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- Convenors:
-
Migle Bareikyte
(European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder))
Mykola Makhortykh
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- Format:
- Traditional Open Panel
Short Abstract:
Datafication transforms how crises and wars are witnessed and researched. Scrutinising the relationship between witnessing, digital surveillance, and platform economy, the panel explores how technology can contribute to empathic responses and engaged research but also discrimination and alienation.
Long Abstract:
Digitalisation has transformed how catastrophic events and crises, including wars, pandemics, and natural disasters are witnessed and researched. Digital platforms and messengers enable new possibilities for documenting, communicating, and investigating collective suffering via the usage of e.g. Telegram, Instagram, TikTok, or other sources of publicly accessible data. These transformations of witnessing and knowledge production on digital platforms shift the boundaries between immediate eyewitnesses of the catastrophes and the global audiences, also creating new political and ethical challenges for the datafied media ecosystems.
For many years, STS has contributed to the reflexive approaches to research by studying situated practices and infrastructures, including in digital environments (e.g. Leigh Star, 1999; Hepp, 2019; D'Ignazio and Klein, 2020). This panel is interested in the production of platformised and datafied experience-based representations and knowledge about catastrophes, crises and wars in different parts of the world, and asks how they can be critically examined and engaged with from an STS perspective. Specifically, it focuses on how digital infrastructures shape everyday experiences, practices and reflexive investigations of digital witnessing in times of digitalised datafication. It scrutinises the complex relationship between witnessing, digital surveillance and the ways in which datafication can contribute to empathic responses, engaged research but also discrimination and alienation, in particular in the case of suffering of marginalised groups. The panel also discusses the implications of the growing autonomy of the elements of the datafied media systems (e.g. non-generative and generative AI systems) for witnessing and how these can enable new inequalities by silencing discriminated communities and promoting canonic representation of suffering.
To achieve these aims, the panel invites submissions on witnessing and its research practices with regards to datafication, focusing on the wide range of crises and wars: from the COVID pandemic to Russia’s war against Ukraine to the 2023 Morocco earthquake and beyond.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Mykola Makhortykh Migle Bareikyte (European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder))
Short abstract:
The rise of generative AI has transformed different areas of communication. However, the concerns about different forms of social bias in AI systems stress the importance of its continuous investigation, in particular regarding their representation of violence and war.
Long abstract:
The rise of generative forms of artificial intelligence (AI) transforms different areas of communication. The ease of producing content using text (e.g. chatGPT) and image-focused AIs (e.g. Midjourney) enables new possibilities for individuals to get informed about and represent a broad range of societal phenomena, including historical and recent instances of mass violence. However, the concerns about different forms of social bias in AI systems in the context of modern wars stress the importance of its continuous investigation. For this aim, we pose the following research questions which we strive to address in this paper: Are there evidence of specific forms of social bias in how image-generative AI models depict contemporary wars? What aspects of war representation does this bias primarily affect? And how does it relate to the relations of power influencing war mediatisation? To address these questions, we conduct AI audits of two popular image-focused AI models— Midjourney and Kandinsky—regarding their representation of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine.
Vihang Jumle (Institute of Communication and Media Studies) Mykola Makhortykh
Long abstract:
This paper presents a descriptive analysis of tweets related to the term 'Holocaust' on Twitter. Against the backdrop of rising digital communication and power of social media to speedily disseminate discourses, understanding the dynamics of conversations about the Holocaust in online spaces remains essential to contemporary politics. The paper systematically analyses a diverse dataset of tweets collected over a specified period using advanced natural language processing techniques. In this paper, we take a descriptive approach to categorise and quantify themes, sentiments, and prevalent linguistic patterns across languages in the discourse surrounding the Holocaust on Twitter. We further investigate the temporal trends of discussion, identifying peaks and troughs in activity to discern significant events or triggers that prompt heightened online conversation. Furthermore, the study explores the geographical distribution of tweets, examining regional variations wherever possible in expressing sentiments and topics related to the Holocaust. By mapping the global dissemination of information and opinions on this historically charged subject, the research provides insights into how digital narratives remain ‘alive’ in different forms across cultures and societies. We further theorise on which aspects of the holocaust remain in discussion versus those that remain little discussed. The findings of this descriptive analysis contribute to a nuanced understanding of public perceptions and attitudes towards the Holocaust within the digital sphere. As Holocaust remembrance and education increasingly transition to online platforms, this study is a valuable resource for educators, researchers, and policymakers aiming to navigate the challenges and opportunities the digital landscape presents in preserving memory.
Johanna Hiebl (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder))
Short abstract:
By examining civilian agency in war, this research uncovers complexities in depicting vulnerability amidst transnational solidarity efforts and the utilization of digital platforms. It queries the impact of digital war monitoring on global decisions via situated knowledge practices.
Long abstract:
Mediatized war events showcase the active participation of civilians in shaping warfare, expand their understanding of warfare, and allow public access to battlefield images through personal commentary and visuals, while the evolving capabilities of digital warfare blur the distinction between conventional and digital warfare and influence social reality (Boichak and Hoskins, 2022).
While existing research extensively explores the influence of digital platform infrastructures on everyday experiences, including times of conflict and crisis (e.g., Käihkö, 2020; Horbyk, 2022; Ford, 2022), constructing standardized narratives of vulnerability and disaster becomes a notable challenge. This challenge revolves around the growing intersection between transnational solidarity efforts and practices of care and resistance, and the use of digital platforms for military purposes and geopolitical influence.
My research aims to uncover dependencies and intersections within digital war contexts by examining the effectiveness and the influence of digital war monitoring on international decision-making processes, including humanitarian aid distribution and content censorship on digital platforms.
This exploration scrutinizes digital solidarity practices as critical components of societal resilience, with the goal of fostering social cohesion, collective bonds, and prosocial behavior (Carlsen, Gårdhus, and Toubøl, 2022). This concept, integral to resilience, facilitates both individual and collective access to resources in times of crisis (Tomkova, 2020; Lai, She, and Ye, 2019). This research enhances our understanding of the global implications of digital war monitoring by delving into the effects of digital eye-witnessing practices, focusing on localized practices in Ukraine and their repercussions and responses from global audiences.
Deepti Nautiyal (Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee)
Short abstract:
Any landslide event shows clear signatures of slope failures before the actual occurrence of the event. Therefore, monitoring vulnerable areas based on high-resolution time series satellite images, which are available regularly, is a must to avoid the loss of human lives in the future.
Long abstract:
Landslide is a complex naturally occurring phenomenon involving the downslope movement of surface material under gravity, which affects 12.6% of India’s total land area, excluding snow-covered areas, mostly in the Himalayas, the Western Ghats, the Eastern Ghats, the Northeastern hill ranges, and the Nilgiris. Modern-day satellites with rapid image acquisition cycles allow for near-real-time imaging of hazards-affected areas, which helps in studying the spatial extent of the events. Publicly accessible multi-spectral datasets derived from earth observation images can be used in analyzing manual or automated landslide detection. In the present study, high-resolution multi-temporal images were used in landslide detection of different parts of Western Himalayan regions, showing the evident signature of slope failures a few years before the occurrence of the actual events. This paper includes three different landslide events; the landslide near Chenab River on 13 August 2021, the rockfall from the Ronti Glacier on 7 February 2021, and the Urni landslide in June 2016. The result from the above studies shows that any landslide event shows clear signatures of slope failures before a few days to a few years of the actual occurrence of the event. Therefore, this paper emphasizes on the monitoring of such vulnerable areas based on high-resolution time series satellite images which are available on regular basis to avoid the loss of human lives in the future.
Ayush Biswas (Goethe University, Frankfurt)
Short abstract:
This proposal examines the crisis of land subsidence in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, using historical records, Susan Schuppli's Material Witness concept and infrastructure studies. It analyzes socio-scientific dynamics, remote sensing data, and power structures to understand the suppression of knowledge.
Long abstract:
This proposal offers a multidisciplinary examination of the phenomenon of land subsidence in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, India. Drawing on historical materials such as the Misra Committee Report of 1976, it explores the region's precursory signs of geological vulnerability. Using Susan Schuppli's concept of 'Material Witness', the proposal scrutinizes the socio-scientific dynamics surrounding the situation, particularly the interplay between state power and scientific knowledge production. It delves into the concept of geo-aesthetics and the role of micro-nodal infrastructures of state science in shaping perceptions and knowledge/non-knowledge of land subsidence. The proposal also investigates the utilization of remote sensing and GIS technologies by organizations like the NRSC and IIRS to monitor and study the subsidence phenomenon. It highlights the power dynamics inherent in scientific evidence production and the potential suppression of certain epistemes. Through Adele Clarke's conceptualisation of the Situational Analysis framework (2022), and Susan Leigh Star and Clarke's (2008) conceptualisation of implicated actors and actants, this proposal will investigate the 'universe of discourses' in the production, invisibilisation and mobilisation of the socio-scientific materials.
Migle Bareikyte (European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)) Mykola Makhortykh
Short abstract:
This talk empirically examines non-institutionalised digital witnessing by analysing communication practices on Telegram messenger during Russia's war in Ukraine, using a qualitative approach to big data analysis of one Telegram channel with over 150,000 users from an occupied Ukrainian city.
Long abstract:
Digital platforms are reshaping the landscape of war witnessing. This talk provides an empirically based conceptual contribution—the rise of a new form of witnessing, i.e. the non-institutionalized digital witnessing during Russia's war in Ukraine—which thrives within platform communities. We empirically examine how online platforms enable the rise of inconspicuous, non-institutionalized witnessing by analysing communication practices on Telegram, a highly popular platform in Ukraine. Using a qualitative approach to working with big data, including qualitative content analysis, descriptive statistics, and close reading, we map the content and the change in the witnessing practices in the beginning and during different periods of the Russian occupation by investigating over 2,000 messages from a specific Telegram channel with over 150,000 users devoted to one occupied Ukrainian city. By identifying a number of changes in the analysed Telegram chat communication practices over time, we propose a concept of the digitally witnessable war that acknowledges the critical polyvocality of contemporary war witnessing practices.