All posts filed under: Perspectives

Editorial perspectives on culture, space, economy and society. The focus lies on how cultural transitions are observed, interpreted and lived, through essays, visual narratives and reflective forms of storytelling.

AI-images versus real photos – a conclusion

Published by Joshua

We experimented – and you shared your opinion. The overall sentiment is clear: You preferred the article featuring Gustavo’s real photos over the version with AI-generated images. Among the reasons most of oyu mentioned were credibility, journalistic integrity, and your ability to emotionally connect with Gustavo and the Moroccan street dogs in general. This gives us valuable insight into how people evaluate visual content and how they respond to AI-generated images. At the same time, we need to look at our own experiment critically. We deliberately chose a rather artistic AI style intended to evoke a warm, comforting feeling – like a beautiful story from a children’s book. This naturally created a strong contrast to the real photographs. Would your opinions have been less unanimous if we had generated images that were nearly indistinguishable from real photos? What if we had not disclosed which images were AI-generated and which were real? It is also possible that a generally more critical attitude toward AI images influenced the evaluation once the images were clearly labeled as such. …

Morocco‘s Dogs: „Beldi is Best“ – a visual storytelling experiment

Published by Joshua D. Tewalt

Many countries have stray dogs — Morocco is no exception. Their situation is often precarious, and in the run-up to the 2030 World Cup, it is becoming increasingly dangerous. “Beldi is best” — anyone who has spent even a short amount of time engaging with dogs in Morocco has likely come across this belief. But what exactly is a Beldi — and what role do stray dogs actually play in Moroccan society? In Moroccan Arabic, Beldi means “from the countryside,” “native,” “belonging to the country.” They are often mixed-breed dogs that exhibit traits of local breeds such as the Sloughi, a Moroccan sighthound, and the Aidi, a herding dog from the Atlas Mountains. But characteristics of other breeds will also frequently be found in Beldis — especially of German Shepherds and Huskies, breeds that are particularly popular in Morocco as pets because of their wolf-like appearance. Among dog lovers, the Beldi is considered especially resilient and loyal. Yet, although the Beldi is the Moroccan dog par excellence, and its very name marks it as native to the country, this sense of belonging is hardly …

License to kill: Morocco‘s campaign against its dogs

Published by Joshua D. Tewalt

Version: AI-generated images Click here for the version with our own photography. Morocco’s Stray Dogs at Risk Ahead of the 2030 World Cup It is a cold afternoon in the middle of November, the sun is shining in a small beach town near the Moroccan metropolis of Casablanca — but for Chiara, it is a sad day. She witnessed Moroccan authorities throw a black stray dog and one of her puppies into a vehicle and take them to an unknown location. Chiara knew this dog and had considered her a friend — for months, she had accompanied Chiara, her partner, and their own dogs on countless walks along the beach. At some point, she had even begun bringing her puppies along. Originally, there had been seven of them – but only two had survived the harsh conditions on Morocco’s streets. Now the fate of the mother dog and her puppy is uncertain. Most likely, they are just two among many that have disappeared — as Morocco plans to rid its streets of the country‘s street …

License to kill: Morocco‘s campaign against its dogs

Published by Joshua D. Tewalt

Version: Our own photography. Click here for the version with AI-generated images. Morocco’s Stray Dogs at Risk Ahead of the 2030 World Cup It is a cold afternoon in the middle of November, the sun is shining in a small beach town near the Moroccan metropolis of Casablanca — but for Chiara, it is a sad day. She witnessed Moroccan authorities throw a black stray dog and one of her puppies into a vehicle and take them to an unknown location. Chiara knew this dog and had considered her a friend — for months, she had accompanied Chiara, her partner, and their own dogs on countless walks along the beach. At some point, she had even begun bringing her puppies along. Originally, there had been seven of them – but only two had survived the harsh conditions on Morocco’s streets. Now the fate of the mother dog and her puppy is uncertain. Most likely, they are just two among many that have disappeared — as Morocco plans to rid its streets of the country‘s street …