Are we moving towards an electronic panoptical society?

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Apart from several backlashes arisen from moral panics (with regards to pornography / accessibility to children), it could be considered that the general consensus of the Internet’s qualities is represented as utopian. Often referred to as ‘the world’s largest library’, the wealth of information available (via the comfort and privacy of the home) from infinitely diverse sources, suggests that the World Wide Web offers an endless utopian solution for all sections of gender, race and belief. Two of the most common areas of theory relating to the implication of the Internet relates to the issues of community and identity.

As noted in Daniel Littler’s article at newmediastudies.com, the potential of the Internet as a new way of communication holds wider significance than in the terms of a mere technological advancement. The tools and social meanings of computer-mediated communication (CMC) allow for new interpretations of discourse with regards to community, identity, power and surveillance. Although CMC has given the individual an opportunity to participate within “a global uncensored mass of communication”, exactly how much power and authority the individual can attain is highly debatable.

Before examining how the Internet represents the elements of power, surveillance and identity, it is necessary to understand the physical differences between ‘face-to-face’ (everyday, real life) and ‘CMC’ (textually based) interaction with regards to community and identity.

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Initially social psychological theory deemed that “the online medium provided an impoverished basis for social activity” – thus suggesting that the limited physical interactions of CMC led to “impersonal, inflammatory, cold and unsociable interactions”. However, these early theories, commenting upon CMC’s ‘physically limited’ textual discourse fail to acknowledge possible utopian solution that the new faceless communication afforded an individual. Whilst face-to-face communication relies upon verbal and body language, it is how CMC represents the individual in cyberspace (in relation to power, surveillance and identity), which will form the crux of this study.

Significantly it is the potential of ...

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