Friday, October 29, 2010

Sousveillance - Surveillance from the Bottom Up


On the subject of citizen journalism in Chouliaraki's article, I think this new medium will develop dramatically over the next decade in the world. As Information and Communication technologies become more ubiquitous.  The implications for state behavior will be great as people are able to monitor their government and report on human rights violations.  With more platforms to present these images and video, governments will not be able to assert their authority over their people as they can when no one is watching.  The term, Sousveillance was coined by Steve Mann, an engineering professor from Canada.  Surveillance, implies watching from above, while sousveillance (from the French word, Sous for under) implies watching from below.  He suggested that one day everyone would have the technology to watch and monitor the police and those who are “watching after” them.  He was a pioneer in the field, thirty years before anyone could image the power and spread of ICTs.  (To demonstrate his theory, Mann turned himself into the first human cyborg by fixing a camera over his rights eye that captured everything he saw.) Initially he was seen as a nut, but people are rethinking his prophesy now. The impact of sousveillance is seen already, and is unfolding daily.

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