The Representation of Dataveillance in Visual Media

Subjectification and Spatialization of Digital Surveillance Practices

  • Martin Hennig University of Passau
  • Miriam Piegsa University of Passau
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22029/oc.2018.1147
Keywords: dataveillance, documentary, gaming, surveillance culture, surveillance film, visual media

Abstract

Surveillance as a practice of observation is connected to metaphors that stress optical aspects referring to photographic or filming techniques. For example, films that deal with surveillance often make statements about the quality of images obtained through surveillance, and thereby influence the perception of film itself as a visual medium. However, the current ubiquity of surveillance as a social-ordering process is mainly based on the architecture of technologies designed to allow for surveillance as a form of data collection, which is known as dataveillance. Our main focus here is to explore the representation of dataveillance in visual media despite the actual “de-visualization” of digital surveillance practices. We carve out an analytical framework that locates some of the rhetoric of dataveillance within visual media (film, documentary, computer games) by determining dominant cultural interpretations. In doing so, we investigate the extent to which digital surveillance is visually spatialized and subjectivized, and how these strategies vary in different manifestations.

Author Biographies

Martin Hennig, University of Passau

Dr. Martin Hennig studied Literature, Media and Communication Studies, Psychology, and Education at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel. Since 2016, he has held a postdoctoral position in the “Privacy and Digitalization” DFG Research Training Group at the University of Passau. He completed his doctorate in 2015 with a dissertation about conceptions of the world and the subject in video games. His current research project is devoted to cultural discourses on digitization in fictional and factual texts. His research interests include semiotics of texts and culture, theory and analysis of digital media, narrative theory, media history, culture and mentalities.

Miriam Piegsa, University of Passau

Miriam Piegsa studied Film, Theatre, Literature and Communication Studies, Philosophy, and History at the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz. Since 2015, she has held a research associate position in the “Privacy and Digitalization” DFG Research Training Group at the University of Passau. Her dissertation project investigates the link between privacy and authenticity in contemporary documentaries. Her research interests include factual narratives, autobiographical writing, documentary studies, and graphic narratives.

Published
2018-12-11
Issue
No 6 (2018): Surveillance Cultures
Section
_Articles