[Commlist] Seeing through Machines: Visual Methods for Digital Research Symposium

*SEEING THROUGH MACHINES: Visual Methods for Digital Research*

A symposium hosted by the Digital Society Network 
<https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/faculty/social-sciences/digital-society-network/dsn-research> & 
iHuman <http://ihuman.group.shef.ac.uk/>, University of Sheffield, June 
17–19 2020.

Organisers: Warren Pearce, Ysabel Gerrard, Tim Highfield.

The last decade has been transformational in the use, prominence and 
importance of images on digital platforms and the web. Image-centric 
social networks such as Pinterest and Instagram have become culturally 
influential <http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/tran.12185>, Twitter and 
Facebook have fully integrated images into user timelines 
<https://mediarep.org/bitstream/handle/doc/3169/DIGITAL-CULTURE-AND-SOCIETY_2_2_2016_113-133_Murthy_Visual_Social_Media.pdf?sequence=1>, 
and Google Images is estimated to receive 1 billion page views per day 
<http://social.techcrunch.com/2010/07/20/google-image-search/>. Iconic 
photos, scientific charts and memes are now shared at an unprecedented 
speed and scale, impacting upon public debates about migration 
<http://visualsocialmedialab.org/blog/the-iconic-image-on-social-media-a-rapid-response-to-the-death-of-aylan-kurdi>, 
climate change 
<https://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0228.1>, 
politics 
<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1478929918807483?casa_token=hnRzEfbn78YAAAAA:LoymRSc7opt5rSkFyEnqzTJ3afAHa-lXjHSUdob6WIhovhQML5uNmK4yH80bkP4fPJ2ufihkEhU> and 
more. The importance of the digital image in representing, witnessing 
and interpreting the world around us is unquestionable. Yet, visual 
methods for digital research remain challenging. Recent years have seen 
emerging approaches such as visual vernaculars 
<https://pure.hva.nl/ws/files/4959407/networked_images_1_.pdf.>, 
Instagrammatics <https://doi.org/10.1080/22041451.2016.1155332>, and 
cross-platform analysis <https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1486871>, 
while the machine-learning field of computer vision presents 
opportunities for large-scale analysis but also challenges in 
understanding how images are being categorised and circulated online 
<https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1461444818776611?casa_token=oFVOVOzcDsUAAAAA:801CvKBnOXZs5V2cpgfoU23RiL1dPMagn8pKBnVVMCO2t0jZS5RU_VZtEL9rZcJQJPKf5OFq52g>. 
In sum, there is an urgent need to map out the state of the art in 
visual digital methods, identifying the promise and pitfalls of 
researching with, through and against machines.

This research symposium will bring together leading scholars, early 
career researchers and doctoral students to discuss this exciting new 
methodological field; sharing ideas, reflecting on practical challenges, 
and assess how working with images fits within the broader digital 
methods landscape. To set the scene, the symposium will begin at 5pm on 
June 17th with keynote presentations from two world-leading researchers 
in visual digital methods:

*Prof. Sabine Niederer* 
<https://visualmethodologies.org/About-us-title>**(Amsterdam University 
of Applied Sciences)

*Dr. Tim Highfield* 
<https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/socstudies/staff/staff-profiles/tim-highfield#tab00>**(University 
of Sheffield).

**

*Issues for discussion can include, but are not restricted to:*

/Theorising the content and use of digital images/; Ethical 
considerations in researching social media images;/ Computer vision as a 
tool for researching large datasets of images/; Data visualisation 
techniques for analysing images; /Digital methods for countering AI 
injustices/; Methods for researching multimodal communication (eg 
image/text combinations); /Platform barriers to data collection/; 
Applying traditional digital methods to digital contexts; /Researching 
affect in visual digital methods./

**

*SUBMISSION FORMATS:*

*Deadline 11.59pm GMT, April 17th, 2020*. Please submit no more than one 
in each category as places in the symposium are very limited.

1.*Papers (15 minutes + Q&A)*. Please submit an abstract of less than 
500 words to this link 
<https://www.dropbox.com/request/Mu577vSKh1cfcIuL2KVh>, including your 
Name, Institution and Email Address. *We intend to include some of the 
papers presented as part of a journal Special Issue*. Information about 
submitting your work for consideration will be announced after speakers 
receive their notifications of acceptance.

2.*Lightning talks (5 minutes)*. Please submit an abstract of less than 
100 words to this link, 
<https://www.dropbox.com/request/t5etx9LCBg8oFjpfFd3N>including your 
Name, Institution and Email Address. Looking for feedback on concepts, 
proposals or ideas you are at an early stage with? This is for you.

**

*ECR/PhD/STUDENT GRANTS:*

We encourage proposals from researchers in the early stages of their 
careers. Up to ten accommodation grants are available to be awarded to 
successful proposals. Please apply here when submitting your abstract 
<https://forms.gle/aUorpZP3M51UZTwNA>.

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