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- Convenors:
-
Yarden Skop
(University of Siegen)
Sarah Rüller (University of Siegen)
Houda El mimouni (Indiana University)
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- Format:
- Traditional Open Panel
Short Abstract:
This panel brings together researchers interested in the mediation of wars to discuss media’s influence on current violent conflicts, e.g. the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine war. We explore critical approaches to war and media, with a focus on presenters from conflict regions.
Long Abstract:
Armed conflicts and media technologies are tied together in modern warfare. The rise in the use of social media, owned by large technology platforms, in the ongoing conduct of wars, in their documentation and in influencing different actors in ways that transform warfare, raises many questions. During current wars in Ukraine and Palestine and Israel, new media technologies have been used to sway global public opinion, to expose and document human rights violations, to challenge narratives promoted by legacy media and state actors and to document life under fire or experiences of combatants. At the same time, Social Media platforms are being weaponized - for the spread of disinformation, propaganda and psychological warfare by state and non-state actors. Platform companies are tasked with moderating masses of content, leading to claims of unjust treatment and censorship.
We are interested in contributions that address issues such as:
How is social media becoming part of military tactics and used for geopolitical influence (through hacking, bot wars, and the spread of disinformation)?
How is content moderation online weaponized for silencing dissenting voices under the guise of security issues?
The rise of OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) as a mode of investigating truths on the battlefield.
How can STS researchers develop a critical approach and theory towards war and its media technologies?
Actors’ choice of terminology and its implications, also with regard to the spread of narratives online (war, invasion, occupation, military operation, genocide, annexation).
What challenges does this provide in terms of digital and information literacy and connectivity for people who follow the events of war online?
Also, with a view towards more optimistic outcomes - can media technology be used for conflict resolution and how?
We ask to center this on scholars from regions under war and conflict, while also inviting others to contribute.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Esther Hammelburg (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences) Marloes Geboers (University of Amsterdam)
Short abstract:
This paper brings a media theoretical perspective on mediatized wars. It argues that the affordances and use cultures of popular social media platforms turn wars into live media events, involving both people who are living under war and those joining in from a distance.
Long abstract:
This paper brings a media theoretical perspective on mediatized wars. It argues that the affordances and use cultures of popular social media platforms turn wars into live media events in which liveness – a sense of “being now here together” (Hammelburg, 2021) – involves both people who are living under war and those joining in from a distance.
This involvement is of a very different kind than what we know from earlier wars that were mediated through radio and television; the logics of platformed media have permeated and transformed everyday life (Altheide, 2018; Deuze, 2012; Hepp, 2019). Many people living under war share their personal experiences and thoughts through TikTok and Instagram, involving followers worldwide as witnesses at a distance. Further, these war followers are not only involved as witnesses, very often they also add their own social media content to the “event-sphere” (Volkmer and Deffner, 2010) of the war, and by doing so they write themselves into it.
Drawing from media theory on liveness and empirical material – photos and videos – from TikTok and Instagram concerning the wars in Ukraine and Russia, and Israel and Gaza, this paper shows how wars as live events are constructed. In its analyses of different modes of involvement in these live war event-spheres, it addresses the issue of positionality.
Yulia Germanova (National Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute) Olena Goroshko (National Technical University Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute)
Long abstract:
Telegram has become a leader among the sources of information used by Ukrainians during the war. This is confirmed by several sociological surveys conducted in wartime.
At the same time, the information obtained from a particular source does not always correlate with the trust to it. How to measure the trust of Ukrainians in specific Telegram channels?
The authors believe that the linear approach of "the more followers a channel has, the more trust it has" is very one-sided and does not provide relevant information.
A comprehensive assessment must include a number of indicators:
The number of subscribers - a criterion that demonstrates interest in the channel's content;
The success of fundraising for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - the willingness to give one's own money to fundraising organised by the channel is a clear indication of trust in it;
Sharing of information published by the channel by subscribers is an indicator of trust in the content;
The cases in the channel's activity of sharing fakes, false or unverified information;
The impact of the channel's content on the socio-political situation in Ukraine;
The Ukrainian Army willingness to share unique content with the channel, as namely the Army has an unprecedented level of trust in the Ukrainian society.
This list of criteria is not complete, nevertheless all mentioned or some of the indicators must be taken into account to measure the level of trust to Telegram Channels in Ukraine.
Jennifer Shkabatur (Reichman University, Israel)
Long abstract:
This paper delves into the multifaceted role of citizen-driven Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) usage in disaster and conflict contexts, with a primary focus on the Russia-Ukraine and Gaza wars, along with other case studies, including environmental disasters. OSINT, rooted in publicly available information and enhanced by satellite imagery, proves invaluable for truth investigation, timely decision-making, and crisis management. Through an exploration of diverse OSINT usage by citizens, the study demonstrates the tool's versatility in providing critical insights and the ethical dilemmas it poses.
The paper examines three primary models of OSINT usage by citizens: (1) employing OSINT to contribute to warfare efforts, as seen in the Russia-Ukraine war where citizens provided guidance to soldiers; (2) relying on OSINT to unveil truth on the battlefield, exemplified by the case study of hospital bombings in Gaza; and (3)utilizing OSINT to monitor climate-induced disasters, evident in examples like the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spills, Nepal Earthquakes, and California Wildfires.
Drawing on these models, the paper highlights the unprecedented advantages of citizen collaboration around OSINT while carefully considering its ethical dilemmas and challenges. Risks related to misinformation, accuracy, reliability, political biases, and privacy concerns necessitate the development of responsible OSINT practices.
By referencing a diverse set of case studies, the paper advocates for standardized methodologies, transparent practices, international cooperation, and technological advancements to enhance OSINT capabilities. This approach would empower both OSINT users and those concerned regrading the reliability of OSINT results, contributing to effective and responsible utilization in the face of evolving global challenges.
Fatima Aziz (The American University of Paris) Noemie Oxley (American University of Paris)
Long abstract:
Taking the ongoing war in Gaza as a case study, our paper explores the reception of videos and photographs by TikTok and Instagram users by questioning their experience of viewing war on these applications. Our study combines interviews, collaborative analyses of photographs, videos, and reels, and a theorization of social media platforms as “technocultural actor” (Langlois, 2013). We apply an interdisciplinary approach to social media phenomena, at the intersection between image theory and social media studies.
We explore the ways publics engage or disengage with war content and negotiate with its platform governance. In our case, we examine how these applications amplify existing polarized opinions and affects for users already emotionally and intellectually involved in the Israel-Palestine conflict, ultimately producing a specific “affective economy” (Ahmed, 2014) of war, shaped by platform design and its feedback driven algorithm (Abidin & Zhao,2022; Lin et al.,2023).
We question users’ ability to envision, conceptualize, and imagine contemporary warfare in an endless stream of heterogeneous content, and understand the impact of their practice on “digital infowar” (Hoskins & Shchlelin, 2023). We study whether and how the “commerce of gazes” (Mondzain, 2010) existing between content and users could contribute to common understandings of war and stimulate their political agency and desire for change. Furthermore, we approach their activity online as a contribution to the “war feed” (Hoskins & Shchlelin, 2023), insomuch as it shapes narratives and public opinions on the conflict (Merrin, 2018; Moran & Boxman-Shabtai, 2023) ultimately influencing its conduct.
Laura Mora (Queen's University Belfast)
Long abstract:
Media scholars have noted that social media users hardly engage in online activism beyond liking and sharing, which they dismissively call “clicktivism” (Nikunen, 2019). However, the current “participatory war” (Chernobrov, 2022) surrounding Gaza complicates this viewpoint, since the seemingly simple act of liking and sharing pro-Palestine content is in fact radical, risky and much called for amidst attacks on Gazan citizen journalists, Meta’s censorship of influencers, and online harassment and other risks for audiences. Liking and sharing increases visibility, hence this type of content is designed to be accessible and highly shareable, which is illustrative for an Instagram genre that Dumitrica and Hockin-Boyers (2022: 1) call “slideshow activism”. I build on this concept to explore how the aesthetic, rhetoric and affective qualities of pro-Palestine content garners “mediated solidarity” among an online “affective public” (Nikunen, 2019), and has consequently caused a seismic shift in public opinion.
In my visual and discursive media analysis of 5000+ screenshots of Instagram Stories and carousel posts, I ask what types of content are widely shared, such as: biopolitics (e.g. footage of atrocities; casualty recording; infographics); media literacy (e.g. reflecting on mainstream messages, Meta censorship and one’s own social media activism); and an activist toolbox (e.g. alternative vocabulary, institutional messages and templates for action). I furthermore demonstrate which counter-narratives are circulated, how these narratives and sentiments have changed throughout these past months, and how they have been shaped by social media users’ own identities and cultures.