Between remediating and participating: visuals of the Ford–Kavanaugh controversy on Instagram

Abstract

Purpose

The study seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the relationship between remediations and participation in new media. By lending some transparency, the analysis hopes to contribute toward generating a critical optics aware of the potentials and pitfalls of emergent media.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is visual semiotic analysis. The author make no claim for one, true interpretation or critical judgment about the images.

Findings

In demonstrating some shortfalls of Instagram affordances, the analysis shows how social media sites can develop tools that encourage users to engage in civic consciousness and respectful political debate. The study makes clear that new media tools can hamper or aid participatory logics.

Originality/value

To author’s knowledge, no other study that has analyzed remediated images related to the controversial confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is also important to place these images in the contexts of “iconicity” in emergent media (a concept increasingly being eroded in new media environment).

Citation

Irom, B. (2024), "Between remediating and participating: visuals of the Ford–Kavanaugh controversy on Instagram", Online Information Review, Vol. 48 No. 2, pp. 277-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-11-2021-0631