The Capitol Riots: Digital Media, Disinformation, and Democracy Under Attack

The Capitol Riots maps out the events of the January 6, 2021 insurrectionary riots at the United States Capitol building, providing context for understanding the contributing factors and ongoing implications of the uprising.

This definitive text explores the rise of populism, disinformation, conspiracy theories, the alt-right, and white supremacy during the lead-up to and planning of the Stop the Steal campaign, as well as the complex interplay during the riots of political performances, costumes, objectives, communications, digital media, datafication, race, gender, and―ultimately―power. Assembling raw data from social media, selfie photos and videos, and mainstream journalism, the authors develop a timeline and data visualizations representing the events. They delve into the complex, openly shared narratives, motivations, and actions of people on the ground that day who violated the symbolic center of U.S. democracy. An analysis of visual data reveals an affective outpouring of mutually amplifying expressions of frustration, fear, hate, anger, and anomie that correspond to similar logics and counter-logics in the polarized and chaotic contemporary media environment that have only been intensified by COVID-19 lockdowns, conspiracy theories, and a call to action at the Capitol from the outgoing POTUS and his inner circle.

The book will appeal to both a general audience of those curious about how and why the Capitol riots unfolded and to students and scholars of communications, political science, media studies, sociology, education, surveillance studies, digital humanities, gender studies, critical whiteness studies, and datafication studies. It will also find an audience within computer science and technology studies through its approach to big data, data visualization, AI, algorithms, data tracking, and other data sciences.

Sandra Jeppesen is Professor in Media, Film, and Communications at Lakehead University Orillia, Canada; activist-researcher; and co-founder of the Media Action Research Group.

Michael Hoechsmann is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University Orillia, Canada. His research focuses on digital and media literacies and cultural studies.

iowyth hezel ulthiin is a PhD Student in Communications and Culture at X University, Canada. Their research centers around embodiment, affect, outsider communities, and hopeful imaginaries engaged through praxis.

David VanDyke is a Data Scientist and Graduate Student in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University Orillia, Canada. He is interested in data visualization and the use of large datasets to improve education and digital media literacy.

Miranda McKee is a Visual Arts Educator and Curator and a Graduate Student in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University Orillia, Canada. Her exhibitions and public programmes examine the role of photography within the context of contemporary visual culture.