Torin Monahan | |
---|---|
Academic background | |
Alma mater | California State University, Northridge, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
Thesis | Designing Flexible Futures: Globalization, Technological Change, and Institutional Conflict in the Los Angeles Public School System. (2003) |
Doctoral advisor | David J. Hess |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,Vanderbilt University,Arizona State University |
Notable works | Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity (2010), Surveillance Studies:A Reader (2018) |
Website | https://www.torinmonahan.com/ |
Torin Monahan is co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Surveillance &Society,a former director of the Surveillance Studies Network,and a professor of communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. [1] He is best known for his work on the social and cultural dimensions of surveillance systems. [2] [3] [4]
Monahan received a Bachelor of Arts in English from California State University,Northridge in 1993,and a Master of Arts in English (with distinction) from the same university in 1996. [5] Monahan then pursued additional graduate training in Science and Technology Studies (STS) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in upstate New York,receiving a Master of Science in STS in 2002 followed by a PhD in STS in 2003. [5] [6]
Monahan worked as an Assistant Professor in the School of Justice and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University from 2003 to 2008. He moved to Vanderbilt University in 2008,where he was an Associate Professor of Human and Organizational Development and Associate Professor of Medicine from 2008 to 2012. [5] [7] He began as an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2013 and has been Professor at the same institution since 2015. [5] Additionally,from 2015 to 2020 Monahan served as a director of the international Surveillance Studies Network,which is the primary professional academic association dedicated to the critical study of surveillance. [5] [8]
Monahan’s research focuses on institutional and cultural transformations with new technologies,with a particular emphasis on surveillance and security programs. [2] [9] [10] He has written on Department of Homeland Security data fusion centers, [4] [11] surveillance and inequality in schools, [12] managerial supervision with hospital tracking systems, [13] [14] racial violence, [15] [16] and artistic modes of resistance to state surveillance. [17] [18] He has served as Principal Investigator on several National Science Foundation-funded grants,including the Platform Mediation research project studying the ways that cities contend with platforms like Uber and Airbnb. [19] [20]
Monahan’s book Surveillance in the Time of Insecurity received the 2011 Surveillance Studies Book Prize from the Surveillance Studies Network for the world's best English language book published on the topic of surveillance. [21] His book Crisis Vision received honorable mention for the 2023 Surveillance Studies Book Prize. [22]
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior,many activities,or information for the purpose of information gathering,influencing,managing,or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment,such as closed-circuit television (CCTV),or interception of electronically transmitted information like Internet traffic. It can also include simple technical methods,such as human intelligence gathering and postal interception.
Science and technology studies (STS) or science,technology,and society is an interdisciplinary field that examines the creation,development,and consequences of science and technology in their historical,cultural,and social contexts.
Internet culture is a quasi-underground culture developed and maintained among frequent and active users of the Internet who primarily communicate with one another as members of online communities;that is,a culture whose influence is "mediated by computer screens" and information communication technology,specifically the Internet.
Technocapitalism or tech-capitalism refers to changes in capitalism associated with the emergence of new technology sectors,the power of corporations,and new forms of organization. Technocapitalism is characterised by constant technological innovation,global competition,the digitisation of information and communication,and the growing importance of digital networks and platforms.
Supervision is an act or instance of directing,managing,or oversight.
Actor–network theory (ANT) is a theoretical and methodological approach to social theory where everything in the social and natural worlds exists in constantly shifting networks of relationships. It posits that nothing exists outside those relationships. All the factors involved in a social situation are on the same level,and thus there are no external social forces beyond what and how the network participants interact at present. Thus,objects,ideas,processes,and any other relevant factors are seen as just as important in creating social situations as humans.
John Law,is a sociologist and science and technology studies scholar,currently on the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University. Law coined the term Actor-Network Theory (ANT) in 1992 when synthesising work done with colleagues at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation.
The sociology of the Internet involves the application of sociological or social psychological theory and method to the Internet as a source of information and communication. The overlapping field of digital sociology focuses on understanding the use of digital media as part of everyday life,and how these various technologies contribute to patterns of human behavior,social relationships,and concepts of the self. Sociologists are concerned with the social implications of the technology;new social networks,virtual communities and ways of interaction that have arisen,as well as issues related to cyber crime.
David Lyon is a sociologist who directed the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University in Kingston,Ontario. He previously held a Queen’s Research Chair position and appointments in the Department of Sociology and the Faculty of Law at Queen's University.
Surveillance art is the use of technology intended to record human behavior in a way that offers commentary on the process of surveillance or the technology used to surveil. Surveillance art manifests itself in many different forms,from short films to architecture,but all have been shown to provide some type of critical response to the rise of surveillance by various authorities and the technology used to achieve it,especially when dealing with issues of security and enforcing laws.
Lynn Schofield Clark is an American media critic and scholar whose research focuses on media studies and film studies. She is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Media,Film,and Journalism Studies at the University of Denver. She is author of several books and articles on the role social and visual media play in the lives of diverse U.S. adolescents. In her 2017 book co-authored with Regina Marchi,Young People and the Future of News, Clark and Marchi utilize an ethnographic approach to tell the stories of how young people engage with social media and legacy media both as producers and consumers of news. The book received the 2018 Nancy Baym Book Award from the Association of Internet Researchers and the 2018 James Carey Media Research Award from the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research Clark's book regarding parenting in the digital age is titled The Parent App:Understanding Families in a Digital Age. Clark’s main contributions are in the areas of family media studies,media rich youth participatory action research and the mediatization (media) of world religions.
Cyborg anthropology is a discipline that studies the interaction between humanity and technology from an anthropological perspective. The discipline offers novel insights on new technological advances and their effect on culture and society.
Engineering studies is an interdisciplinary branch of social sciences and humanities devoted to the study of engineers and their activities,often considered a part of science and technology studies (STS),and intersecting with and drawing from engineering education research. Studying engineers refers among other to the history and the sociology of their profession,its institutionalization and organization,the social composition and structure of the population of engineers,their training,their trajectory,etc. A subfield is for instance Women in engineering. Studying engineering refers to the study of engineering activities and practices,their knowledge and ontologies,their role into the society,their engagement.
Surveillance capitalism is a concept in political economics which denotes the widespread collection and commodification of personal data by corporations. This phenomenon is distinct from government surveillance,although the two can be mutually reinforcing. The concept of surveillance capitalism,as described by Shoshana Zuboff,is driven by a profit-making incentive,and arose as advertising companies,led by Google's AdWords,saw the possibilities of using personal data to target consumers more precisely.
Lilie Chouliaraki is Chair in Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE). Chouliaraki’s main area of research is the mediation of human vulnerability and suffering. Her publications have pioneered an interdisciplinary research field in Media and Communications Ethics,focusing on three areas of research:
School security encompasses all measures taken to combat threats to people and property in education environments. One term connected to school security is school safety,which is defined as the sheltering of students from violence and bullying,as well as exposure to harmful elements such as drugs,guns and gang activity. Along with other public places,schools are at risk for invasion from outside as well as attacks from students or faculty because of the high traffic of potential assailants and availability of victims.
Participatory surveillance is community-based monitoring of other individuals. This term can be applied to both digital media studies and ecological field studies. In the realm of media studies,it refers to how users surveil each other using the internet. Either through the use of social media,search engines,and other web-based methods of tracking,an individual has the power to find information both freely or non freely given about the individual being searched. Issues of privacy emerge within this sphere of participatory surveillance,predominantly focused on how much information is available on the web that an individual does not consent to. More so,disease outbreak researchers can study social-media based patterns to decrease the time it takes to detect an outbreak,an emerging field of study called infodemiology. Within the realm of ecological fieldwork,participatory surveillance is used as an overarching term for the method in which indigenous and rural communities are used to gain greater accessibility to causes of disease outbreak. By using these communities,disease outbreak can be spotted earlier than through traditional means or healthcare institutions.
Lisa Ann Parks is Distinguished Professor of Film and Media Studies and Director of the Global Media Technologies &Cultures (GMTaC) Lab at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She was formerly Professor of Comparative Media Studies and Science,Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,where she founded the GMTaC Lab. She won a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship in 2018 for "exploring the global reach of information technology infrastructures".
Surveillance &Society is an open-access,peer-reviewed academic journal covering research on surveillance. The editors-in-chief are Torin Monahan and David Murakami Wood.
The Surveillance Studies Network (SSN) is a non-profit academic association dedicated to the study of surveillance in all its forms. It was founded in 2006 as a charitable company registered in the UK. Its purpose is to support an international,transdisciplinary academic community researching and teaching about surveillance in society. The SSN publishes the journal Surveillance &Society,holds biennial conferences,makes awards,and provides small research grants.