New Media and the power politics of sousveillance in a surveillance-dominated world.

Abstract

In this paper we address the increasingly complex constructs between power and the practices of seeing, looking, and watching/sensing in a networked culture mediated by mobile/portable/wearable computing devices and technologies. We develop and explore a nuanced understanding and ontology that examines 'veillance' ('watching') in both directions: surveillance (oversight), as well as sousveillance ('undersight'). In this context, we look at some new possibilities for computationally mediated veillances. In particular, we unpack the new relationships of power and democracy facilitated by mobile and pervasive computing. We differentiate between the power relationships in the generalized practices of looking or gazing, which we place under the broad term 'veillance'. Then we address the more subtle distinctions between different forms of veillance that we classify as surveillance and sousveillance, as well as McVeillance (the ratio of actual or permitted surveillance to sousveillance). We start by unpacking this understanding to develop a more specialized vocabulary to talk not just about oversight but also to about the implications of mobile technologies on 'undersight' (e.g. who watches the watchers, who watches the watchers of the watchers…ultimately the people at the bottom of the hierarchy). We argue that the time for sousveillance as a social tool for political action is reaching a critical mass, facilitated by a convergence of transmission, mobility and media channels for content distribution and engagement. Mobile ubiquitous computing, image capture, processing, distribution, and seamless connectivity of devices such as iPad, iPhone, Android devices, wearable computers, Digital Eye Glass, etc

BEING SEEN, BEING GOOD: HOW OBSERVATION INFLUENCES DRIVING HABITS<br>BITI VIDEN, BITI DOBER. KAKO OPAZOVANJE VPLIVA NA VOZNIŠKE NAVADE</br>

“…It is essential that individuals be allowed to conduct surveillance within the three-part scheme-not only selfsurveillance, but also surveillance of the central authority (e.g., the state, the institution, or the company). Such surveillance "from below," also called "sousveillance" by some authors (Ferenback 2013;Mann and Ferenbok 2013), makes it possible for those that are otherwise subject to surveillance and monitoring to observe. This reduces the "hegemony of gazes" and Prispevek se posveča nadzoru in njegovemu vplivu na naše vedenje in navade.…”

Metadata Laws, Journalism and Resistance in Australia

“…In Bordieu's terms, journalists in the Australian context have not fully developed the resources or "capital" (Bordieu, 1983) to successfully oppose the collection and processing of personal data, thus developing a space for resistance to surveillance, radically different from "sousveillance" (Mann & Ferenbok, 2013).…”

“…As a consequence of the accelerated development of a communication technologies, Mann and Ferenbok (2013) have also explored the possibility for "sousveillance" (Mann & Ferenbok, 2013, p. 19), surveillance from the bottom up, where the surveilled is empowered through technology to fight back and enact change from below through mutual watching and monitoring.…”

“Veillant Panoptic Assemblage”: Mutual Watching and Resistance to Mass Surveillance after Snowden

“…This case study identifies core American and British actors participating in the struggle against intelligence agencies' mass surveillance, distilling their central arguments and actions. Writing from the perspective of two years after Snowden's leaks, this enables an evaluation of the relative strengths of different aspects of sousveillant "undersight" identified by Mann and Ferenbok (2013), and hence of the likelihood of achieving "equiveillance".…”