Surveillance Imaginaries: Learning from Participatory Speculative Fiction

Abstract

Surveillance practices have become increasingly widespread in Higher Education. Students and staff are monitored both physically and digitally, using a range of technologies and for a variety of purposes. Many technologies and systems introduced for other reasons (e.g., for resource sharing, communication, or collaborative work) offer additional surveillance capacities, either as designed-in or incidental features. These surveillance practices, whether already realised or present as possibilities, have the potential to profoundly change Higher Education both as a sector and as a process. There is thus a need for those working (and studying) in the sector to recognise and thus have the opportunity to question or resist these changes. This paper describes an attempt to use participatory speculative fiction to enable this recognition and articulation. It illustrates the power of the surveillance imaginaries that emerge from this approach to reveal deep and complex connections between surveillance, anonymity, knowledge, and power.