Abstract
This study addresses the urgent need for a theoretical and methodological paradigm to evaluate image-making amidst digital transformation and AI-generated imagery proliferation. It introduces a novel integrative model combining Visual Grounded Theory (VGT) with Visual Semiotics, enriched by various scholarly insights, to scrutinize visual misinformation and AI-generated images. Grounded in empirical realities, VGT, as articulated by Charmaz (2014) and further developed by Mey and Dietrich (2020), serves as the cornerstone for constructing theories from visual data, revealing underlying social processes. This model, contrasted against traditional frameworks like Iconological Analysis and Phenomenology, is chosen for its systematic, objective, and iterative approach to analyzing visual data, essential for today’s digital and AI-generated images. Visual Semiotics complements VGT by decoding images’ complex sign systems, facilitating an understanding of their symbolic social and cultural dimensions. This integration enables an exploration of the empirical and semiotic dimensions shaping visual communication. The model also considers the epistemological challenges posed by AI in visual representation, drawing on insights from Massimo Leone (2023) and integrating classical theoretical foundations from thinkers like Umberto Eco and Jean Baudrillard. This comprehensive methodological framework aims to provide a nuanced analysis of image-making in the digital age, addressing the blurred lines between artificial and real. It seeks to aid scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in critically evaluating and preserving visual integrity amidst the complexities of a post-truth media landscape. The study emphasizes the need for a dialogue between contemporary challenges and classical theoretical underpinnings, ensuring an approach to understanding futuristic image-making.
Presenters
Shahnaz BashirPhD Candidate, Communication, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Massachusetts, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Deepfakes, Visual-Grounded-Theory, Visual-Semiotics, Methodological-Framework
