Representation in the age of surveillance, AI, and Big Data

How do Senft & Baym define a selfie? (2015)

“A photographic object that initiates the transmission of human feeling in the form of a relationship” and “a practice—a gesture that can send [...] different messages to different individuals, communities, and audiences”

What does McLuhan’s theory tell us about the medium of the selfie?(McLuhan & Fiore, 1967)

“The ‘message’ of any medium [...] is the change of scale or pace or pattern that it introduces into human affairs”; “the formative power in the media are the media themselves”

How does Jurgenson describe social photography? (2014)

More like speaking than recording,” imagining “people holding their eyes, newly connected and telepathic, outstretched in their hands”

What are the four types of visibility enabled or demanded by selfies?

Generating, disciplining, demanding, and commanding visibility.

What does “commanding visibility” entail?

Construction of surveillance structures; e.g. predictive policing, digital Blackface, racial data categorisation for profit.

What does Hepp say about mediation? (2017)

“Not a neutral transmission of reality but an active process that constructs meaning, privileging certain narratives while marginalising others”

How do Boyd & Crawford define Big Data?

What does Sobande say about digital Blackface? (2021)

It involves “non-Black people’s participation in online spaces [...] falsely alluding to their (non-existent) Blackness” for clout and profit

What does Eubanks say about predictive policing? (2017)

“Transforms historical inequalities into future inevitabilities”

What is the "Chicago Strategic Subject List"? (Eubanks, 2018).

Algorithmic list that labelled 56% Black individuals as potential criminals with no evidence

How does Amoore describe biometric borders? (2020)

“Turn the body itself into a site of surveillance and exclusion”

Example of biometric injustice? (Costanza-Chock, 2020).

TSA scanners flagging non-binary/trans people as anomalie

What was revealed in the Facebook Files? (Amnesty, 2019).

Meta knew about human rights violations facilitated by its platform but publicly framed itself as pro-democracy

Example of Twitter platform delay in moderation? (Amnesty, 2019).

Trump’s account was only suspended in January 2021, despite glorifying violence

What does Tufekci find about YouTube?

The algorithm nudges users toward increasingly extreme content