Zorina, A orcid.org/0000-0001-9133-1478, Bélanger, F, Kumar, N et al. (1 more author) (2020) Watchers, Watched, and Watching in the Digital Age: Reconceptualization of it Monitoring as Complex Action Nets. Organization Science, 32 (6). pp. 1571-1596. ISSN 1047-7039
Abstract
Despite increasing studies of information technology (IT) monitoring, our understanding of how IT-mediates relations between the watcher and watched remains limited in two areas. First, either traditional actor-centric frameworks assuming predefined watcher-watched relationships (e.g., panopticon or synopticon) are adopted or monitoring actors are removed to focus on data flows (e.g., dataveillance, assemblages, panspectron). Second, IT monitoring research predominantly assumes IT artifacts to be stable, bounded, designed objects, with prescribed uses which provides an oversimplified view of actor relationships. To redress these limitations, a conceptual framework of veillance applicable to a variety of possible IT or non-IT-mediated relationships between watcher and watched is developed. Using the framework, we conduct a conceptual review of the literature, identifying IT-enabled monitoring and transformations of actors, goals, mechanisms and foci and develop an action net model of IT veillance where IT artifacts are theorized as equivocal, distributable and open for diverse use, open to edits and contributions by unbounded sets of heterogenous actors characterized by diverse goals and capabilities. The action net of IT veillance is defined as a flexible decentralized interconnected web shaped by multidirectional watcher-watched relationships, enabling multiple dynamic goals and foci. Cumulative contributions by heterogenous participants organize and manipulate the net, having an impact through influencing dispositions, visibilities and the inclusion/exclusion of self and others. The model makes three important theoretical contributions to our understanding of IT monitoring of watchers and watched and their relationships. We discuss implications and avenues for future studies on IT veillance.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021, INFORMS. This is an author produced version of an article, published in Organization Science. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | monitoring; veillance; information technology transformations; surveillance; panopticon; action net model; veillance foci; veillance apparatus; veillance goals; veillance actors; veillance web |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Business (Leeds) > Management Division (LUBS) (Leeds) > Logistics, Info, Ops and Networks (LION) (LUBS) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 25 Nov 2020 11:47 |
Last Modified: | 07 Dec 2021 16:18 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences |
Identification Number: | 10.1287/orsc.2021.1435 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:168296 |