How War Travels: Platform Methods for Analyzing Conflict Content in Short Videos

Two-Day Workshop

This two-day workshop brings together researchers and educators to develop analytical tools for studying war as it unfolds in short video environments. It combines platform-sensitive digital methods with visual and multimodal analysis, equipping participants to study war content critically — attending not only to representation, but to how it travels, accumulates affect, and shapes publics. Day 1 builds the theoretical and conceptual foundation; Day 2 puts those frameworks to work through hands-on analysis and applied practice.

Start date: 5 November 2026
End date: 6 November 2026
Time: 10:00
Location: Roeterseilandcampus - building B/C/D (entrance B/C)
Room: B5.12

Short video platforms — TikTok in particular — have become primary sites where war is witnessed, narrated, and contested. From the Russia-Ukraine conflict to Gaza, audiences worldwide now encounter conflict not through long-form journalism, but through 15-to-60-second clips embedded in algorithmically curated feeds. These videos carry not only information, but affects, templates, sounds, and gestures that spread through imitation and remix.

Short video platforms present analytical challenges that exceed traditional textual methods: meaning is co-produced by sound, gesture, sticker overlays, hashtag infrastructure, and platform affordances that shape what gets seen, shared, and felt. Understanding war in this environment requires methods that are sensitive to both what is shown and how it circulates. This workshop responds to that need, bringing together platform studies, digital methods, and affect theory in a hands-on, collaborative format.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

Understand how TikTok's affordances — sound-linking, hashtags, duet/stitch features — shape the circulation and meaning of war-related content
Identify memetic patterns (templates, gestures, sounds) used in participatory propaganda
Apply multimodal and platform-analytical frameworks to short video content
Critically assess the affective dimensions of war representation beyond propositional content
Design analytical approaches suitable for classroom or research use

Programme

Day 1, 5 November, 10.00-15.00

Facilitator: Dr Marloes Geboers, Assistant Professor Digital Methods for AI Platforms, University of Amsterdam

Theory & Concepts: Understanding War in Short Video Environments

Time	Activity
10:00	Welcome & Introduction
10:15	Session 1 — War on the Feed: How Platforms Shape Conflict Narratives
11:15	Coffee Break
11:30	Session 2 — Networked Masterplots: Memes, Sound, and Participatory Propaganda
12:15	Lunch Break
13:00	Session 3 — Affect, Imitation, and the Spread of War Content
14:00	Session 4 — Methodological Horizons: What Tools Do We Need?
14:45	Reflection & Day 1 Wrap-up
15:00	Close

Session Descriptions

Session 1 | War on the Feed: How Platforms Shape Conflict Narratives (10:15–11:15)

Focus: An introduction to studying war content on short video platforms. How do TikTok's infrastructure and recommendation logic differ from traditional broadcast media? How do framing, visual grammar, and sound work together to shape how conflict is perceived and felt?

Key concepts: platform affordances, visual framing, multimodal meaning-making, algorithmic amplification

Session 2 | Networked Masterplots: Memes, Sound, and Participatory Propaganda (11:15–12:15)

Focus: How TikTok's infrastructure — sound-linking, templates, hashtags — does not merely distribute war content but actively shapes its meaning and affective charge. This session introduces participants to the concept of networked masterplots: replicable video templates that prescribe emotional and political stances through sound and visual cues, and explores how propaganda narratives are replicated, imitated, and sometimes subverted across platform vernaculars.

Key concepts: platform affordances, affective circulation, participatory propaganda, networked masterplots, memetic warfare, imitation publics

Session 3 | Affect, Imitation, and the Spread of War Content (13:00–14:00)

Focus: How war content spreads — not through argument, but through imitation. This session examines memetic trajectories: how a gesture, a song, or a visual template accumulates affect and meaning as it travels across users and contexts. Participants explore how affective contagion operates differently from traditional propaganda models.

Key concepts: affective contagion, memetic trajectories, secondary orality, attention hijacking

Session 4 | Methodological Horizons: What Tools Do We Need? (14:00–14:45)

Focus: A reflective, discussion-based session closing Day 1. Where do existing methods — discourse analysis, visual analysis, digital methods — reach their limits when studying short video war content? What hybrid approaches are emerging, and what does the field still need? Participants are invited to bring questions from their own research.

Format: Facilitated open discussion

Day 2, 6 November, 10.00-15.00

Facilitator: Meta Z. Aurelia, PhD Candidate in Social Psychology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Hands-On & Practice: Applying the Frameworks

Time	Activity
10:00	Recap of Day 1 & Day 2 Overview
10:15	Session 5 — Guided Video Analysis: Reading War Content as Circulation
11:15	Coffee Break
11:30	Session 6 — Group Work: Applying Platform Methods to Your Own Research or Teaching Case
12:15	Lunch Break
13:00	Session 7 — Ethics of Using Conflict Content in Research and the Classroom
14:00	Session 8 — Presentations & Peer Feedback
14:45	Closing Discussion & Next Steps
15:00	Close

Session Descriptions

Session 5 | Guided Video Analysis: Reading War Content as Circulation (10:15–11:15)

Focus: A structured, facilitated analysis of a curated set of short war videos. Participants work through a shared annotation framework attending to sound-linking, hashtag narratives, template variation, and affective registers — tracing how meaning accumulates as content travels. This session directly applies the frameworks introduced on Day 1.

Format: Whole-group guided analysis with facilitator commentary

Session 6 | Group Work: Applying Platform Methods to Your Own Case (11:30–12:15)

Focus: Participants work in small groups to apply the workshop's analytical tools to a short video case of their own choosing — from their research, teaching, or journalistic practice. Groups receive a brief methodological prompt and a structured worksheet to guide their analysis.

Format: Small group work (3–4 participants per group), facilitated by workshop team

Session 7 | Ethics of Using Conflict Content in Research and the Classroom (13:00–14:00)

Focus: Short video war content raises acute ethical questions: about consent, re-traumatisation, platform complicity, and the researcher's own affective position. This session addresses these challenges directly — for researchers designing studies and educators using live conflict material in teaching. Participants share dilemmas from their own contexts.

Format: Short provocations + structured discussion

Session 8 | Presentations & Peer Feedback (14:00–14:45)

Focus: Groups from Session 6 briefly present their case analysis (5 minutes each) and receive structured peer feedback. The session closes with a collective reflection: what analytical moves proved most productive, and what remains unresolved?

Format: Group presentations + plenary wrap-up

Roeterseilandcampus - building B/C/D (entrance B/C)

Room B5.12
Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
1018 WV Amsterdam

How War Travels: Platform Methods for Analyzing Conflict Content in Short Videos

Cookie Consent