"This book explores visual political engagement online – how citizens participate in the dynamism of life in society by expressing their opinions and emotions on various issues of democratic life in image-based social media posts, independent of collective actions. Looking beyond large digital soc
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ial movements to focus on the everyday, the book provides a well-documented and comprehensive framework of key notions, concrete methods and examples of empirical insights into everyday visual citizenship on social media. It shows how the visual has become ubiquitous in citizens’ communication on social media, focusing on how citizens use visual content to express their emotions and opinions on social media platforms when they discuss politics in a large sense." (Publisher description)
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"This study analyses the Indian and Pakistani publics reactions of the extensive coverage of the Pulwama terror attack, through an analysis of the online comments appearing at the end of the news stories covering the attack from the two leading English newspapers: Times of India (TOI) (India), and D
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awn (D) (Pakistan). A qualitative content analysis is performed to compare and examine this dialogue emerging in the news comments sections. Findings are explored and discussed through conceptualizations of religion, nationalism, and a social psychological perspective towards exclusion of out-groups." (Abstract)
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"News consumers have come to expect and demand the unprecedented immediacy of experience and coverage of breaking news offered by photographs, video clips, audio recordings, tweets, commentary: content created by ordinary citizens. The use of user-generated content is a salient aspect of how journal
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ists and news organizations are responding to technological changes in the twenty-first century. Eyewitness Textures examines the far-reaching changes in journalism spurred by the growing importance of user-generated content. Bringing together the voices and experiences of professional journalists and academic researchers from across five continents, this collection explores news production practices, changing skills among editors and journalists, and corporate and newsroom restructuring. Chapters by practitioners collectively reflect the newsroom experiences of major global media organizations, while the academic contributions address issues of industrial transformation, political influence, truth and verification, aesthetics, and ideological implications. Both perspectives combine to deepen our understanding of what constitutes the conditions and creation of good journalism, as well as the implications of how the profession should be taught to future journalists." (Publisher description)
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"This review aims (a) to investigate the motivations to share fake news on Social Media Platforms (SMPs) according to the Self-Determination Theory (SDT); (b) to identify the solutions to fight these motivations and the agents in charge of implementing them; and (c) the user’s role in this process
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. We reviewed 64 journal articles published up to April 2022. Misinformation belief and entertainment stood out as the most cited intrinsic motivations, while self-promotion, conspiracy theory, and political ideology were the most cited extrinsic motivations in the reviewed literature. The main solutions to fight fake news spreading on SMPs are improving users’ digital literacy, refining interventions, rating headlines, and sources, and promoting users’ engagement to consume content sustainably. These interventions should be adopted by four agents: governments, SMPs, civil society, and private health organizations. However, the role of SMP users themselves is critical in this process." (Abstract)
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"This paper aims to explore the determinants causing fake information proliferation on social media platforms and the challenges to control the diffusion of fake news phenomena. The authors applied the systematic review methodology to conduct a synthetic analysis of 37 articles published in peer-rev
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iewed journals retrieved from 13 scholarly databases. The findings of the study displayed that dissatisfaction, behavior modifications, trending practices to viral fake stories, natural inclination toward negativity and political purposes were the key determinants that led individuals to believe in fake news shared on digital media. The study also identified challenges being faced by people to control the spread of fake news on social networking websites. Key challenges included individual autonomy, the fast-paced social media ecosystem, fake accounts on social media, cutting-edge technologies, disparities and lack of media literacy." (Abstract)
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"Die Methode der Kamera-Ethnographie ist ein zeigendes statt beschreibendes Verfahren und nutzt Kameraführung, Schnitt und Montage im Rahmen einer visuellen Analytik und performativen Wissensform. Bina Elisabeth Mohns Programmschrift zeigt, wie Kamera-Ethnographie auch nonverbale Praktiken in ihren
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Choreographien und bildhaften Figuren in den Blick rückt: Anstelle einer videographischen Aufzeichnungslogik wird davon ausgegangen, dass Forschungsgegenstände zunächst noch gar nicht sichtbar sind. Durch eine reflexive Pragmatik des Sehens und Zeigens leitet die Kamera-Ethnographie dazu an, die Prozesse ethnographischer Beobachtung, Erfahrung und Entdeckung mit filmischen Mitteln zu gestalten und selbst das Publikum in eine forschende Rezeption einzubinden." (Verlagsbeschreibung)
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"While the field of Journalism Studies has already engaged in rich debates on how to rethink the truth conditions of user-generated content (UGC) in platform journalism, we argue that it has missed out on the ethico-political function of UGC as testimonials of lives-at-risk. If we wish to recognize
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and act on UGC as techno-social practices of witnessing human pain and death, we propose, then we need to push further the conceptual and analytical boundaries of the field. In this paper, we do this by introducing a view of UGC as flesh witnessing, that is as embodied and mobile testimonies of vulnerable others that, enabled by smartphones, enter global news environments as appeals to attention and action. Drawing on examples from the Syrian conflict, we provide an analysis of the narrative strategies through which flesh witnessing acquires truth-telling authority and we reflect on what is gained and lost in the process. Western story-telling, we conclude, strategically co-opts the affective dimension of flesh witnessing – its focus on child innocence, heroic martyrdom or the data aesthetics of destruction – and selectively minimizes its urgency by downplaying or effacing the bodies of non-western witnesses. This preoccupation with verification should not be subject to geopolitical formulations and needs to be combined with an explicit acknowledgement of the embodied voices of conflict as testimonies of the flesh whose often mortal vulnerability is, in fact, the very condition of possibility upon which western broadcasting rests." (Abstract)
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"As media environments and communication practices evolve over time, so do theoretical concepts. This book analyzes some of the most well-known and fiercely discussed concepts of the digital age from a historical perspective, showing how many of them have pre-digital roots and how they have changed
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and still are constantly changing in the digital era. Written by leading authors in media and communication studies, the chapters historicize 16 concepts that have become central in the digital media literature, focusing on three main areas. The first part, Technologies and Connections, historicises concepts like network, media convergence, multimedia, interactivity and artificial intelligence. The second one is related to Agency and Politics and explores global governance, datafication, fake news, echo chambers, digital media activism. The last one, Users and Practices, is finally devoted to telepresence, digital loneliness, amateurism, user generated content, fandom and authenticity. The book aims to shed light on how concepts emerge and are co-shaped, circulated, used and reappropriated in different contexts." (Publisher description)
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"Citizen Media is a fast-evolving terrain that cuts across a variety of disciplines. It explores the physical artefacts, digital content, performative interventions, practices and discursive expressions of affective sociality that ordinary citizens produce as they participate in public life to effec
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t aesthetic or socio-political change. The seventy-five entries featured in this pioneering resource provide a rigorous overview of extant scholarship, deliver a robust critique of key research themes and anticipate new directions for research on a variety of topics. Cross-references and recommended reading suggestions are included at the end of each entry to allow scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds to identify relevant connections across diverse areas of citizen media scholarship and explore further avenues of research." (Publisher description)
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"This article summarises preliminary reflections for mediators on social media codes of conduct. Such codes of conduct, to be agreed upon by conflict stakeholders, would aim to prevent and mitigate the use of social media to exacerbate conflicts or jeopardise peace processes. Such codes of conduct w
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ould apply to both social media content (specific types of posts and comments such as hate speech) and social media behaviour (specific uses of social media such as coordinated efforts to manipulate public debate)." (Page 1)
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"The 55-year long Colombian conflict with the FARC guerrilla movement ended in 2016 with the signing of a peace agreement, which resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of victims of socio-political violence. Paradoxically, this did not improve security for journalists, who were targeted:
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one was killed, another suffered sexual abuse, and 262 received threats. In a qualitative case study, we content analyzed 592 tweets in order to document how threats from a political powerholder contributed to the formation of networks engaging in verbal violence on Twitter. Results showed that attacks on freedom of the press originated from a legitimate actor, caused an extremely polarized discussion among citizens who took sides, and provoked further threats and accusations. Conciliatory positions were hard to find." (Abstract)
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"This paper explores the role that citizen journalism is playing in democratising the mainstream media in Rwanda. Through in-depth interviews with journalists from two radio stations and by using the public sphere theory as a theoretical framework, this research sought to answer the question as to w
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hether citizen journalism in Rwanda propels media democratisation by enabling democratic deliberation through its ability to inform, filling in the gaps left by mainstream media and by encouraging critical thinking. The findings from this study show that citizens participate in the daily work of the media through commentaries and by serving as news sources. However, citizens have not yet had a tangible impact on the functioning of the two media where self-censorship and gatekeeping are widely practised. Democratisation of these radio stations appears to be more theoretical rather than an established practice." (Abstracts)
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"Why do women respond so differently to becoming a mother in England from the way they do in Trinidad? How are values such as carnival and suburbia expressed visually? Based on an examination of over 20,000 images, the authors argue that phenomena such as selfies and memes must be analysed in their
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local context. The book aims to highlight the importance of visual images today in patrolling and controlling the moral values of populations, and explores the changing role of photography from that of recording and representation, to that of communication, where an image not only documents an experience but also enhances it, making the moment itself more exciting." (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-press)
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"This edited volume discusses the theoretical, practical and methodological issues surrounding changes in journalism in the digital era. The chapters explore how technological innovations have transformed journalism and how an international comparative perspective can contribute to our understanding
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of the topic. Journalism is examined within Anglo-American and European contexts as well as in Asia and Africa, and comparative approaches and methods for journalism studies in the digital age are evaluated. In so doing, the book offers a thorough investigation of changes in journalistic norms, practices and genres in addition to providing an international and comparative perspective for understanding these changes and what they mean to journalism." (Publisher description)
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"[...] this book aims to draw from the experience of Arab journalists and experts in the Arab World to help journalists enhance their news verification and social newsgathering skills. We hope the publication contributes to the ongoing debate on techniques and ethics that surrounds user-generated co
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ntents (UGC) and the use of digital platforms in the news production process." (Page 13)
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"Increasingly, the most powerful images from a news event are captured by eyewitnesses. The proliferation of smartphones and the popularity of social networks means that before a professional camera crew can arrive at the scene, there will almost always be footage of events already uploaded to the l
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ikes of Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Vine and Whatsapp, or streams appearing via Periscope or Facebook Live. Other bystanders might also have footage on their phones, which they have not posted online. If you work for a news organisation, it is likely you are interested in using some of these images. But how do you navigate the legal and ethical hurdles? This guide answers ten key questions you will face working with status updates on social networks and other online platforms as well as eyewitness media – photographs or videos captured by unofficial sources." (Introduction)
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"This paper examines the role of open source research in human rights fact-finding and seeks to address a gap in the current literature, which lacks a human rights perspective, is dominated by journalistic approaches, or focuses on specific tools. It focuses on citizen media, the visual subset of op
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en source information, and provides a practitioner’s perspective that is based on several years of analyzing open source materials for a global human rights group. The paper includes case studies on video and image verification, and identifies best and worst practices. The author argues that open source content, specifically citizen media, can play a crucial and increasingly important role in human rights documentation, if analyzed using sound and transparent methodologies based on well-established factfinding principles. It presents, for the first time, a tool-independent analytical framework that will allow both seasoned and new human rights researchers to review and assess open source content. Specific recommendations are offered for human rights organizations, funders, academics, and technology companies in order to realize the full potential of open source content for human rights documentation." (Abstract)
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"The enormous collection of user-generated content (UGC) in the form of YouTube videos from the Syrian war provides an unprecedented and diverse collection of shared digital memories of conflict and violence. The central question of this article asks what the value is of UGC on YouTube for legal evi
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dence of war crimes and future Transitional Justice. It is beyond doubt that the surge of uploaded videos from the Syrian uprisings revolutionized the way in which contemporary wars are observed and documented. The sheer amount of user-generated content online has given rise to manifold ways of interpreting what is happening on the ground, inspired creative resistance, led to a surge of professional and independent Syrian documentary films and increased the connectivity between those who undergo the war inside the conflict zone and those who are observing the situation from a safe distance. Many YouTube clips from Syria are likely to be rejected as stand-alone legal evidence though, as it often lacks sourced information about meta-data, date, time, geographical coordinates, identity of the participants, the identity of the perpetrator, and other contextual information crucial to establishing judicial facts for war crimes prosecution. The everexpanding body of videos from Syria will give rise to a wide and varied landscape of interactive media that has surpassed the old approach of political mainstream media to inform and possibly manipulate their audiences for their own agendas, whatever those may be. As a platform of digital memory and space to express moral outrage, YouTube served a crucial and important role in the Syrian crisis and the UGC is of immense value for digital memorialisation and historicization of the Syrian crisis. The vast amount of UGC on YouTube was categorized in 8 different types of footage and we can conclude that only small number of videoclips on YouTube can in fact function as crime-based evidence for war crimes. This does not mean that the UGC on YouTube has no value, however as a legal evidence it can be problematic to use YouTube videos if not corroborated and verified properly. The main issue is the lack of meta-data in many of the UGC on YouTube. The YouTube video revolution in Syria did bring to the surface many brave video activists who are now professionally involved in producing high quality footage for international news broadcasters, the most recent example of that is the important work of Waad al Kataeb inside eastern Aleppo with the British Broadcaster Channel Four News (Channel 4 2016). Through a series of edited 5-6 minute mini stories from the ground, Al Kataeb’s work provides a credible and important source of evidence." (Conclusion, page 22-23)
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"The rapid and incredible growth of eyewitness media (also known as user-generated content or UGC) has led to the emergence of a new cadre of journalists, humanitarian and human rights professionals whose job it is to seek out, verify and edit the most disturbing and traumatic raw images captured by
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non professionals and posted online. These professionals are tasked with viewing and sifting through massive volumes of eyewitness media - that is, raw, unedited, authentic footage now captured regularly on smartphones - to enhance their investigations, reporting, operations, prosecutions and advocacy. Professionals who work with eyewitness media watch disturbing footage from war zones, natural and manmade disasters and accidents over and over again to verify its veracity and to edit out images that are deemed too extreme for viewing by the general public. Viewing traumatic images of death, destruction, blood and unimaginable horrors all day every day - often for years on end - is now an integral part of the daily work of many desk-bound staff working for news, human rights and humanitarian organisations who are often located thousands of miles away from where the actual horrors occur. Whether it is a broadcaster, publisher, human rights or humanitarian professional, symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are now evident amongst staff working in offices on what we call the digital frontline.
This study builds upon previous research that proved that viewing distressing eyewitness media can lead psychological injury, including, but not restricted to, such conditions as PTSD and major depression. The principle aim of this research is to explore the following questions: How much distressing eyewitness media are professionals, who work in the three professional sectors, watching? How frequently, and in what volumes are professionals viewing distressing eyewitness media? What kinds of eyewitness media do professionals find particularly distressing?" What coping mechanisms, if any, have been developed by staff to help mitigate the potentially negative effects of viewing distressing content? - What support, if any, do professionals receive from their organisations and senior managers? - Does organisational culture encourage or prevent professionals from requesting support from their organisation’s hierarchy? What training and preparation is provided to raise awareness of or mitigate the adverse impact of trauma exposure on university graduates, newcomers and those established in post? What resources do organisations provide to prevent, mitigate and treat the adverse impact of trauma exposure? Which of those resources have been used? Which are found to be the most useful? What do staff who experience vicarious trauma need and expect from their organisations in order to support them? Based on an online survey (to which we received 209 responses from people working with eyewitness media across all three professional sectors) and 38 in-depth, anonymous interviews we find that: the impact of eyewitness media on journalism, human rights and humanitarian work means that the frontline is no longer geographic. A new type of frontline has emerged that is digital. Staff at an organisation’s headquarters who work with eyewitness media do so daily and often see more horror on a daily basis compared to their counterparts deployed in the field. Consequently, organisations have a duty of care towards office based staff working on the digital frontline who are at serious risk of vicarious trauma and PTSD [...] " (Executive summary, page 3-5)
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