Previous research on verbal representations shows how the news media consistently depicts young people’s uses of digital media in a narrow, negative light. In this article, we present an innovative methodology for demonstrating how young people and their digital practices are visually depicted. We focus on stock photography produced by the commercial image banks which source the news media with much of its imagery. Following an indicative analysis of news media images, we present a social semiotic analysis (grounded also in a descriptive content analysis) of a dataset of 600 stock photos top-sliced from three major image banks. By pinpointing dominant representational, compositional and interpersonal meanings, we show how image banks and, in turn, the news media produce a rather pessimistic metadiscursive framing of ‘teens and technology’. These influential visualizations are often reductionistic – consistently centering technologies over relationships; they are also problematic in, for example, their inexplicably gendered and classist assumptions.
Visualizing teens and technology: A social semiotic analysis of stock photography and news media imagery / C. Thurlow, G. Aiello, L. Portmann. - In: NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY. - ISSN 1461-4448. - 22:3(2020), pp. 528-549. [10.1177/1461444819867318]
Visualizing teens and technology: A social semiotic analysis of stock photography and news media imagery
G. AielloPenultimo
;
2020
Abstract
Previous research on verbal representations shows how the news media consistently depicts young people’s uses of digital media in a narrow, negative light. In this article, we present an innovative methodology for demonstrating how young people and their digital practices are visually depicted. We focus on stock photography produced by the commercial image banks which source the news media with much of its imagery. Following an indicative analysis of news media images, we present a social semiotic analysis (grounded also in a descriptive content analysis) of a dataset of 600 stock photos top-sliced from three major image banks. By pinpointing dominant representational, compositional and interpersonal meanings, we show how image banks and, in turn, the news media produce a rather pessimistic metadiscursive framing of ‘teens and technology’. These influential visualizations are often reductionistic – consistently centering technologies over relationships; they are also problematic in, for example, their inexplicably gendered and classist assumptions.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
Teens&TechNMS2020.pdf
accesso riservato
Tipologia:
Publisher's version/PDF
Dimensione
745.29 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
745.29 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri Richiedi una copia |
ThurlowAielloPortmann_2019_AcceptedVersion(1).pdf
accesso aperto
Tipologia:
Pre-print (manoscritto inviato all'editore)
Dimensione
509.34 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
509.34 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.