Citizen Camera-Witnessing: A Case Study of the Umbrella Movement

Abstract

Citizen camera-witness is a new concept by which to describe using mobile camera phone to engage in civic expression. I argue that the meaning of this concept should not be limited to painful testimony; instead, it is a mode of civic camera-mediated mass self-testimony to brutality. The use of mobile phone recordings in Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement is examined to understand how mobile cameras are employed as personal witnessing devices to provide recordings to indict unjust events and engage others in the civic movement. This study has examined the Facebook posts and You Tube videos of the Umbrella Movement between September 22, 2014 and December 22, 2014. The results suggest that the camera phone not only contributes to witnessing the brutal repression of the state, but also witnesses the beauty of the movement, and provides a testimony that allows for rituals to develop and semi-codes to be transformed.

Keywords

• citizen journalism
• media witnessing
• social media
• social movement
• visual culture