Generic Visuals in the News: the role of stock photos and simple data visualizations in assembling publics

这个项目调查了通用视觉在组装公共产品中所起的作用。我们所说的通用视觉是指具有标准化格式和外观的图像，这些图像执行特定的设计功能，并且在新闻媒体中传播的频率越来越高。我们所说的“凝聚公众”指的是一系列过程，包括围绕共同的利益和关切将一群人聚集在一起，激发公民关心(或不关心)特定问题，使各种形式的参与成为可能(或不可能)，包括民主决策，以及促进或抑制虚假信息的传播。利用集合公众的概念，我们建立在华纳(2002)的论点之上，即公众是以各种方式产生的。换句话说，公众并不是预先存在的告知和影响他们的努力；他们的产生或组装，部分是通过与新闻媒体等信息和传播形式的接触而产生的。这些新闻媒体不仅仅由文字组成--它们也是视觉的。然而，即使在承认视觉在新闻中的重要性的有限研究中，分析也会优先考虑引人注目的和标志性的图像，最近对媒体中数据可视化的研究也同样集中在那些获奖或被认为是美丽的图像上。然而，我们所说的通用视觉越来越多地充斥着新闻和其他信息来源，无论是线下还是在线，跨越移动应用和其他数字平台。鉴于它们无处不在，迫切需要了解这些通用视觉形式在上述过程中或在汇集公众方面所发挥的作用。2015年艾伦·库尔迪被冲上土耳其海滩的照片是一个标志性视觉的例子，它将人们聚集在一个共同的担忧周围，但类似的过程是否发生在日常的、普通的视觉上？因此，这项研究的总体目标是发展对通用视觉在公众聚集中所起作用的新理解，重点是两种不同的视觉形式，库存照片和简单的数据可视化。我们将通过解决这些研究问题来实现这一目标：1)参与通用视觉制作的实践者如何工作，如何思考视觉及其受众？2)通用视觉的符号学特征、设计形式和具体用途是什么？一般视觉的形式属性如何有助于公众的聚集？3)观众如何理解和参与一般视觉？这些问题将通过结合三种学术传统的方法来解决：生产研究(RQ1，侧重于生产)；符号学(RQ2，侧重于视觉文本)；以及受众研究(RQ3，侧重于受众参与)，以经验为基础的社会符号学方法。我们将与三个不同的合作伙伴组织合作开展我们的研究，这些组织制作和传播通用图像，专注于他们的在线输出。第一种是出版各种地区性小报和一份全国性小报；第二种是大报；第三种是地区性新闻机构。在对我们之前与数据新闻、库存照片和数据可视化制作者进行的研究的数据集进行二次分析之后，我们将开展：在每个合作伙伴组织中的实地工作(RQ1)；对每个合作伙伴制作和使用的通用视觉数据进行视觉分析(RQ2)；以及与合作伙伴组织受众的访谈(RQ3)。通过与伙伴组织的影响活动方案，与反虚假信息慈善合作者合作设计的讲习班，以及针对受众的展览，我们的研究旨在告知专业实践和公众对新闻中一般视觉的看法。

This project investigates the role that generic visuals play in assembling publics. By 'generic visuals', we mean images with standardized formats and appearances, which perform particular design functions and which circulate with increasing frequency in the news media. By 'assembling publics', we refer to a range of processes, including bringing groups of people together around shared interests and concerns, activating citizens to care (or not) about particular issues, making possible (or not) various forms of engagement, including democratic decision-making, and facilitating or inhibiting the spread of disinformation. Employing the concept of assembling publics, we build on Warner's (2002) argument that publics are brought into being in a variety of ways. In other words, publics do not pre-exist efforts to inform and influence them; they come into being, or are assembled, in part through encounters with informational and communicative forms, such as the news media. These news media are not made up of words alone - they are also visual. However, even in the limited research which acknowledges the significance of visuals in the news, analyses prioritize arresting and iconic images, and recent studies of data visualizations in the media have likewise focused on those that are award-winning or considered beautiful. Yet what we call generic visuals increasingly populate journalism and other information sources, off and online, across mobile apps and other digital platforms. Given their ubiquity, understanding of the roles that these generic visual forms play in the processes listed above, or in assembling publics, is urgently needed. The 2015 image of Alan Kurdi washed up on a Turkish beach is an example of an iconic visual that brought people together around a shared concern, but do similar processes take place in relation to everyday, generic visuals? The overarching aim of this research is therefore to develop new understanding of the role that generic visuals play in assembling publics, focusing on two distinct visual forms, stock photos and simple data visualizations. We will realize this aim by addressing these research questions: 1) How do practitioners involved in the production of generic visuals do their work and think about the visuals and the audiences who engage with them?2) What are the semiotic characteristics, designed forms and specific uses of generic visuals? How do the formal properties of generic visuals contribute to assembling publics?3) How do audiences make sense of and engage with generic visuals? These questions will be addressed by combining methods from three scholarly traditions: production studies (RQ1, focusing on production); semiotics (RQ2, focusing on visual texts); and audience studies (RQ3, focusing on audience engagements) in an empirically grounded social semiotic approach. We will carry out our research in collaboration with three diverse partner organizations that produce and circulate generic images, concentrating on their online output. The first publishes a range of regional tabloids and a national tabloid newspaper; the second is a broadsheet newspaper; the third is a regional news organization. Following secondary analysis of datasets from our previous research with producers of data journalism, stock photos and data visualizations, we will carry out: fieldwork in each partner organization (RQ1); visual analysis of generic visuals produced and used by each partner (RQ2); and interviews with partner organization audiences (RQ3). Through a programme of impact activities with partner organizations, workshops designed in collaboration with an anti-disinformation charity collaborator, and an exhibition targeted at audiences, our research aims to inform professional practice and public perceptions in relation to generic visuals in the news.