Visual Methods for Digital Research - by Sabine Niederer & Gabriele Colombo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Over the last decade, images have become a key feature of digital culture; at the same time, they have made a mark on a wide range of research practices.

Visual Methods for Digital Research is the first textbook to bring the fields of visual methods and digital research together. Presenting visual methods for digital and participatory research, the book covers both the application of existing digital methods for image research and new visual methodologies developed specifically for digital research. It encompasses various approaches to studying digital images, including the distant reading of image collections, the close reading of visual vernaculars of social media platforms, and participatory research with visual materials. Offering a theoretical framework illustrated with hands-on techniques, Sabine Niederer and Gabriele Colombo provide compelling examples for studying online images through visual and digital means, and discuss critical data practices such as data feminism and digital methods for social and cultural research.

This textbook is an accessible and invaluable guide for students and researchers of digital humanities, social sciences, information and communication design, critical data visualization and digital visual culture.

Review Quotes

"This book outlines the breadth and depth - and politics and ethics - of research methods with digital images. Both theoretical and practical in nature, it is destined to become a go-to guide for researchers across disciplines."
Catherine D'Ignazio, MIT

"Visual Methods for Digital Research is a truly unique and much-needed book. There has never been anything like it before, and many researchers and students in many fields will use it for years to come. It is the very first overview and practical guide for using a range of digitally native methods for the study of digital visual culture. The topics covered include the specificity of digital images, creating and reading large image collections, studying images in relation to their network context, participatory methods for digital visual culture, and visual research with generative AI. I would like to highly recommend this book to everybody interested in digital images and their analysis, regardless of their specialization."
Lev Manovich, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York

"In an era dominated by visual communication, Visual Methods for Digital Research: An Introduction by Niederer and Colombo emerges as a timely and comprehensive guide to navigating the complexities of image-based research. This book offers multiple approaches to understanding, analyzing, and utilizing digitized and generated images in academic and practical research contexts, making it an invaluable resource for scholars, data scientists, and visual communication professionals."
Gerry Derksen, Design Research Society (DRS)

About the Author

Sabine Niederer is Professor of Visual Methodologies at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences.
Gabriele Colombo is a Researcher in the Department of Design at Politecnico di Milano and an affiliated researcher with the Visual Methodologies Collective at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences