By Meghan Dougherty A substantial proportion of the Web sites ran pictures and drawings related to the 9\/11 terror attacks and their aftermath. It is likely that no event in the era of the Web has so dominated the visual imagery of the online world. The abundance, variety, and power of these images helped shape global reaction to the event.\u00a0 Images provided Internet users a means to navigate through 9\/11-related Web sites \u2013 many with strong emotional responses \u2013 that developed in the aftermath of the tragedy. <\/p>\n\n A sampling of 187 Web sites of all kinds \u2013 search engines, portals, sites focused on news, those run by government agencies, those that serve civic and community groups, those built by individuals, those devoted to spiritual and religious content, those created for scholarly pursuits, those of multinational corporations, and those created by schools \u2013 shows that 38% ran images of 9\/11 events in the days and weeks after the attacks.<\/p>\n\n Six distinct types of images dominated the online environment:<\/p>\n\n Web producers use images to convey ideas and highlight features of their sites.\u00a0 After 9\/11, people sought out places to grieve, to argue, and to memorialize, as well as to obtain news and information.\u00a0 And many Web sites added images related to 9\/11 events in a way that established a global symbol system that helped Web surfers understand the events in a more meaningful way. The Internet had joined the ranks of television, and become a place where people could participate in a shared experience.\u00a0 The common imagery of this symbol system allowed surfers to cope with their emotions together. <\/p>\n\n [T]<\/p>\n\n\n Portraits comprised a large number of the images that could be found online after 9\/11. But that was not the only photographic form that was being used. Images of changed landmarks, and even drawn graphics of patriotic symbols were also widely used.\u00a0 In the weeks following the attacks people felt the need to act.\u00a0 Many wanted to be directly involved, but not all could participate on such a tangible level. The Web provided a forum for these people to share their personal creative remembrances in the form of drawings and stories.<\/p>\n\n [Pictures]<\/p>\n\n\n The images of 9\/11 events and their aftermath were obviously posted to convey important symbols and meanings to viewers.\u00a0 The images used were largely images of Ground Zero at the pile debris at the site of the collapsed World Trade Center towers, rescue workers, victims, and patriotic graphics.\u00a0 These images had plain meanings that were used as \u201csignposts,\u201d or directional cues for Internet surfers.\u00a0 The images on the Web sometimes stood alone, but they were often accompanied by some text, or referent helping to guide the viewer.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n Sites chosen for this study enabled users to post and\/or read other people\u2019s postings about 9\/11. They included features such as message boards, Web-site polls, or Web-logs. The sample ultimately contained Web sites that represented a wide range of site producers, including religious, community, individual, portal, etc.\u00a0 Digital images were defined broadly to include photographs digitized for display on the Web, and graphics that have been drawn, or photographs that have been manipulated to reflect a 9\/11 theme for display on the Web. Examples of images with a 9\/11 theme included but were not limited to an American flag, an eagle, a hand-drawn graphic of the New York City skyline, and related objects.<\/p>\n\n Of the 187 sites included in the sample, 38% contained images with some sort of 9\/11 theme.\u00a0 Of the sites that included images, the most widely used were representations of the buildings damaged in the attacks, snapshots of memorials around the world, and portraits of those lost and of those helping in the recovery efforts.\u00a0 Web memorials were most frequently associated with images of people; most often memorials appeared on the Web as digital photograph galleries or a collection of images with little or no explanation or textual references.<\/p>\n\n The images found in the analysis fell into six different categories. They were meant to provide information, to memorialize, to act as \u201csignposts\u201d for 9\/11-related content, to tell stories, to supplement textual expression, or to reflect organizations\u2019 acknowledgement of the tragedy.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n Images were used to convey information in a format that was readily accessible and easily understood.\u00a0 Informative images enabled Web surfers to understand the what, when, and where of the attacks.\u00a0 Images provided a quick glance at the most basic information.<\/p>\n\n Many sites posted screenshots from international and national news organizations\u2019 television broadcasts and Webcasts.\u00a0 The E\u00f6tv\u00f6s University Media Department offered a site, \u201cAmerica Under Attack \u2013 Live,\u201d archiving live news broadcasts, Web pages, and printed press front pages (http:\/\/web1.archive.org\/web\/20011001120200\/emc.elte.hu\/~hargitai\/wtcmemorial\/)<\/a><\/p>\n\n Scroll down through the page to see still images of broadcast news reports, and printed press front pages.\u00a0 The story of September 11th can be seen through these informative images from major news organizations.\u00a0 Recognizable images were used to tell the story visually.<\/p>\n\n Many Web sites were posted as memorial pages using images as stamps of acknowledgement and support.\u00a0 Like yellow ribbons to support the troops, and pink ribbons to support the fight against breast cancer, red, white, and blue ribbons were created as a reminder and a memorial of the September 11th<\/sup> events.\u00a0 Some Web pages were posted as a repository for memorial images to be downloaded by other site producers for display on Web sites.\u00a0 Remember.worldatwar.org developed an \u201cInternet Remembrance Campaign\u201d dedicating part of the Web site as an image repository for site producers to find and take memorializing 9\/11-themed images for display on their own Web sites: http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20011101183348\/remember.worldatwar.org\/main.mhtml\/images<\/a>. Site visitors were encouraged to add to the collection with their own commemorative, or memorial images. <\/p>\n\n As a centerpiece, the Internet Remembrance Campaign site offered commemorative graphic images ready for download by Web site producers.\u00a0 As explained on the site, these images were created as an invitation to \u201c…place one of the ribbon images on your site, and consider the fragility of life and give thought to the merits of understanding and compassion.\u201d\u00a0 Commemorative graphics integrated the date, yellow ribbons, and photographs from Ground Zero.<\/p>\n\n Similar Web sites used text as memorials, recalling personal stories accompanied by graphics created for Web display.\u00a0 Many of these images combined a number of representations of patriotic and memorial imagery digitally to convey a sense of remembrance through image. Display of memorial images necessarily associated a site producer with a desire to remember and memorialize those lost on September 11th<\/sup>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n Various post 9\/11 sites did not dedicate entire sites or pages to 9\/11 information or memorial, but rather offered limited information along with previously posted, and unrelated content.\u00a0 Images were used on these Web sites as \u201csignposts\u201d to set this material off from unrelated content.\u00a0 These images served as quick reference points for users, guiding them to and through 9\/11-related content. One such site offered a variety of news and information in the weeks following September 11th.\u00a0 Simple graphics of an American flag were used to set 9\/11-related information off from the rest of the unrelated content on the site: <\/p>\n\n http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20011001194031\/lawandeverythingelse.com\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n Similar sites used this kind of\u00a0 \u201csignpost\u201d imagery to set the page off from other non-9\/11 themed sites on the Internet.\u00a0 For example, several news sites were created in the weeks following September 11th<\/sup>.\u00a0 These sites were dedicated to displaying only 9\/11-related news stories.\u00a0 Many of these sites used imagery to set themselves apart from other general news sites. <\/p>\n\n Photographic essays were a popular type of expression on the post-9\/11 Web.\u00a0 Images tend to verify circumstances; seeing is believing.\u00a0 Many sites in the post-9\/11 Web displayed images to confirm the details that were hard to believe.\u00a0 The ThankYou Photo Gallery site producers posted a message of apology for the lack of photo credit information: http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20010922005926\/thankyou.fast-networks.net\/<\/a>. Users were submitting photographs to the site faster than could be displayed or verified for authorship.\u00a0 This site displayed primarily images of memorial vigils that developed around the world.\u00a0 This collection of memorial themed images told a story of remembrance rituals shared worldwide. The ThankYou Image Gallery is a collection of photographs submitted to the site producer by site users.\u00a0 Most, if not all of the four pages of images are memorial images from around the world.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n Other sites posted images to show the outpouring of shared sympathy and support.\u00a0 Some of these sites featured only images.\u00a0 Site producers posted images without captions or explanation, allowing the images to speak for themselves.\u00a0 Digital photograph galleries appeared on the Web following themes of event sequence, memorial, critique and commentary, etc.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n Individuals used the Internet as a place to express themselves in the wake of the attacks.\u00a0 Many users who had created Web-logs prior to September 11th<\/sup> to post everyday quips used their sites as a place for remembering, grieving, and supporting or arguing.\u00a0 \u201cA Day in the Life\u201d is a personal Web-log site where the producer posts journal entries on a regular basis: http:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20011001193811\/geocities.com\/freddie72\/911.html<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n
University of Washington, Department of Communication
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A \u201cWebscape\u201d of examples for this section can be found at:
http:\/\/september11.archive.org\/webscape\/dou\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n
Background: Images on the Web<\/h3>\n\n
Research design<\/h3>\n\n
The use of visual language<\/h3>\n\n
Informative<\/h4>\n\n
Memorials<\/h4>\n\n
Signposts<\/h4>\n\n
Storytelling<\/h4>\n\n
Supplemental<\/h4>\n\n