Graphic

Graphic

Today, almost anyone can upload and disseminate newsworthy content online, which has radically transformed our information ecosystem. Yet this often leaves us exposed to content produced without ethical or professional guidelines. In Graphic, Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros examine this dynamic and share best practices for safely navigating our digital world. Drawing on the latest social science research, original interviews, and their experiences running the world's first university-based digital investigations lab, Koenig and Lampros provide practical tips for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the harms of being online. In the wake of the global pandemic, they ask: How are people processing graphic news as they spend more time online? What practices can newsrooms, social media companies, and social justice organizations put in place to protect their employees from vicarious trauma and other harms? Timely and urgent, Graphic helps us navigate the unprecedented psychological implications of the digital age. ‘We live in a world where too few people have stopped to think of the shattering impact of the way cell phones, video and audio technology, and the internet bring horrendous violence, often instantly, to our offices, our homes, our safest spaces. It is splendid to have this thoughtful, compassionate analysis of this situation, replete with practical suggestions, from two of our finest human rights workers.’ Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis ‘In the groundbreaking book Graphic, Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros explore the ever-evolving information landscape and its effects on our lives in the digital age. Meticulously researched and brimming with practical advice, this timely guide delves into the complex world of online content and reveals best practices for safely navigating it. Drawing from their pioneering work at the world's first university-based digital investigations lab, the authors address crucial questions about our engagement with graphic news, and the responsibilities of newsrooms, social media platforms, and social justice organizations in today's world. Graphic is an essential read for anyone seeking to understand and mitigate the challenges of the digital era while staying connected to the human stories that matter most.’ Eliot Higgins, founder of Bellingcat ‘In Graphic, Alexa Koenig and Andrea Lampros brilliantly navigate the complicated and ethical landscape of our digital lives in which violent content is readily accessible at any time of day, anywhere in the world. Koenig and Lampros contend we should not necessarily look away from this material, but rather look differently. Thoroughly researched and compelling written, Graphic is a groundbreaking book with important insights about ways to be a digital witness to injustice that minimize the harmful and devastating impact this material can have on people who view it.’ Sylvanna Falcón, Associate Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz ‘[This book] will be a valuable resource for wellbeing and will help with understanding of the causes and long-lasting negative affects of the presentation of these momentary experiences on emotional, mental, and often physical being … This is a deep and important commentary on the effects of graphic visual representations … Recommended.’ C. Chiarenza, CHOICE Explores our growing global exposure to distressing imagery, offering science-based ways to maximize connection and minimize harm from time online. Alexa Koenig is co-Faculty Director of UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center and an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley School of Law. She co-founded the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab and is an author of Hiding in Plain Sight (2016) and Digital Witness (2020). Andrea Lampros is the Communications Director at the Berkeley School of Education. She is the former Associate Director at the Human Rights Center, co-founder of the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab, and the Resiliency Manager of the lab.