[Last modified: December, 11 2024 05:46 PM]
Topic: Aesthetics of Genocide: Reposting Images of Gaza
Questions:
- How do young people in London engage aesthetically with genocide through the “reposting” tool?
- How does this relate to self-presentation online?
- How is it engaged with by different people?
Methods:
- Participant observation: Deep hanging out with other young people in London – my peers; chatting with organisers and groups formed from the online space; interviews with creators of specifically political spaces online, etc;.
- Engaging with the virtual space: Take on new forms of virtual ethnography, reach out to people through the digital sites themselves and engage with construction of online persona as a whole participant, not just offline self. This could include anonymous accounts who exist – for purposes of this research – only online.
- The body and auto-ethnography: Engaging with my own embodiment when reposting images: how I move, what physical space I am in when I do it, how long I spend with the images themselves. Engage critically with my own positionality and usage of social media, as well as the epistemic bubbles I may find myself in.
Potential findings:
- People engage with imagery online in a detached way.
- People feel incensed with the democratisation of platforms to speak politically, or take part in offline protest, whilst some people may feel alienated.
- Different age groups use different platforms but both with the intention of constructing online performance of identity. Older groups – as a generalisation – may engage more with Facebook, whilst the younger adults and kids may be largely on TikTok.
- Reposting is a digestible form of engaging with atrocity. People can do it from anywhere, quickly, and without the permanence of a “hard post”.
I have learnt a lot about ethics during this process. I no longer think I would engage in screenshotting people’s story reposts without full and informed consent from those involved. This is particularly due to the transient intention of stories.