Tyler Trosper
Eng 213 Section 4
Dr. Webster Newbold
Dr. Webster Newbold
Emerging Media Research Report
The article “Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance”, written by Anders Albrechtslund, fits into the research our class has been doing in regards to social networking. As one can tell from the title, the article goes in-depth over the issues of surveillance “as a form of participatory surveillance involving mutuality, empowerment and sharing” (Albrechtslund). Albrechtslund connects this research to Marshall McLuhan’s idea of the “global village”, as everyone that connects to the internet is able to observe anyone they want, no matter the distance. Also, this surveillance of others is generally created through social networking means, people placing their entire lives up for display in the regards to what information they post about themselves on social networking websites. Albrechtslund’s article goes into territory we never touched as a class, that is surveillance has become generally much easier with the creation of social networking, but it can also be seen as a scary tool for people with ill intentions.
With the advent of social networking, the available information for a certain individual has increased tremendously. For example, Albrechtslund points out the increase of youths posting an excess amount of information about themselves on social networking websites, which at times places them in danger of being attacked by predators, identity theft, and so on. However, he brings up that that this is ignorance of the user and those issues should not lead to the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) banning certain use of the internet at public libraries and schools, as that increases the digital divide, a term we encountered in Selfe’s Technology and Literacy in the Twenty-First Century: The Importance of Paying Attention. As only a few students would have access to a certain portion of the internet because of others’ lack of internet at home, the situation creates a problem of inequality (Albrechtslund). In that case, students should instead be warned about the dangers of posting personal information by teachers and parents, not hindered by what content they can access on the internet.
Along those lines, surveillance of individuals can stretch back many years through social networking. The feelings in a blog or comments on a certain person’s “status” on a social networking website can be temporary, but when those feelings are shared on the internet they can be viewed by others for a long time (Albrechtslund). In getting a new job, more and more employers are searching their potential employee’s social networking past, which can be seen negative depending on the type of information is found. Even through another person’s role in social networking, as Albrechtslund mentions through Tribble, your chances of getting employed can be jeopardized. However, this, judging others by their use of social networking can be seen as a type of discrimination, as the individual is only expressing their rights of freedom of speech, and, depending on how far back certain information was posted, could be completely taken out of context today (Albrechtslund).
An important term pops up in Albrechtslund’s article briefly, the idea of the “global village”, which had been mentioned in McLuhan’s book The Medium is the Massage. In terms of surveillance, social networking as a “global village” works very well. In a village, everyone knows everyone else’s business and watch out for each other. Through social networking, people can be watched all the time, and not just from present activities but also through previous use of the internet as all the information, even as mundane as comments on someone else’s internet profile, is stored indefinitely on a database (Albrechtslund). In this way, surveillance is much easier to accomplish through social networking than it is through real life; vertical surveillance, the sense of one person looking over all, like the government, can instead be replaced with horizontal surveillance, the most common person being able to spy on an individual (Albrechtslund).
Furthermore, the example in the beginning of Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky, the incident of the missing cell phone, indicates the power of surveillance through social networking means. One incident involving a handful of individuals was observed by millions of people worldwide, a phenomenon unheard of before the creation of blogging. The observation eventually led to actions, suggestions by lawyers, support from others, and the eventual action of the police in arresting Sasha. Albrechtslund brings up the idea that as soon as surveillance is acted upon it becomes “as a mutual, empowering and subjectivity building practice – is fundamentally social”, a true “global village” that is capable of observing others and available to help out when the need arises, such as with the incident with the lost cell phone (Shirky, McLuhan).
Surveillance of others through social networking can also be used, as demonstrated earlier with the missing cell phone from Here Comes Everybody, for sharing of information and action among others, but also used to learn about others and become friends. In this sense of a “global village”, a person is able to find someone of similar interests by first observing them, finding this information, which is most likely easily viewable through social networking means. And through this observation these two individuals, possibly towns, states, or even countries apart, friendship could be formed (Albrechstlund). I can provide an example of this myself. As a teenager, I was infatuated with a certain series of video games, but no one I knew in the physical world played or liked them as much as I did. However, this changed when I joined a forum that was specifically catered toward fans of that particular series. And through my observations and interactions, I was able to make friends with people all over the world who liked that video game series.
Surveillance through social networking can have its benefits along with its share of problems. Young individuals can be prone to attacks by various means because of how much information they are willing to put online about themselves. And through the actions of youth, employers can judge their potential employees, as information created on social networking has the potential to last forever. However, with action through surveillance, such as the missing cell phone incident, positive actions toward a resolution can be produced (Shirky). And through surveillance, likeminded individuals are able to find each other through social networking. All-in-all, surveillance through social networking means has its dangers (identity theft, predators, etc.), but there is still a lot of positive potential in the act of surveillance (Albrechtslund).
“Online Social Networking as Participatory Surveillance” by Anders Albrechtslund: http://www.uic.edu/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2142/1949
