Ukraine, Participation and the Smartphone at War

Abstract

Digitisation is redefining the battlefield. Whereas once only soldiers and embedded journalists had privileged access to the battlefield, now war is everywhere, brought to us by civilians and their smartphones. People produce, publish and consume media on the same device. They can be at the frontlines or on the other side of the world. Digital individuals may willingly participate in war or they may participate by virtue of being connected to the grid. In this sense it is participative in that everyone has the potential to be involved through the data they create. This produces dynamic information flows that amplify and accelerate both war and its representation bringing the relationship between the military targeting and media production cycles into alignment. In the process, the bystander has been removed from war and instead collapsed the relationship between audience and actor, soldier and civilian, media and weapon.