In this book Greg Elmer brings the perspectives of cultural and media studies to thesubject of consumer profiling and feedback technology in the digital economy. He examines themultiplicity of processes that monitor consumers and automatically collect, store, andcross-reference personal information. When we buy a book at Amazon.com or a kayak from L.L. Bean,our transactions are recorded, stored, and deployed to forecast our future behavior--thus we mayreceive solicitations to buy another book by the same author or the latest in kayaking gear. Elmercharts this process, explaining the technologies that make it possible and examining the social andpolitical implications.Elmer begins by establishing a theoretical framework for his discussion,proposing a "diagrammatic approach" that draws on but questions Foucault's theory of surveillance.In the second part of the book, he presents the historical background of the technology of consumerprofiling, including such pre-electronic tools as the census and the warranty card, and describesthe software and technology in use today for demographic mapping. In the third part, he looks at twocase studies--a marketing event sponsored by Molson that was held in the Canadian Arctic(contrasting the attendees and the indigenous inhabitants) and the use of "cookies" to collectpersonal information on the World Wide Web, which (along with other similar technologies) automatethe process of information collection and cross-referencing. Elmer concludes by considering thepolitics of profiling, arguing that we must begin to question our everyday electronicroutines.
The cultural and media studies perspectives on the technology of electronic consumerprofiling.
Daugiau apie elektronines knygas