To critically examine how the transition from traditional media (e.g., print and broadcast journalism) to digital and social media platforms has transformed the ways users encounter, engage with, and emotionally respond to images of conflict and violence.
The proliferation of digital media has radically altered how conflict is represented and experienced. Where traditional photojournalism once mediated images through editorial framing, today’s digital platforms deliver content through algorithmic feeds, participatory sharing, and personalised interaction. This project seeks to understand what those shifts mean for how users see, feel, and act in response to images of violence — a question central to both media ethics and interaction design practice.
The imagery we received has changed. WW2 portrayed the heroism of soldiers and their bravery. Vietnam showed the horrors of war and the toll it took on the soldier. Iraq showed the horrors the native people felt at the hands of the soldiers. Less black and white.
I intend to conduct a literary review covering topics relevant to my research question, as well as more general background topics to provide contextual knowledge.
I intend to conduct 3-4 user interviews, preferably with a range of ages and digital maturities, to gain valuable first hand qualitative findings to inform my research. These interviews will be conducted across the next 3 weeks and interviewees will be sources my own contacts. I believe the nature of this research questions makes anyone a valuable candidate to interview, and given the time frame and scope of the project, I think qualitative data will be more valuable to inform my research.
I expect to produce a set of insights around the key themes of my topic, such as but not limited to changes in user attention, empathy, participation, and desensitisation, caused by the emergence of the digital circulation of conflict imagery.