Can Communication Technology Save Us? Humanism and New Surveillance

• In Event: Visual Communication Concepts

Abstract

The characteristics of surveillance historically changed from policing to commercial, from enforcement to seduction, from suppressive involvement to voluntary participation, and from the clear distinction between the observer-the observed to blurring distinction. Formation of new surveillance is closely related to the misinterpretation of individuals’ freedom to choose. Voluntarily participating in surveillance as a new form of surveillance leads to consumerist manipulation rather than to critical participation. New surveillance shows how dehumanization occurs through overhumanization.

Author

• Jin Kim, University of Iowa