Archiving the Present. Critical Data Practices During Russia’s War in Ukraine
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/15361Keywords:
War, Digital archiving, Disinformation, Russia, Ukraine, SituatednessAbstract
Russia's war in Ukraine is also a digital one: war becomes data, managed by algorithmic systems and content moderation tools of large tech platforms. This paper focuses on archiving and disinformation as two key data practices during the war. We explore how these future-facing practices are embedded in fragmented social media temporalities that interfere with the sense-making of the war. We argue that digital archiving, especially through civic community archives, is crucial in documenting war data and countering disinformation practices. We also posit that it is crucial to research these data practices by cooperating with local scholars and activists, with the goal of understanding the war and its implications in a manner that respects local knowledge. This is the lead essay for a special feature of Sociologica, and it also briefly presents the works by other contributors that make up the issue.
References
Agostinho, D., Gade, S., Thylstrup, N. B., & Veel, K. (Eds.). (2020). (W)Archives: Archival Imaginaries, War, and Contemporary Art. London: Sternberg.
Alfred Landecker Foundation. (2022). Mnemonic – Ukrainian Archive: Preservation, Verification, and Investigation of Open-Source Documentation Concerning Human Rights Violations in Ukraine. Alred Landecker Foundation, 9 May. https://www.alfredlandecker.org/en/article/introducing-mnemonic
Amnesty International. (2022). Ukraine: Ukrainian Fighting Tactics Endanger Civilians. Amnesty International, 4 August. http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/08/ukraine-ukrainian-fighting-tactics-endanger-civilians
Artists at Risk (2022). Home. Artists at Risk. https://artistsatrisk.org/?lang=en
Bareikytė, M. (2022). Gintautas Mažeikis: ‘The Problem Is Not in the Illusions, but in the Aims of the Apparatus of Power’. Kajet, 7 April. https://kajetjournal.com/2022/04/07/migle-bareikyte-gintautas-mazeikis-interview/
Bellingcat Investigation Team. (2022). Russia's Kremenchuk Claims versus the Evidence. Bellingcat, 29 June. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/06/29/russias-kremenchuk-claims-versus-the-evidence/
Benkler, Y., Faris, R., & Roberts, H. (2018). Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Bjola. C. (2018). Propaganda in the Digital Age. Global Affairs, 3(3), 189–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/23340460.2017.1427694
Bowker, G. (2005). Memory Practices in the Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Browne, M. (2017) YouTube Removes Videos Showing Atrocities in Syria. The New York Times, 22 August. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/world/middleeast/syria-youtube-videos-isis.html
Burkhardt, M., van Geenen, D., Gerlitz, C., Hind, S., Kaerlein, T., Lämmerhirt, D., & Volmar, A. (Eds.). (2022). Interrogating Datafication. Towards a Praxeology of Data. Bielefeld: transcript.
Center for Urban History (2022). War Documenting Projects. Center for Urban History. https://www.lvivcenter.org/en/updates/documenting-the-war-2/
Center for Urban History, Center for Urban Studies, National University of Construction and Architecture, Re-Start Ukraine, University College London, Urban Forms Center,; Yale University, & Visual Culture Research Center. (2022). Introduction. The Reconstruction of Ukraine. https://www.reconstruct.in.ua/
Chayka, K. (2022). Watching the World’s “First TikTok War”. The New Yorker, 3 March. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/watching-the-worlds-first-tiktok-war
Current Time (2022). Amnesty Ukraine Chief Quits Over Rights Report. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 6 August. https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-amnesty-chief-pokalchuk-resigns-report/31976528.html
Davies, D. (2022). Ukraine is Inventing a New Way to Fight on the Digital Battlefield [Audio podcast episode]. In: Fresh Air, 31 March. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/03/31/1089660395/ukraine-is-inventing-a-new-way-to-fight-on-the-digital-battlefield
Dresen, E., Eidinger, L., Flaßpöhler, S., Hoven, E., Kluge, A., Mack, A., Marx, G., Merkel, R., Merkel, W., Mey, R., Nuhr, D., Polt, G., Sander, H., Schult, H.A., Schwarzer, A., Seethaler, R., Selge, E., Vollmer, A., Walser, F., & Zielinski, S. (2022) Open Letter to Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Emma, 3 May. https://www.emma.de/artikel/open-letter-chancellor-olaf-scholz-339499
Esposito, E. (1997). The Hypertrophy of Simultaneity in Telematic Communication. Thesis Eleven, 51(1), 17—36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0725513697051000003
Fortun, K., Fortun, M., Okune, A.H.S.C., Schütz, T., Ya-Su, S. (2021). Civic Community Archiving with the Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography: Double Binds and Design Challenges. In M. Rauterberg (Ed.), Culture and Computing. Design Thinking and Cultural Computing (pp. 36–55). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77431-8
Forensic Architecture (2022). Russian Strike on the Kyiv TV Tower. Forensic Architecture, 10 June. https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/russian-strike-on-kyiv-tv-tower
Foy, Henri. (2018). Vladislav Surkov: “An Overdose of Freedom is Lethal to a State”. Financial Times, 18 June. https://www.ft.com/content/1324acbb-f475-47ab-a914-4a96a9d14bac
Gerlitz, C. (2012). Acting on Data. Temporality and Self-Evaluation in Social Media (Working paper). Goldsmiths University. http://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/7076
Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the Internet: Platforms, Content Moderation, and the Hidden Decisions That Shape Social Media. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Habermas, J. (2022). Krieg und Empörung. Süddeutsche Zeitung, 28 April. https://www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/artikel/kultur/das-dilemma-des-westens-juergen-habermas-zum-krieg-in-der-ukraine-e068321/?reduced=true
Higgins, E. (2022). Russia’s Bucha ‘Facts’ Versus the Evidence. Bellingcat, 4 April. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/04/04/russias-bucha-facts-versus-the-evidence/
HVLV Bar. (n.d.). HVLV Bar feat. Hangout [YouTube Channel]. https://www.youtube.com/c/HVLVBarfeatHangout
Iakovlenko, K. (2022). Eyewitness the Russian War in Ukraine: The Matter of Loss and Arts. Sociologica, 16(2), 231–242. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/15272
IIPC. (2022). IIPC Webinar: Web Archiving the War in Ukraine. IIPC. https://netpreserve.org/events/iipc-webinar-web-archiving-the-war-in-ukraine/?occurrence=2022-08-31
Institute of Network Cultures. (2022). Posts By: Svitlana Matviyenko. Institute of Network Cultures. https://networkcultures.org/blog/author/svitlana/
IWM. (2022). Documenting Ukraine. IWM. https://www.iwm.at/program/documenting-ukraine
Kayyali, D. (2022). Digital Memory, Evidence, and Social Media: Lessons Learned from Syria. Sociologica, 16(2), 257–263. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/15383
Klimenko, N. (2022). Pulling Meaning Out of Matter: Reformations of Ukrainian Cultural Heritage. post/MoMA, 24 August. https://post.moma.org/pulling-meaning-out-of-matter-reformations-of-ukrainian-cultural-heritage/
Kukharskyy, B., Fedyk, A., Gorodnichenko, Y., & Sologoub, I. (2022). Open Letter to Noam Chomsky (and Other Like-Minded Intellectuals) on the Russia-Ukraine War. e-flux, 23 May. https://www.e-flux.com/notes/470005/open-letter-to-noam-chomsky-and-other-like-minded-intellectuals-on-the-russia-ukraine-war
Kuus, M. (2004). Europe’s Eastern Expansion and the Reinscription of Otherness in East-Central Europe. Progress in Human Geography, 28(4), 472–489. https://doi.org/10.1191/0309132504ph498oa
Lazaruk, K. et al. (2022). Bunk Debunkers: Warfakes as Russian War Participatory Propaganda. Network Cultures, 5 April. https://networkcultures.org/blog/2022/04/05/bunk-debunkers-warfakes-as-russian-war-participatory-propaganda/
Lewandowsky, S., Ecker, U.K.H., & Cook, J. (2017). Beyond Misinformation: Understanding and Coping with the “Post-Truth” Era. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 6(4), 353–369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2017.07.008
loveyoustepan. (n.d.). Posts [Instagram profile]. https://www.instagram.com/loveyoustepan/?hl=en
Matviyenko, S. (2022). Dispatches from the Place of Imminence, part 11. Network Cultures, 9 July. https://networkcultures.org/blog/2022/07/09/dispatches-from-the-place-of-imminence-part-11/
Matviyenko, S., & Getmanova, I. (2022). Producing the Subject of Deportation: Filtration Processes during the Russia-Ukraine War. Sociologica, 16(2), 243–256. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/15387
McKay, S., & Tenove, C. (2021). Disinformation as a Threat to Deliberative Democracy. Political Research Quarterly, 74(3), 703–717. https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920938143
Meduzalove. (n.d.) Posts [Instagram profile]. https://www.instagram.com/asiabazdyrieva/?hl=en
Milan, S. (2016). Political Agency, Digital Traces, and Bottom-Up Data Practices. International Journal of Communication, 12, 507–525, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3055569
Museum Crisis Center Ukraine (2022). Help Save Ukrainian Museums. Museum Crisis Center Ukraine. https://www.mccukraine.com/
Nazaruk, T. (2022). Subscribe and Follow. Telegram and Responsive Archiving the War in Ukraine. Sociologica, 16(2), 221–230. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1971-8853/15339
Nora, P. (1989). Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire. Representations, 26, 7–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/2928520
Otto, I. (2015). The Flexibility of Internet Time: Network Society and the Fleeting Stability of Sociotechnical Collectives. In N. Falkenhayner, A. Langenohl, J. Scheu, D.Schweitzer, & K. Szulecki (Eds.), Rethinking Order: Idioms of Stability and Destabilization (pp. 87–104). Bielefeld: transcript.
Poell, T. (2020). Social Media, Temporality, and the Legitimacy of Protest. Social Movement Studies, 19(5-6), 609–624. https://doi.org/10.1080/14742837.2019.1605287
Pokalchuk, O. (2022). What Amnesty Got Wrong in Ukraine and Why I Had to Resign. The Washington Post, 13 August. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/13/amnesty-ukraine-civilians-at-risk-why-i-quit/
Pomerantsev, P. (2017). Nothing is True and Everything is Possible: Adventures in Modern Russia. London: Faber & Faber.
Pomerantsev, P., & Weiss, M. (2014) The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture and Money. New York, NY: Institute of Modern Russia.
Russian Embassy UK [@RussianEmbassy]. (2022). @Amnesty confirms #Ukraine tactics violate international humanitarian law & endanger civilians. [Ukraine] forces set up bases in residential areas, incl… [Tweet]. Twitter, 4 August. https://twitter.com/RussianEmbassy/status/1555232968196726789
Scahill, J. (2022). Noam Chomsky and Jeremy Scahill on the Russia-Ukraine War, the Media, Propaganda, and Accountability. The Intercept, 14 April. https://theintercept.com/2022/04/14/russia-ukraine-noam-chomsky-jeremy-scahill/
Sheldon, M. (2022). Russia’s Kramatorsk ‘Facts’ Versus the Evidence. Bellingcat, 14 April. https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2022/04/14/russias-kramatorsk-facts-versus-the-evidence/
Snyder, T. (2022). Germans Have Been Involved in the War, Chiefly on the Wrong Side. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 27 June. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/juergen-habermas-and-ukraine-germans-have-been-involved-in-the-war-18131718.html
Sora, C. (2016, February 16). Rethinking Time in the Digital Age. CCCBLAB. https://lab.cccb.org/en/rethinking-time-in-the-digital-age/
Spahn, S. (2021). Russian Media in Germany: How Russian Information Warfare and Disinformation Have Affected Germany. ISPSW Strategy Series: Focus on Defense and International Security, 766. https://www.ispsw.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/766_Spahn.pdf
Spatial Technologies. (2022). Home. [Youtube Channel]. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC37q623QPWJvjLqDav34ATA
Srnicek, N. (2017). Platform Capitalism. Cambridge: Polity.
Sucho. (2022). Saving Ukranian Heritage Online. Sucho. https://www.sucho.org/
Thylstrup, N. B., Agostinho, D., Ring, A., D’Ignazio, C., & Veel, K. (Eds.) (2021). Uncertain Archives: Critical Keywords for Big Data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Tidy, J. (2022). Ukraine Says it is Fighting First 'Hybrid War'. BBC, 4 March. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-60622977
Tucker, J.A., Guess, A., Barbera, P., Vaccari, C., Siegel, A., Sanovich, S., Stukal, D., & Nyhan, B. (2018). Social Media, Political Polarization, and Political Disinformation: A Review of the Scientific Literature. The Hewlett Foundation. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3144139
Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information Disorder: Toward an Interdisciplinary Framework for Research and Policy Making. [Council of Europe Report DGI(2017)09]. Council of Europe. https://rm.coe.int/information-disorder-toward-an-interdisciplinary-framework-for-researc/168076277c
War on Fakes. (2022). What Happened in Bucha? A Full Analysis of the Ukranian Provocation. War On Fakes, 4 August. https://waronfakes.com/lies-about-bucha/what-happened-in-bucha-a-full-analysis-of-the-ukrainian-provocation/
Yablokov, I. (2022). Russian Disinformation Finds Fertile Ground in the West. Nature Human Behaviour, 6(6), 766–767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-022-01399-3
Želnienė, Liepa. (2022). Atlanto Tarybos Tyrėjas: Dėmesys Karui Ukrainoje Sumažėjo 30 Kartų, Rusija Tuo Neabejotinai Pasinaudos. Lietuvos nacionalinis radijas ir televizija, 9 August. https://www.lrt.lt/naujienos/kultura/12/1756516/atlanto-tarybos-tyrejas-demesys-karui-ukrainoje-sumazejo-30-kartu-rusija-tuo-neabejotinai-pasinaudos
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Miglė Bareikytė, Yarden Skop
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
