Curation, provocation, and digital identity: risks and motivations for sharing provocative images online

Among the billions of photos that have been contributed to online photo-sharing sites, there are many that are provocative, controversial, and deeply personal. Previous research has examined motivations for sharing images online and has identified several key motivations for doing so: expression, curation of identity, maintaining social connections, and recording experiences. However, few studies have focused on the perceived risks of posting photos online and even fewer have examined the risks associated with provocative, controversial, or deeply personal images. In our work, we used photo-elicitation interviews to explore the motivations for posting these types of images and the perceived risks of doing so. In this paper, we describe our findings from those interviews.