Towards Citizen Spectatorship: Visual Culture and Shifting Perceptions of Documentary Media since the Arab Uprisings

2011年中东和北非的起义期间，抗议活动从未像现在这样激烈。这场政治斗争引发了公民新闻的空前崛起，极大地改变了人们对纪录片媒体的看法。在所谓的阿拉伯之春近十年后，鉴于该地区的抗议活动死灰复燃，（在伊拉克、黎巴嫩和埃及），至关重要的是，要进行一系列研究，探讨我们对“公民新闻”的理解是如何发展的，以及我们如何构建“公民旁观”的概念。媒体市场的需求往往将其框定为一种“不良形象”的美学，最终助长了对该地区理解的反复出现的新殖民主义比喻。为了质疑这种简单的挪用，公民记者转向视觉文化及其传播网络中的正式做法，通过记录手段表达他们的主张。通过研究作为一种公民技能的旁观者，我的研究将利用一些相互关联的方法，包括对视觉艺术家，媒体和文化活动家以及记者的第一手采访，同时调查数字档案-追踪图像生产者和消费者之间的相关性，以及他们如何重新调整我们对抗议和冲突图像的理解。这个博士项目大大扩展了我的硕士论文（区别）以及在国际学术会议上发表的关于叙利亚内战中公民身份如何在视觉上被要求和争议的几篇论文。我在贝鲁特的非营利艺术组织Ashkal Alwan的专业工作中获得了重要的见解，并通过在柏林的Arsenal电影和视频艺术研究所讲课，这使我能够充分建立我不断扩大的研究网络。我对数字图像制作和接收的理解也来源于我的新闻训练，以及我在HKW，Gropius-Bau和Goethe-Institut的策展研究和职业生涯。在跨学科的范围内，我的论文进一步建立在图像和数据分析的基础上，并通过对新闻报道和艺术史话语的评估。为了绘制可见的数字地图，唐尼教授对网络图像的批判性调查将证明对他的领导监督至关重要，并辅之以迪马·萨伯与公民记者行动主义的实际参与。该监督团队因其致力于促进视觉素养及其在该地区强大的研究网络而脱颖而出。

Never has protest been documented more vigorously than during the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. This political struggle sparked an unrivalled rise of citizen journalism that shifted the perception of documentary media substantially. Almost a decade after the so-called Arab Spring and in light of resurging protests across the region (in Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt), it is critical that a body of research is produced that examines how our understanding of 'citizen journalism' has developed and how we can configure a notion of 'citizen spectatorship'.While citizen journalism initially defined a mode of image production, media market demands tend to frame it as an aesthetic of 'poor images' that ultimately feeds into recurring neo-colonial tropes for understanding the region. To question such easy appropriations, citizen journalists have turned to formal practices within visual culture and its networks of dissemination to articulate their claims through documentary means. By examining spectatorship as a civic skill, my research will utilise a number of interrelated methodologies-including first-hand interviews with visual artists, media and cultural activists, and journalists, alongside investigation into digital archives-to trace the correlations between image producers and consumers and how they have realigned our understanding of images of protest and conflict.This PhD project significantly extends my Masters dissertation (distinction) as well as several papers delivered at international academic conferences on the subject of how citizenship is claimed and contested visually in the Syrian civil war. I have acquired significant insights during my professional work at the non-profit art organisation Ashkal Alwan in Beirut and through lecturing at Arsenal-the Institute for Film and Video Art in Berlin-which allowed me to substantially build on my expanding research network. My understanding of digital image production and reception has been also substantively informed by my journalistic training and through my curatorial research and professional career at HKW, Gropius-Bau, and the Goethe-Institut.Interdisciplinary in scope, my dissertation is further founded on image and data analyses underpinned by an evaluation of news coverage and art historical discourses. In order to map a digital cartography of the visible, Professor Downey's critical investigation into the networked image will prove essential for his lead supervision and is complemented by Dima Saber's practical engagement with citizen journalist activism. This supervisory team stands out due to its dedication to promote visual literacy and its strong research networks within the region.