Page 46 - Demo

Chapter 244fracturing fields, followed by natural landscapes. Down left, there are images of workers and people like politicians, spokespersons, and groups. On the right side of the network, there is a predominance of data in infographics and maps in the centre, together with a reasonable number of icons and logos on the upper right and text (mostly images of papers and statistics) right below.Even though the online actors’ composition was different between the three web spheres, approximately the same relative use of images in each cluster were detected in both points of time. The spread of use of the type and content of visuals was rather similar, which points to a thematic saturation of the shale gas online controversy.We then investigated if certain image types and content were posted in relation to the actors’ standpoint in the debate. Table 2.1 shows the number of images retrieved per year/country, according to the actor’s position. The Figures 2.4 and 2.5 below depict the same clusters of images as shown in Figures 2.2 and 2.3, but now with each image coloured according to the actor’s position who posted it: green for images used by pro-fracking actors, grey for images used by neutral actors, and red for images used by anti-fracking actors.Relating the type and content of the visual to the debate’s position, these networks in Figures 2.4 and 2.5 show that pro-fracturing actors use all kinds of images in South Africa and the United Kingdom. In Mexico, proponents and neutrals use more visuals depicting people (most of all officials), although data and logos/icons also appear considerably. South African and British neutral actors tend to use more visuals connected to all sorts of data and facts. Anti-fracking actors in both web spheres tend to focus more on landscapes and people (protestors). In the Mexican case, anti-fracking actors used all kinds of images to depict the debate, but they are using more infographics, schemes, and other data-related visuals most of all depicting environmental risks.Efrat.indd 44 19-09-2023 09:47