visual social media and digital methods

Tim Highfield + Tama Leaver QUT Curtin @timhighfield | timhighfield.net @tamaleaver | tamaleaver.net

Visual social media +

digital methods

Instagrammatics… …and beyond!

ANZCA 2015, Queenstown NZ 10 July 2015

Visual social media Instagram selfies Tumblr GIFs Vine memes Twitter infographics YouTube mash-ups Facebook profile pics Vimeo talking heads Periscope live streams Line emoji Snapchat coffee/brunchfast

… …

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 02

The visual turn? The importance of the visual, enabled by

Technological capabilities Ubiquitous internet access Smartphones Apps, platforms focused on images, videos, streaming…

Visual representations and the social mediation of everyday life

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 03

From Twitter to… Building on capabilities and methods for studying Twitter, develop new tools and processes for other platforms initial focus: #hashtags as common hooks

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 04

User  name  

Tweet  Hashtag  

Link  

Date  and  4me  @men4on  

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Twitter data

Creator  user  name  

Image/  video   Cap4on  

Likes  

Comments  

Tag  

@men4on  

Date/4me  

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 06

Instagram data

Instagrammatics The Ends of Identity: #ultrasound, #birth, #funeral cf. Tama Leaver (2015). “Researching the Ends of Identity: Birth and Death on Social Media”. Social Media + Society Approaches developed further through research into #sbseurovision, #democracysausage, … @timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 07

Instagrammatics Hashtag-oriented datasets offer:

Quantitative analysis - # items, users, metrics Metadata – location, time, filter, tags… Content, visual analysis

Tropes of Instagram Shared practices (#tbt, #nofilter…) Photos vs. memes vs. collages vs. video The presentation/performance of experiences

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 08

Metadata of the visual

#thisisqueensland Instagram

Oct 2014  

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 09

Visual / textual Taking into account both elements for combined meaning-making, context

The use of visual media as supporting elements for text commentary (e.g. reaction GIFs) The text set-up or explanation for visual gags

The Dress as visual and textual social media phenomenon?

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 10

Visual challenges Dynamic data – comments, likes, shares Visual analysis, data processing The visual and the textual combined

Image + caption + tags + responses + … Time and permanence/relevance?

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 11

Ephemerality

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 12

Not quite an image, not yet a video?

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 13

Metrics https://vine.co/v/O9deFBO6HZW http://northgang.com/post/116372260562 https://twitter.com/RickWolff/status/ https://instagram.com/p/09Oza_BVz2/587657094444281857

Vine  

Instagram  

Tumblr  

Twitter  

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 14

Platform allowances

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 15

Visual ethics What data is available? What data is allowed to be captured? The personal within the visual The personal in the metadata

Location data coupled with depicting people/ place

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 16

Participatory + co-created

Meaning and commentary created on social media through images, text, and more Visual expressions, visual cultures

e.g. Meme creation, promotion, sharing Participation and extension further impacts upon the visual objects of study @timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 17

Participatory + co-created

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 18

Participatory + co-created https://twitter.com/ABCnewsIntern/ status/587903015283101697

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Participatory + co-created https://twitter.com/KieraGorden/ status/587939165284671488

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 20

Participatory + co-created https://twitter.com/ABCnewsIntern/ status/587928106955976704

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 21

Meaning and intent Reading into visual media: Constructing messages, opinions, commentary from non-textual elements

e.g. Hashtaggery on Twitter vs. Instagram vs. … e.g. Entirely made of emojis

Support and visibility of these forms on different platforms, OS, in databases

Impact on interpretation?

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 22

For more:

Visual Cultures of Social Media timhighfield.net

The Ends of Identity tamaleaver.net

@timhighfield + @tamaleaver ANZCA, Queenstown, 10 July 2015 23