Drones in Visual Culture: Developing a New Theory of Visual Mobile Communication

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This Fellowship aims to understand whether and how the use of drone technology in society is changing the way people see the world and visual culture more broadly, and to extend and innovate current theoretical approaches to visual mobile communication. It is underpinned by exploring i) the aesthetic characteristics of drone visuals, ii) how drone visuals circulate and iii) public perception of drone visuals. Drones are widely understood as unstaffed aircrafts, generally fitted with cameras that can be remotely controlled and used for recreational and commercial purposes. As flying robots, drones can capture images that would be difficult to take with ordinary cameras, providing a wealth of new visual information that would be otherwise unavailable. Aerial photography/videography is not a new phenomenon. What is new and different is that increasingly drones are used not only by drone operators with valid CAA permission, but also by amateurs, noticeably expanding the potential to capture, share and store new visual content.Research into drones to date has focused on technical aspects and the implications of their use in warzones. There has also been a small amount of research into the issues they raise in terms of surveillance, privacy and ethics, but surprisingly the significance of drones for visual culture has not been addressed. Therefore, I plan to use this Fellowship to address the overarching research question: - In what ways are drones contributing to or changing contemporary visual cultures?I will also address the subsidiary research questions: 1.What are the aesthetic, textual, semiotic characteristics of drone visuals? 2.How do drone visuals live? Where are they seen and shared? How widely? By whom? With what implications? 3.What do the general public think about drone visuals? How do they perceive them? 4.What is the impact of drone visuals on culture more widely? What are the main issues they raise? Through these questions, I will add a digital arts and humanities perspective to the current understanding of drones, and will showcase how such a perspective can move academic research on drones beyond existing analyses of technicalities and safety considerations. For this purpose, this Fellowship will adopt a 'visual culture' approach that pays attention to the visual object and the active experience of the individual in the optical experience. This will be combined with a 'technological mediation' approach that acknowledges the importance of thinking of visuals in the digital age in direct conversation with media and new technologies. In this way, the Fellowship will bring visual communication and culture studies into conversation with other fields, especially internet, digital and mobile media studies. Methodologically, this Fellowship will employ a mixed methods approach that is novel in its integration of three strands. First, online participant observation will be conducted on drone users and how their visuals circulate online. Second, a survey will be conducted within a public exhibition to collect public perceptions of drone visuals. Third, qualitative content analysis on drone visuals will be conducted to explore their aesthetic characteristics and meanings. Throughout this Fellowship, I will initiate interdisciplinary dialogue about the importance of drone visuals as an object of investigation in visual culture through the publication of a solo-authored monograph, by holding an interdisciplinary international conference, and publishing one peer-reviewed journal article and a special issue. This research will achieve impact through a workshop with drone users, a drone visuals exhibition and online group discussions. This project builds on the insights and experience of a British Academy funded pilot project (Small Grant Ref SRG18R1\180618) where I explored users' and developers' perspectives on drone usage.