Understanding forest pictures on social media– A method to grasp nonverbal dimensions of human–nature relationships

ABSTRACT

The increasing importance of images as an everyday medium of communication (e.g. in consequence of the use of smartphones and social media) has led to an intensive engagement of the social sciences with the methodological accessibility of images. In this paper we present a qualitative image analysis method developed to understand nonverbal dimensions of human-nature relationships. The method is methodologically substantiated and presented in form of a step-by-step guideline. It offers an opportunity to transfer images into words by accepting the images characteristic materiality. Furthermore, an example analysis of a picture posted on a social media platform is provided. Based on this, this paper asks and discusses what research dedicated to the visual can do for environmental sociology regarding content-related insights as well as regarding methodological issues addressing a sociological research that rethinks and expands its repertoire to increasingly involve more-than-human actors in environmental sociology. In this way, the paper aims to discuss the added value of the suggested method and its potential to improve the understanding of sensory and emotional dimensions of human-nature relationships in the context of environmental sociology.

KEYWORDS:

• More-than-human world
• image analysis
• social media
• human-nature relationships
• qualitative methodology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. In the following, we use the terms picture and image interchangeably.

2. Hashtags are a combination of a hash sign (#) and keywords, which are set to a link on many social media platforms. Like this, pictures to a specific topic can be filtered and found.

3. This project was funded by the Forest Research Institute Baden-Wuerttemberg, which is associated with the Ministry for Rural Affairs and Consumer Protection Baden-Wuerttemberg.

4. In Germany, for non-interventional research such as ours, there is neither legal obligation nor institutionalized procedure to have the research authorized by an institutional ethics committee. However, there is a legal obligation to document informed consent and when using visual data copyright for publication. Both was obtained in advance of analysis with consent of the controller of data of the FVA. The written declaration of consent included approval to analyze, use and publish the photographs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jasmin Breithut

Jasmin Breithut studied environmental science at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany. Her research interests are the social dimensions of forests, image analysis methods and social media research. In her current project ‘Forests on the net’ at the Forest Research Institute of Baden-Wuerttemberg, she combines her research interests, while analyzing social meanings of forests and their representation in images and social media.

Wiebke Hebermehl

Wiebke Hebermehl is researcher in the division ‘Societal Change’ in the Forest Research Institute Baden-Wuerttemberg. She is a trained photographer and has studied social and cultural anthropology at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Germany, with a focus on environmental anthropology. Her research interests are the field of natureculture; the social dimensions of nature, forests and nature conservation in different cultures; and photography as a research tool and research subject.

Stephanie Bethmann

Stephanie Bethmann is researcher in the division ‘Societal Change’ in the Forest Research Institute Baden-Wuerttemberg. She is a sociologist and expert in qualitative social science methods. Her current research focuses on communication, conflicts and societal changes regarding citizens’ perceptions on forests and forest management.

Kristina Wirth

Kristina Wirth is researcher in the division ‘Societal Change’ in the Forest Research Institute Baden-Wuerttemberg. Her research interests include social science aspects of nature conservation in forests, cultural ecosystem services and qualitative methods in social forest research interests.