sales.
One of the most exciting things about
the ‘Million
Faces’ petition will be the variety of ways in which
we can use the gallery to demonstrate support for the campaign..
Your image will never be used on
its own for campaign, advertising or other promotional
materials (without obtaining your express
permission in writing). It will only be displayed alongside
a larger group of hundreds or thousands of others from the ‘Million
Faces’ petition.
How secure is my information?
The protection of your privacy is
important to us. For your peace of mind all the information
that you submit online
is protected by industry standard encryption. We have asked
for your contact information to verify the ‘Million
Faces’ petition as valid, and so that we can send you
more information if you wish to take further action to tackle
the arms crisis. Only your first name, country and region
will be displayed to members of the public. Contact information
that you submit will not be passed onto any third parties.
Only with your permission will we send you campaign updates
and further information about the work we do.
Can I protect my identity?
Posting your photo will make it visible to other visitors
to the control arms website. If you have any concerns whatsoever
about your personal security, you should NOT upload your
image and instead choose one of our generic images that are
available on the upload site. As noted above, contact details
such as surname/family name, post/zip code, postal and e-mail
addresses will not be displayed on the Million Faces galleries.
How do I attach my photo to upload it to the ‘Million
Faces’ petition?
The “Browse” button will
automatically open a window where you will be able to search
you computer to
find where your photo has been saved or stored. This file
browser will let you explore files on your hard drive, CD
ROM or Floppy disc drive. Once you have located your photo
on your computer, simply double click to highlight the file
you want and it will automatically be placed in the attachment
box.
What file type and image resolution should I use?
At present, the Million Faces petition
can only accept Jpeg (.jpg) images. This image format is
by far the most common
image format used by digital cameras, scanners, web cams
or new technology like photo mobile phones. Whilst the size
of your image will be automatically adjusted before it appears
on the website, it will help us if you send as small a file
size as possible - image file size should not exceed 70k
if at all possible. Most scanner, digital cameras or photo
editing software have a default option to reduce file sizes
to suitable for e-mail or web site use, and this is usually
a resolution of 640x480. We suggest you refer to the settings
on your digital camera or your photo editing or scanner software
on how to reduce file sizes If in any doubt, please send
your file to us and we will adjust the file size accordingly.
Please note that it may also take several minutes to upload
large digital image files from your system, depending on
the speed of your internet connection.
What should my photo look like?
It will be easier to display your image in the gallery if
it is in portrait format. However if you are part of a group
of people a landscape picture will be more appropriate. We
are asking that people who submit their picture try to ensure
they are carrying out one of two actions, either:
- writing their name or slogan and where they are from
on their hand, or
- holding up a piece of paper/placard with the same information
written on it.
A brief browse
of the gallery will give you a good idea of what we mean.
The ‘Million Faces’ petition
will have more impact if everyone throughout the world is
repeating the same action to demonstrate their support for
the Control Arms campaign. Over the next few months, we hope
that the ‘Million Faces’ will become the powerful
visual symbol of solidarity linking people from all over
the planet in their call to demand an end to the arms crisis.
Currently
I don’t have an image. Can
I still join the campaign?
Yes. There is an option to choose
an image from our prepared gallery. You can replace this
image with a real photo of
yourself at a later stage if you wish, as long as you use
the same e-mail address – just follow the original
sign up procedure to replace your photo.
I don’t
own a digital camera, can I still upload my image?
In order to upload an image onto the web site you will require
a digital image in jpeg format. There are a variety of ways
you can get a digital image.
- Get your photos put onto a Photo
CD – contact
your local photo developing shop for details.
- Use a scanner to scan a normal
photograph – if you
don’t have one, your work place or your local library
or college might have access to one.
- Utilise your web-cam (if you have one) to take a still
image.
If none of these options are available to you, you can download
and print off the photo action card from the web site, fill
in your details and attach your photo (or draw you self portrait)
and send it to the nearest Control Arms campaign office (link
to addresses)
Do I have to have an e-mail address to upload my Photo?
Yes. For the “Million Faces” to be a valid petition
that we can legitimately present to Governments to demand
action on the arms crisis, we need to demonstrate that all
those that have signed up to campaign online are authentic
individuals. For online action, e-mail addresses provide
this validation. If you don’t have an individual e-mail,
you can get a free e-mail address from many internet sites;
try here (http://www.hotmail.com, http://www.yahoo.com)
The Control Arms campaign also hopes that you will sign
up to receive more information about the campaign and to
take further actions to help end the arms crisis. To do this,
we also need a valid e-mail address so we can communicate
with you. You will only receive updates and further information
from us if you have chosen this option.
Contact information that you submit will not be passed onto
any third parties. Only with your permission will we send
you campaign updates and further information about the work
we do.
Can other members of my family or friends use the same e-mail
to upload their photos?
No. For the reasons stated above
we require individual e-mails to validate the “Million Faces” petition.
However, it is possible to take a group photograph and
upload this
to the site.
Can I change my photo or image?
Yes. If you are unhappy with you
photo for whatever reason you can upload a new one, as
long as you provide the same
e-mail address on the upload form. The site administrators
will automatically replace your image. Just return to the “upload
you photo” section of the web site and repeat the sign
up procedure.
Can I remove my details?
Yes. If for whatever reason you decide you no longer with
to be part of the Million Faces petition, just send an e-mail
message to millionfaces@controlarms.org requesting to be
removed from the database. Please note that all your details
will be permanently removed alongside your image, which means
that you will no longer receive updates from us if you had
chosen that option. To re-join at a later stage, just return
to the Million Faces upload pages and re-submit your details.
Why do I have to be 16 to upload my photo?
Laws are now very strict in many countries on the displaying
of information about minors on the internet, in order to
protect them from potential harm. Individual images of those
under the age of 16 can only be displayed with the written
consent of the parent or guardian, and at this stage it is
currently not possible for us to verify parental consent
via the internet.
Whilst 16 is the most internationally
acceptable standard minimum age limit for actions of this
kind, please make sure
that you are in full compliance with national laws and practices
in your country before you join the ‘Million Faces’ petition.
If I am under 16, can I still join the campaign?
Yes, absolutely. There is an option to choose and upload
an image from our prepared gallery.
You can also use your computer to draw an electronic self
portrait of yourself. Many photo and image manipulation programmes
allow you to draw an image in this way. It is likely that
these programmes will already be on your computer. Just make
sure that you save or convert your image to jpeg format before
uploading it to the control arms website.
Why doesn’t
my photo appear on the website immediately?
To protect the integrity of the Million Faces petition,
a team of administrators will be responsible for publishing
images to the Million Faces site. The image you submit will
be cleared by the administrators before it is viewable by
members of the public on the website. This is to ensure that
the file is the correct type and file size to be displayed
quickly and accurately and also to prevent potential misuse
of the system by posting inappropriate or unacceptable material.
Your image should be visible online within 48 hours and an
notification e-mail will be sent to you.
If you spot any abuse of the system (inappropriate images
or offensive content) when browsing the online galleries
please contact millionfaces@controlarms.org
Why was my photo rejected?
If the administrators are unable to add your photo to the
Million Faces petition you will be sent a notification e-mail.
It is likely that the photo was not able to be published
for the one of the following reasons:
- Incompatible file type (we can only accept jpeg images at
this time)
- Poor image composition – the
image quality is too poor for us to display the image
online
- Easily identifiable third party advertising or slogans
- Inappropriate or potentially offensive content or information
that might give your exact location details to those browsing
the galleries (eg; house no. and street name).
If your photo
is rejected, please try again with another image. If this
isn’t possible,
please use one of our prepared images available on the sign-up
pages if this
is
not possible, you can always replace it later (see above).
If you are in any doubt as to why your photo was rejected
please contact millionfaces@controlarms.org for further
assistance.
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