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Social Surveillance

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In her article, “The Public Domain: Social Surveillance in Everyday Life”, Marwick discusses the phenomenon of social surveillance that has emerged alongside the increased use of social networking sites. Marwick uses ethnographic studies as evidence to support her theories about social surveillance, which build upon Foucault’s model of “capillaries of power” to distinguish her conception of social surveillance from traditional surveillance in terms of power, hierarchy, and reciprocity. She argues that unlike traditional surveillance, the surveillance that takes place on social networking sites provides its users with a more fluid sense of power pertaining to gathering information on others. This flow of power creates an imbalance between the participating individuals, transforming what is traditionally a structurally hierarchical act into one that is socially hierarchical. Participating individuals both …show more content…

He argues that with the emergence of the internet and knowledge industries – industries based on information and knowledge rather than the production of goods – reputation is becoming increasingly linked to value in an economic sense rather than in a social sense. Gandini argues that the technology and specifically the internet are inherently reputation-based, and references how the Google PageRank algorithm is based off the idea that links that are reputable are valued, i.e. links that get the most views. Building on this concept, he discusses Online Reputation Systems, algorithms that determine a score that is meant to convey reputation or trustworthiness, and argues that this idea of reputation as value has become synonymous with digital media. To further solidify the concept of reputation as value, the author argues that trust in digital marketplaces operates on the collective assumption that reputation can be used as leverage in economic

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