Case Study: Katherine Sheeran and the Ethics of Visual Protest in Data-Driven Feminist Research
Creators: name: Sheeran, Katherine
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2025
Subjects: classificationCode: 440502
subject: Feminist methodologies
classificationCode: 330316
subject: Visual communication design (incl. graphic design)
classificationCode: 380102
subject: Behavioural economics

description: <b>Abstract</b>This case study analyses the work of Katherine Sheeran, a Master of Applied Psychology graduate at the University of Melbourne, who has integrated behavioural science, feminist critique, and public visual communication through her self-initiated research project on intimate partner homicides in Australia. Through the construction of a visual artifact titled <i>STOPKILLINGUS</i>, Sheeran exemplifies a rare fusion of empirical rigor and activist aesthetics. This study explores the epistemological, ethical, and communicative dimensions of her work, situating it within feminist digital scholarship and public behavioral advocacy.<br><b>Introduction</b><br>In an era of data abundance and political apathy, it is increasingly rare to find academic outputs that are both statistically sound and emotionally confrontational. Katherine Sheeran’s independent project, <i>STOPKILLINGUS</i>, presents a radical counter-model, one in which data does not simply inform, but accuse.<br>Sheeran’s work began with raw statistical data from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), which she extracted, structured, visualized, and then transformed into a design artifact hosted publicly on Figshare. The project visualizes 34 years of intimate partner homicide data disaggregated by gender, accompanied by the declaration on the author’s Instagram (@kath.sheeran) story highlight ‘testingU’: <i>“these death statistics are NOT new.”</i><br><b>Methodology</b><br>Sheeran’s methodology was wholly independent. It included:Extraction of national crime data from AIC archivesUse of Microsoft Excel for statistical processing and data visualisationDesign of a protest-oriented visual piece using graphic tools and typographic layeringIntegration of the dataset and artefact into Figshare, a research repository<br>Importantly, this process was not institutionally commissioned; it was self-directed, ideologically transparent, and conducted outside the confines of formal coursework or funded research.<br><b>The Artefact: STOPKILLINGUS</b><br>The final graphic, posted on May 2, 2024, is characterised by:A 100% stacked bar chart showing homicide victims by gender (1989–2023)Red-white-black colour scheme, with <i>“stop killing us”</i> superimposedAn intentional visual collision between statistical objectivity and emotional urgencyThis is not a passive chart. It is a semiotic rupture: the reader is denied the safety of neutral analysis and confronted instead with the historical constancy of gendered death.<br><b>Theoretical Framework</b><br>Sheeran’s work occupies a hybrid theoretical space between:Feminist Data Science (D’Ignazio &amp; Klein, 2020): treating data as a moral and political constructVisual Criminology (Carrabine, 2012): recognizing that violence must be made visible, not abstractedParticipatory Archival Practice: reclaiming public records for activist usesBehavioural Design: embedding emotional cues within visual language to nudge cognitionHer method also resists the clinical distancing found in institutional criminology. Instead, it insists on affective clarity: <i>death, repetition, gender, demand</i>.<br><b>Ethics and Authorship</b><br>Sheeran’s use of her full name on both Figshare and social platforms signals an ethics of transparency and accountability. She does not anonymise herself behind research. She enters the archive as a citizen-researcher, fully visible, fully implicated.<br>This moves her work beyond the scope of academic project and into the realm of civic authorship, where research is done not for institutional reward but for social provocation.<br><b>Dissemination and Public Interface</b><br>Her Instagram story posts (@kath.sheeran; e.g., the caption <i>“these death statistics are NOT new”</i> overlaid on her Excel dataset and Word document titled <i>GENDER INVESTIGATION; AUSTRALIA</i>) reveal that she treats social media not as a supplement to research but as a publishing platform.This reflects a generation of researchers who are fluent in multi-modal scholarship and view Instagram as a viable venue for truth transmission.<b>Conclusion</b><br>Katherine Sheeran’s project is not simply a protest or an artwork or a research task—it is a methodological intervention. She embodies a new model of scholar:Data-literateMorally anchoredAesthetically intentionalUnapologetically politicalHer work challenges disciplinary silos by asking a single, visible, and empirically grounded question:When does knowing become complicity?<br>References:D’Ignazio, C., &amp; Klein, L. F. (2020). <i>Data Feminism</i>. MIT Press.Carrabine, E. (2012). Just images: Aesthetics, ethics and visual criminology. <i>British Journal of Criminology</i>, 52(3), 463–489.Sheeran, K. (2024). <i>STOPKILLINGUS</i> [Figure]. Figshare. https://figshare.com/articles/figure/STOPKILLINGUS/25738002