I write on visual culture and sur/sousveillance. My first book, Visibility and Control: Cameras and Certainty in Governing (Lexington, 2021) examined the use of CCTV footage in the Canadian and British court systems as well as the use of images by governments in Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. My primary research focus is images as evidence in social and institutional settings. I am co-chair of the New Media and Digital Cultures working group and I serve on the governing board of the Cultural Studies Association. Address: Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University 75 University Avenue West Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5
It has been pointed out that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was noticed on Google Live Maps Traf... more It has been pointed out that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was noticed on Google Live Maps Traffic before it was reported by any government agency or on any accredited news website. Given the time of day, the sabre-rattling from both Western and Russi- an governments, and the well-documented movement of Russian troops into the border areas around Ukraine, it seemed like a safe assumption that the bottleneck of traffic depicted by Google Maps was due to a long convoy of vehicles mobilized by one agent. In ot- her words, a live, denarrativized network text indicated that troops were on the move and were headed over the border. Dead reckoning is typically a means of calculating distan- ce travelled and the distance to destinations. Is there such a thing as a ‘dead reckoning’ connected to our relationship with new me- dia? Can we reliably determine proximity to events that appear to us first in abstracted contexts delivered by social media and cell phone apps? The notion of mediation is traditionally one that in- volves a movement of information from a producer to a receiver. In an age of fake news, astroturfing, and deep fakes the position of producer and interpreter, of origin and destination appears to dissolve in the process of immediacy. This chapter attempts to ad- dress the possibility of a dead reckoning of the network in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Visibility and Control: Cameras and Certainty in Governing addresses the ways in which camera-pro... more Visibility and Control: Cameras and Certainty in Governing addresses the ways in which camera-produced images are used to support governmental authority. The text begins by examining some of the basic levels at which the body interacts with media, and then expands the scope of the analysis to consider the use of CCTV in urban environments and how that affects the experience of space. This shows how the determination of the subject and the observer is affected by interaction with and exposure to images produced by cameras. The relationship between the body and media, between media and the determination of space and how media is used to determine the nature of deviance in contemporary Western culture are evaluated as a means of establishing and maintaining authority through images. Scholars of media theory, surveillance studies, and the social sciences will find this book particularly interesting.
References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen.... more References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (First published in French in 1995.) Arendt, H. (1973) 'The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man', in ...
This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transm... more This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transmitted images as though they were directly witnessed. It attempts to look closely at the result of representation in the act of witnessing and the divisions inherent in electronic media as a tool for viewing. Primary works by Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean Baudrillard are considered order to investigate the relationship between the subject and the viewer in the event of media transmission. How does the introduction of a camera influence the body of the viewer? How does it further alienate the subject (or does it at all)? What, in short, happens when we create an image in order to ‘accurately represent’ something?
Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the o... more Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the onset of the pandemic. Sex dolls were used as seat-fillers during a professional soccer match in Korea in May of 2020. Technical compensations for the removal of crowds from stadiums indicate a dependency on the consistency of our media presentations. They also indicate a dependency on the kind of reproducibility that broadcast and presentation technology affords. This paper investigates-along McLuhanite and Baudrillardian lines-the significance of this inclusion of synthetic representations of an audience in order to legitimize the significance of these presentations and to pacify anticipated anxieties experienced by the television audience.
The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the ... more The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the contemporary landscape and its utilization by control systems fundamentally alters the process of policing and the social landscape of the cultures involved. The physical extension and procedural contraction of the process of control is a fundamental component of the establishment of the society of control and the adjustments this necessitates in our approaches to the notion of “police” and “surveillance” necessitate investigation.
Ross Abbinnett Kiyoshi Abe Raja Adal Peter Adey Niels Albertsen Lori Allen Anne Allison Ash Amin ... more Ross Abbinnett Kiyoshi Abe Raja Adal Peter Adey Niels Albertsen Lori Allen Anne Allison Ash Amin Louise Amoore Jens Andermann Ben Anderson Ien Ang Gil Anidjar Floya Anthias Antonio Arantes John Armitage Karel Arnaut Rowland Atkinson Jonathan Bach Dirk Baecker Peter Baehr Patrick Baert Jennifer Bajorek William Balee Anne Barron Andrew Barry Zohreh Bayatrizi David Beer Fernanda Beigel Peter Beilharz Vikki Bell Debra Benita Shaw David Bennett Shaun Best Gurminder Bhambra Gregory Bird Ole Bjerg Claire Blencowe Anders Blok Thomas Boland Dave Boothroyd Christian Borch Georgina Born Rosi Braidotti Benjamin Bratton Andrea Brighenti Julian Brigstocke Vanessa Brown Antony Bryant Robin Bunton Peter Burke James Burton Robert Button David Byrne Matthew Calarco Kirsten Campbell Michael Campbell Elizabeth Carnegie Michael Carolan Ellis Cashmore Antonio Casilli Stephen Casper Genaro Castro-Vazquez David Cecchetto Iain Chambers Sébastien Chauvin John Cheney-Lippold Daniel Chernilo
Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the o... more Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the onset of the pandemic. Sex dolls were used as seat-fillers during a professional soccer match in Korea in May of 2020. Technical compensations for the removal of crowds from stadiums indicate a dependency on the consistency of our media presentations. They also indicate a dependency on the kind of reproducibility that broadcast and presentation technology affords. This paper investigates-along McLuhanite and Baudrillardian lines-the significance of this inclusion of synthetic representations of an audience in order to legitimize the significance of these presentations and to pacify anticipated anxieties experienced by the television audience.
This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transm... more This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transmitted images as though they were directly witnessed. It attempts to look closely at the result of representation in the act of witnessing and the divisions inherent in electronic media as a tool for viewing. Primary works by Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean Baudrillard are considered order to investigate the relationship between the subject and the viewer in the event of media transmission. How does the introduction of a camera influence the body of the viewer? How does it further alienate the subject (or does it at all)? What, in short, happens when we create an image in order to "accurately represent" something?
Cet article présente une brève analyse des difficultés soulevées par l’évaluation d’images médiatisées comme s’il était possible de voir directement ce qu’elles représentaient. Il examine l’effet du témoignage direct sur la représentation et l’écart du témoin par rapport à la scène ou à l’action médiatisée. L’article considère des travaux pionniers de la part de Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty et Jean Baudrillard afin d'étudier la relation entre le spectateur et le sujet lors de transmissions médiatiques. Comment la présence d'une caméra influence-t-elle le corps du spectateur? Comment celle-ci aliène-t-elle davantage le sujet (ou y a-t-il aliénation de prime abord)? En bref, que se passe-t-il quand on crée une image afin de « représenter fidèlement » quelque chose?
The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the ... more The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the contemporary landscape and its utilization by control systems fundamentally alters the process of policing and the social landscape of the cultures involved. The physical extension and procedural contraction of the process of control is a fundamental component of the establishment of the society of control and the adjustments this necessitates in our approaches to the notion of “police” and “surveillance” necessitate investigation.
References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen.... more References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (First published in French in 1995.) Arendt, H. (1973) 'The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man', in ...
It has been pointed out that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was noticed on Google Live Maps Traf... more It has been pointed out that the Russian invasion of Ukraine was noticed on Google Live Maps Traffic before it was reported by any government agency or on any accredited news website. Given the time of day, the sabre-rattling from both Western and Russi- an governments, and the well-documented movement of Russian troops into the border areas around Ukraine, it seemed like a safe assumption that the bottleneck of traffic depicted by Google Maps was due to a long convoy of vehicles mobilized by one agent. In ot- her words, a live, denarrativized network text indicated that troops were on the move and were headed over the border. Dead reckoning is typically a means of calculating distan- ce travelled and the distance to destinations. Is there such a thing as a ‘dead reckoning’ connected to our relationship with new me- dia? Can we reliably determine proximity to events that appear to us first in abstracted contexts delivered by social media and cell phone apps? The notion of mediation is traditionally one that in- volves a movement of information from a producer to a receiver. In an age of fake news, astroturfing, and deep fakes the position of producer and interpreter, of origin and destination appears to dissolve in the process of immediacy. This chapter attempts to ad- dress the possibility of a dead reckoning of the network in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Visibility and Control: Cameras and Certainty in Governing addresses the ways in which camera-pro... more Visibility and Control: Cameras and Certainty in Governing addresses the ways in which camera-produced images are used to support governmental authority. The text begins by examining some of the basic levels at which the body interacts with media, and then expands the scope of the analysis to consider the use of CCTV in urban environments and how that affects the experience of space. This shows how the determination of the subject and the observer is affected by interaction with and exposure to images produced by cameras. The relationship between the body and media, between media and the determination of space and how media is used to determine the nature of deviance in contemporary Western culture are evaluated as a means of establishing and maintaining authority through images. Scholars of media theory, surveillance studies, and the social sciences will find this book particularly interesting.
References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen.... more References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (First published in French in 1995.) Arendt, H. (1973) 'The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man', in ...
This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transm... more This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transmitted images as though they were directly witnessed. It attempts to look closely at the result of representation in the act of witnessing and the divisions inherent in electronic media as a tool for viewing. Primary works by Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean Baudrillard are considered order to investigate the relationship between the subject and the viewer in the event of media transmission. How does the introduction of a camera influence the body of the viewer? How does it further alienate the subject (or does it at all)? What, in short, happens when we create an image in order to ‘accurately represent’ something?
Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the o... more Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the onset of the pandemic. Sex dolls were used as seat-fillers during a professional soccer match in Korea in May of 2020. Technical compensations for the removal of crowds from stadiums indicate a dependency on the consistency of our media presentations. They also indicate a dependency on the kind of reproducibility that broadcast and presentation technology affords. This paper investigates-along McLuhanite and Baudrillardian lines-the significance of this inclusion of synthetic representations of an audience in order to legitimize the significance of these presentations and to pacify anticipated anxieties experienced by the television audience.
The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the ... more The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the contemporary landscape and its utilization by control systems fundamentally alters the process of policing and the social landscape of the cultures involved. The physical extension and procedural contraction of the process of control is a fundamental component of the establishment of the society of control and the adjustments this necessitates in our approaches to the notion of “police” and “surveillance” necessitate investigation.
Ross Abbinnett Kiyoshi Abe Raja Adal Peter Adey Niels Albertsen Lori Allen Anne Allison Ash Amin ... more Ross Abbinnett Kiyoshi Abe Raja Adal Peter Adey Niels Albertsen Lori Allen Anne Allison Ash Amin Louise Amoore Jens Andermann Ben Anderson Ien Ang Gil Anidjar Floya Anthias Antonio Arantes John Armitage Karel Arnaut Rowland Atkinson Jonathan Bach Dirk Baecker Peter Baehr Patrick Baert Jennifer Bajorek William Balee Anne Barron Andrew Barry Zohreh Bayatrizi David Beer Fernanda Beigel Peter Beilharz Vikki Bell Debra Benita Shaw David Bennett Shaun Best Gurminder Bhambra Gregory Bird Ole Bjerg Claire Blencowe Anders Blok Thomas Boland Dave Boothroyd Christian Borch Georgina Born Rosi Braidotti Benjamin Bratton Andrea Brighenti Julian Brigstocke Vanessa Brown Antony Bryant Robin Bunton Peter Burke James Burton Robert Button David Byrne Matthew Calarco Kirsten Campbell Michael Campbell Elizabeth Carnegie Michael Carolan Ellis Cashmore Antonio Casilli Stephen Casper Genaro Castro-Vazquez David Cecchetto Iain Chambers Sébastien Chauvin John Cheney-Lippold Daniel Chernilo
Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the o... more Synthetic crowd noise has been used in a variety of professional sports presentations since the onset of the pandemic. Sex dolls were used as seat-fillers during a professional soccer match in Korea in May of 2020. Technical compensations for the removal of crowds from stadiums indicate a dependency on the consistency of our media presentations. They also indicate a dependency on the kind of reproducibility that broadcast and presentation technology affords. This paper investigates-along McLuhanite and Baudrillardian lines-the significance of this inclusion of synthetic representations of an audience in order to legitimize the significance of these presentations and to pacify anticipated anxieties experienced by the television audience.
This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transm... more This article presents a brief analysis of the discrepancies and difficulties in evaluating transmitted images as though they were directly witnessed. It attempts to look closely at the result of representation in the act of witnessing and the divisions inherent in electronic media as a tool for viewing. Primary works by Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean Baudrillard are considered order to investigate the relationship between the subject and the viewer in the event of media transmission. How does the introduction of a camera influence the body of the viewer? How does it further alienate the subject (or does it at all)? What, in short, happens when we create an image in order to "accurately represent" something?
Cet article présente une brève analyse des difficultés soulevées par l’évaluation d’images médiatisées comme s’il était possible de voir directement ce qu’elles représentaient. Il examine l’effet du témoignage direct sur la représentation et l’écart du témoin par rapport à la scène ou à l’action médiatisée. L’article considère des travaux pionniers de la part de Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty et Jean Baudrillard afin d'étudier la relation entre le spectateur et le sujet lors de transmissions médiatiques. Comment la présence d'une caméra influence-t-elle le corps du spectateur? Comment celle-ci aliène-t-elle davantage le sujet (ou y a-t-il aliénation de prime abord)? En bref, que se passe-t-il quand on crée une image afin de « représenter fidèlement » quelque chose?
The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the ... more The premise of this article is that the expansion of closed‐circuit television (CCTV) across the contemporary landscape and its utilization by control systems fundamentally alters the process of policing and the social landscape of the cultures involved. The physical extension and procedural contraction of the process of control is a fundamental component of the establishment of the society of control and the adjustments this necessitates in our approaches to the notion of “police” and “surveillance” necessitate investigation.
References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen.... more References Agamben, G. (1998) Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life, trans. D. Hellen-Roazen. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (First published in French in 1995.) Arendt, H. (1973) 'The Decline of the Nation-State and the End of the Rights of Man', in ...
Uploads
Books by Jeff Heydon
Dead reckoning is typically a means of calculating distan- ce travelled and the distance to destinations. Is there such a thing as a ‘dead reckoning’ connected to our relationship with new me- dia? Can we reliably determine proximity to events that appear to us first in abstracted contexts delivered by social media and cell phone apps? The notion of mediation is traditionally one that in- volves a movement of information from a producer to a receiver. In an age of fake news, astroturfing, and deep fakes the position of producer and interpreter, of origin and destination appears to dissolve in the process of immediacy. This chapter attempts to ad- dress the possibility of a dead reckoning of the network in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Papers by Jeff Heydon
Cet article présente une brève analyse des difficultés soulevées par l’évaluation d’images médiatisées comme s’il était possible de voir directement ce qu’elles représentaient. Il examine l’effet du témoignage direct sur la représentation et l’écart du témoin par rapport à la scène ou à l’action médiatisée. L’article considère des travaux pionniers de la part de Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty et Jean Baudrillard afin d'étudier la relation entre le spectateur et le sujet lors de transmissions médiatiques. Comment la présence d'une caméra influence-t-elle le corps du spectateur? Comment celle-ci aliène-t-elle davantage le sujet (ou y a-t-il aliénation de prime abord)? En bref, que se passe-t-il quand on crée une image afin de « représenter fidèlement » quelque chose?
Book Reviews by Jeff Heydon
Dead reckoning is typically a means of calculating distan- ce travelled and the distance to destinations. Is there such a thing as a ‘dead reckoning’ connected to our relationship with new me- dia? Can we reliably determine proximity to events that appear to us first in abstracted contexts delivered by social media and cell phone apps? The notion of mediation is traditionally one that in- volves a movement of information from a producer to a receiver. In an age of fake news, astroturfing, and deep fakes the position of producer and interpreter, of origin and destination appears to dissolve in the process of immediacy. This chapter attempts to ad- dress the possibility of a dead reckoning of the network in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Cet article présente une brève analyse des difficultés soulevées par l’évaluation d’images médiatisées comme s’il était possible de voir directement ce qu’elles représentaient. Il examine l’effet du témoignage direct sur la représentation et l’écart du témoin par rapport à la scène ou à l’action médiatisée. L’article considère des travaux pionniers de la part de Marshall McLuhan, Maurice Merleau-Ponty et Jean Baudrillard afin d'étudier la relation entre le spectateur et le sujet lors de transmissions médiatiques. Comment la présence d'une caméra influence-t-elle le corps du spectateur? Comment celle-ci aliène-t-elle davantage le sujet (ou y a-t-il aliénation de prime abord)? En bref, que se passe-t-il quand on crée une image afin de « représenter fidèlement » quelque chose?