The paper starts from an apparently simple point of view: on the one hand catastrophes and disasters are relevant visual phenomena, on the other hand scholars must observe Social Network Sites – as Twitter – that are environments based on images sharing. As we know, nowadays, during the environmental disasters, we are witnessing the emergence of a particular attraction to an idea of fatalism that inevitably belongs to the overwhelming events of the nature. This explains why the catastrophe is an experience that leads to many practices of symbolic reinterpretation. Now, one of the social spaces in which finding these practices of reinterpretation are the users' images of the natural disasters shared on SNSs. The paper presents the results of a qualitative research conducted on a sample of 4256 images uploaded on Twitter during the first day of the earthquake that happened in northern Italy May 20, 2012. On the basis of this analysis, a taxonomy of images is built to confirm the hypothesis of the work: that is, during catastrophic events, the image has not just a function of refero, i.e showing the drama, nor exclusively of religo, i.e building social bonds. The images shared through SNSs, instead, aim at giving a symbolic meaning to catastrophe, turning the dramatic experience into an evidence of our vulnerability to the arrogance of human civilization and an opportunity to establish new rituals of socialization and collective regeneration.

1. Giovanni [.] Boccia Artieri [@uniurb.it]
Laura [.] Gemini [@uniurb.it]
Manolo [.] Farci [@uniurb.it]
Elisabetta [.] Zurovac [@uniurb.it]
Department of Communication Studies and Humanities
University of Urbino Carlo Bo
IVSA Congress - The Public Image
July 8th-10th 2013 /Goldsmiths, CUCR, University of London

2. The project The sample
Twitter during the first day of the #earthquake:
31318 tweet
4256 tweets with images
700 images uploaded and shared
Earthquake in northern Italy
May 20, 2012
http://snsitalia.wordpress.com/
The object
Grassroots native image making

3. During catastrophic events, the
image has both a function of
RE-FERO/INFORMATION i.e
showing the drama,
and
RE-LIGO/RELATIONSHIPS i.e
building social bonds
The hypothesis of the work

4. & Pictures
Since 2010 has been possible seeing pictures
without leaving Twitter itself, just clicking on
individual tweets which contain links from a variety
of supported websites
In 2011 Twitter announced its own integrated photo-sharing
service that enables users to:
• upload a photo
• providing photo galleries designed to gather
• syndicate all photos that a user/ third-party services has
uploaded on Twitter
It has always been possible to share images on
Twitter linking the url of the photo
Public photos are searchable by the #hashtags used to label them

5. Categories of Twitter images common uses during #earthquake

6. 1. The news given by an influencer
Huge #sismic tremor NOW #modena
#sanfelice. Apparently houses are ok, house
interiors destroyed
A. Sharing informations/organization
(Huges and Palen 2009; Bruns and Burges 2012)

7. A. Sharing informations/organization
2. The damages caused by the earthquake
San Felice parsonage backyard
destroyed and a car buried by the
rubble #earthquake

8. Clock Tower, #FinaleE. Seeing the clock broken in
two is impressive… #Terremoto
huge rent in the wall of Sant’Agostino’s town
hall #terremoto #ferrara

9. I was supposed to work this morning, here is my
warehouse when I arrived #Terremoto
Poggio Renatico clock tower before and after
#terremoto

10. 3. Geo-referenced data
FOR THOSE WHO WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE
EARTHQUAKE EPICENTRE IN MODENA, TAKE A
LOOK #terremoto MODENA
A. Sharing informations/organization

11. The picture of the bastard with its following little
brother #terremoto
#terremoto map of the settling tremors

12. B. Community-based “quality check” of spreading information
And they still say “slight damages”
#terremoto #chiesa di #sanfelice
(Mendoza and Poblete 2010; Sutton et al. 2008)

13. I wanted to know what to do and I went on the
ANSA site … #terremoto …
(ANSA – National Agency Associated Press site out
of order)
the emotional reaction to the #earthquake of
the twittersphere : roller coaster

15. Stefano Venturi, secretary of the Lega Party at Rovato, reports the news
of the quake like this. Speechless.
[Earthquake in the north of Italy. We apologize for the inconveniences but
Padania (a part of the northern region) is moving away (next time we will
be gentler).

16. 1. Relief Images
C. User-generated crisis narration
(Robinson 2009; Liu 2009)
Ferrara S. Agostino live: civil
defence, citizens, politicians and activists: the
true Italy!

17. together with my “family” we are exploring new
housing options
Still on the street. What did I take out?
Cigarettes, wallet, keys, iPONE and family
2. Daily life Images

18. 2. Daily life Images
Pardon our thoughtlessnes, but the #quake has
done this too and it made us smile while we were
walking round frightened

19. Shocked by the quake. Apocalyptic images.
Deceased people, buildings and castles destroyed.
A tearing in my heart
This morning everything is strange, different.
The light, the colours and the animals too…
And so was I
3. Networked Emotions

20. After a sismic and terrifying awakening, here’s the
rainbow #bologna #terremoto
The right arm of android is the only victim at
Lorenzoni’s home
3. Networked Emotions

21. re-fero + re-ligo: networked witness
SOME FIRST REMARKS
Building a circulatory narration through images and symbols
helped develop the trauma and bring out the relational
character that has been enhanced by the use of a social
network platform like Twitter

22. http://snsitalia.wordpress.com/