Have you ever felt like you were being watched when you were doing something? Or have you ever secretly recorded someone doing something right or wrong? Even worse, have you ever been caught by the police or someone of a higher authority, while doing something wrong?
Well, in this time of age where the Internet is everywhere, and with the advancement in technology, power has slowly shifted from the rich and powerful to the hands of the common people. People like you and me are now acting as our own journalists and judges by capturing images or footages of what we perceive as right or wrong. This is all thanks to technology. In the past, many may have called this surveillance, but now, this act is known as sousveillance.
So, what exactly is sousveillance? Sousveillance is actually a French word, which literally means “watching from below” (“The Emerald Buddha”, 28/7/06, para.1). According to Wikipedia, sousveillance is “the recording of an activity from the perspective of a participant in the activity” (“Sousveillance”, 7/2/07, para. 1). With that in mind, why do people practice it? There are many reasons – it could be to gain control or to gather evidence in the times of confrontations.
Sousveillance is happening all over the world in many forms. It is even happening in one of the most media restricted country in the world - China! One of the most common forms of sousveillance nowadays would be citizen journalism, which is also known as participatory journalism. Citizen journalism is very similar to professional journalism only that it is the citizens playing an “active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information" (“Citizen Journalism”, 3/3/07, para. 1).
As with some people who value their privacy, they have said that it is wrong to practice sousveillance because it is an invasion of privacy. However, with gadgets such as mobile phones being so easily accessible to, and with the Internet being everywhere,“ . . . we choose to expose personal information – we all do at different times and places” (Rosen, 19/7/04, para. 17). For example, when we buy something online, we have to voluntarily give some of our personal information to the company. Another example would be when we voluntarily give up personal information when registering for some websites.So if we voluntarily give up personal information, how can sousveillance be an invasion of privacy when it is merely capturing images or recordings showing people doing the wrong or right thing.
For some people, they do not mind that they may have embarrassed themselves in front of strangers, this could be due to the fact that “private moments offered up for public consumption tend to be generic hopes of informality which . . . have a homogenising effect” (para. 16).
So, it seems that with the prevalence of the Internet and the different gadgets that have recording and photography functions, sousveillance is set to stay and make its stay known to the world. As the saying goes, “power to the people”.
Reference:
Citizen journalism. (2007, March 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 7, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Citizen_journalism&oldid=112367092
Rosen, J. (2004). [On-line]. Retrieved March 7, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm
Sousveillance. (2007, February 7). [On-line]. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 7, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Sousveillance&oldid=106389703
The Emerald Buddha. (2006, July 28). [On-line]. Retrieved March 7, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://theemeraldbuddha.com/index.php?tag=crime
Well, in this time of age where the Internet is everywhere, and with the advancement in technology, power has slowly shifted from the rich and powerful to the hands of the common people. People like you and me are now acting as our own journalists and judges by capturing images or footages of what we perceive as right or wrong. This is all thanks to technology. In the past, many may have called this surveillance, but now, this act is known as sousveillance.
So, what exactly is sousveillance? Sousveillance is actually a French word, which literally means “watching from below” (“The Emerald Buddha”, 28/7/06, para.1). According to Wikipedia, sousveillance is “the recording of an activity from the perspective of a participant in the activity” (“Sousveillance”, 7/2/07, para. 1). With that in mind, why do people practice it? There are many reasons – it could be to gain control or to gather evidence in the times of confrontations.
Sousveillance is happening all over the world in many forms. It is even happening in one of the most media restricted country in the world - China! One of the most common forms of sousveillance nowadays would be citizen journalism, which is also known as participatory journalism. Citizen journalism is very similar to professional journalism only that it is the citizens playing an “active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information" (“Citizen Journalism”, 3/3/07, para. 1).
As with some people who value their privacy, they have said that it is wrong to practice sousveillance because it is an invasion of privacy. However, with gadgets such as mobile phones being so easily accessible to, and with the Internet being everywhere,“ . . . we choose to expose personal information – we all do at different times and places” (Rosen, 19/7/04, para. 17). For example, when we buy something online, we have to voluntarily give some of our personal information to the company. Another example would be when we voluntarily give up personal information when registering for some websites.So if we voluntarily give up personal information, how can sousveillance be an invasion of privacy when it is merely capturing images or recordings showing people doing the wrong or right thing.
For some people, they do not mind that they may have embarrassed themselves in front of strangers, this could be due to the fact that “private moments offered up for public consumption tend to be generic hopes of informality which . . . have a homogenising effect” (para. 16).
So, it seems that with the prevalence of the Internet and the different gadgets that have recording and photography functions, sousveillance is set to stay and make its stay known to the world. As the saying goes, “power to the people”.
Reference:
Citizen journalism. (2007, March 3). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 7, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Citizen_journalism&oldid=112367092
Rosen, J. (2004). [On-line]. Retrieved March 7, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.spiked-online.com/Printable/0000000CA5FF.htm
Sousveillance. (2007, February 7). [On-line]. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved March 7, 2007, from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php? title=Sousveillance&oldid=106389703
The Emerald Buddha. (2006, July 28). [On-line]. Retrieved March 7, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://theemeraldbuddha.com/index.php?tag=crime
No comments:
Post a Comment