Making Information Matter: Understanding Surveillance and Making a Difference

Description

Information matters to us. Whether recorded, recoded or unregistered – information co-shapes our present and our becoming. This book advances new views on information and surveillance practices. Starting with a methodology for studying the liveliness of information, Kaufmann provides four empirical examples of making information matter: association, conversion, secrecy and speculation. In so doing, she presents an original and comprehensive argument about the materiality of information and invites us to investigate, and to reflect about what matters. This is a go-to text for scholars and professionals working in the fields of surveillance, data studies and the digitization of specific societal sectors. Front Cover Making Information Matter: Understanding Surveillance and Making a Difference Copyright information Table of Contents List of Figures About the Author Acknowledgements 1 Introduction The calls are loud and clear: Let’s get started 2 Understanding Making Information Matter Together Matter Ontologies of relation Ontologies of becoming Ontologies of interiority/agency Information Materializations of information The vitality of information Making We are all makers Summarizing the theoretical basis of Making Information Matter 3 Studying Materializations: A Methodology of Life Cycles A methodology of life cycles Life cycles and their turns Imaginaries Generation Maturation Death, decay, and re-generation A spiral dance Interlude: Four Practices of Making Information Matter 4 Association Imaginaries Generation Storage Curation Processing Death/Re-use 5 Conversion Imaginaries Generation Storage Maturation and processing Death/re-use and a call for engagement 6 Secrecy Imaginaries Generation Storage Maturation Death/re-use 7 Speculation Information, surveillance, and art Propositions and imaginaries: the speculative interventions by three artists The frictions that occur when making matter Speculation: the art of making information matter Imaginaries Generation Maturation and processing Death/re-use 8 The Ethics of Making Information Matter Ethics of making Ethics of making matter Ethics of matter Mapping a ‘state of the heart’: a summary and call for engagement Notes Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 List of Artworks Cited References Index